Navy Command - Strategic Engagement Lead

At Navy Command, we lead, support, and sustain the Royal Navy across every theatre of operations. We coordinate the people, platforms, and missions that keep the Fleet ready for today’s challenges and tomorrow’s opportunities. Together, we uphold centuries of naval tradition while driving innovation that ensures the Royal Navy’s readiness to protect our nation and secure our future.

As the authority for the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine capability, the Submarine Directorate oversees one of the most complex and critical elements of UK defence. Covering everything from in‑service management to long‑term fleet modernisation, the directorate ensures the Submarine Flotilla remains safe, reliable, and ready to meet national security requirements.

This position is a Reserved Post within the Civil Service, for which only sole UK nationals are eligible. Under the Civil Service Nationality Rules, UK nationals include British citizens, British subjects with the right of abode in the United Kingdom, and British Overseas Territories citizens.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Are you ready to influence senior decision-making at the heart of one of Defence’s most strategically important portfolios? This is a rare opportunity to lead high-profile engagement across the Submarine Directorate, shaping clear and compelling narratives, supporting senior leaders, and driving activity that directly contributes to national security. As Strategic Engagement Team Leader, you will work across Navy Command, the Defence Nuclear Enterprise, MOD and wider government to turn complex issues into credible, coordinated and actionable messages.

What you will do:

• Co-ordinating conversion of strategic intent into delivery, and building on policy work. You will coordinate a central team and engage extensively with stakeholders across the Defence Nuclear Enterprise to ensure DSM’s strategic intent is understood xMOD and Submarine Directorate is well positioned to anticipate and respond to developing central strategic intent.
• Coordinate clearance and sign-off of external reviews across relevant stakeholders to meet the needs of senior stakeholders and timelines.
• Sponsor strategic analysis and commissions, ensuring work is scoped well, driven forward and translated into decisions and action.
• Lead strategic engagement across government building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders.
• Own and maintain the senior briefing suite, ensuring products are accurate, timely and aligned to strategic priorities.
• Drive the creation of a comprehensive and actionable final improvement plan once recommendations are confirmed.
• Maintain momentum if timelines shift, ensuring there is a credible plan to continue development and delivery.
• Keep stakeholders informed, aligned and committed through sign-off, planning and implementation.
• Shape clear, coherent narratives on priorities, risks, opportunities and progress, anticipating issues rather than reacting to them.
• Coordinate input to major policy developments and parliamentary engagement, ensuring Navy and Defence perspectives are evidence-based and delivery-focused.
• Maintain strong horizon scanning and early engagement with emerging initiatives, so the submarine portfolio is ready to influence and respond to future change.

Open to UK nationals only.

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

As part of Defence Reform, Navy Command continues to review and evolve its Target Operating Model to support more agile ways of working. In this context, the role and responsibilities of this role may develop over time to reflect changing business priorities and opportunities.

At Sift, you will be assessed against the following;

• Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history and qualification details.
• Candidates will be required to provide a personal statement. This should be a maximum of 500 words that sets out your motivation for applying and shows how your skills and experience meet the essential requirements for the role.

At Interview, you will be assessed against the following success profiles:

Behaviour

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions

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.