National Cyber Force - Strategic Lead for Industry Function

Established in 2020, the National Cyber Force (NCF) is responsible for operating in and through cyberspace to counter, disrupt, degrade and contest those who would do harm to the UK or its allies, to keep the country safe and to protect and promote the UK's interests at home and abroad. The UK will use cyber operations as part of its diplomatic, economic and military activities.

The NCF is at the heart of this, extending the UK's competitive edge as a responsible, democratic cyber power, by countering threats from terrorists, criminals and states using the internet to operate across borders in order to do harm to the UK and other democratic societies. This may involve countering threats which disrupt the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data and services in cyberspace (i.e. supporting cybersecurity), contributing to UK Defence operations, or helping deliver the UK's foreign policy agenda (for example intervening in a humanitarian crisis to protect civilians). In addition to GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence, the Secret Intelligence Service and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory are core partners, bringing cutting edge espionage and research techniques.

Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Our vision is to have an empowered, productive, personally and professionally fulfilled workforce. Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously. We want to enable you to build a successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service. We are committed to understanding, respecting, and representing as broad a range of views and backgrounds as we have in UK society. An inclusive culture is critical to our success in the Partnership. We are dedicated to building a world class force by championing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and providing the tools and resources that enable greater collaboration and strengthen team performance.

The Strategic Lead for Industry function will be required to shape the strategic commercial direction for the partnership. Working alongside UKIC colleagues to ensure demand coherence and adherence to good procurement practices.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

The Strategic Lead for Industry function will be required to shape the strategic commercial direction for the partnership. Working alongside UKIC colleagues to ensure demand coherence and adherence to good procurement practices. This role requires strong leadership and an ability to build long term relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Experience delivering change in a complex environment would be beneficial and a strong awareness of procurement practices in a defence and security environment would be advantageous. The successful candidate will:

Act as strategic and demand coherence lead for commercial requirements across the partnership

Set strategic direction by drafting, in collaboration with UKIC partners, a robust commercial strategy bespoke to the force

Represent the force at wider commercial steering groups and forums to ensure we are demonstrating value for money and a commercially mature approach to all our requirements

Support the Head of the Industry Function to effectively challenge and support requirements at the portfolio build stage

Lead a team of circa 5 personnel at various grades to ensure that the force is being adequately supported with its procurement requirements, and that all procurement activity is conducted in line with the sourcing principles

Ensure adherence to the sourcing principles at working level across the force, by supporting training on the Induction Course and attending relevant upskilling days to bring this knowledge back in house

Support creation and implementation of the commercial maturity matrix that enables wider elements of the force to reach a level of commercial maturity required of them to ensure the whole force is an intelligent customer to industry and commercial partners

Support management of a wider team of contract managers with their requirements before escalating to commercial where appropriate and required to do so

Open to UK nationals only.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.

Please provide a Personal Statement explaining your interest in the role and the relevant experience you bring in no more than 250 words.

At sift, candidates will be assessed against their CV, Personal Statement (250 words maximum) and the following behaviours:

• Leadership
• Changing and Improving

At interview, candidates will be assessed against the following behaviours:

• Leadership
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service

Further information:

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.