Retention and Resettlement Officer - Army

The Ministry of Defence, Civil Service workforce is diverse, with many different functions and professions ranging from cyber and digital transformation, police officers, security guards, trainers, human resources, teachers, psychologists, storekeepers, and policy secretariat staff to support the British Army.

Within the MOD, the British Army delivers education and training to Soldiers and Officers to help them meet the challenges of the 21st century by training for certainty and educating for uncertainty. A significant proportion of this education is delivered by the Army Education Service (AES), which operates through a network of nine Army Education Centre Groups (AEC Gps) across the UK and Cyprus. The majority of those supported are Regular and Reserve Army personnel.

Army Education Centres are staffed by a combination of Army officers, Civil Servants and contracted civilian staff. Roles include military officers, civilian teachers, administrative staff and Digital Skills Hub personnel. Together, we work to achieve our key objective: delivering high-quality education and lifelong learning and development opportunities to Service Personnel.

The Retention and Resettlement role is an important position that helps ensure education, resettlement and transition support is delivered consistently across the Army. The post holder is responsible for overseeing service delivery, supporting a network of Individual Education and Resettlement Officers (IEROs), and working with a range of partners to improve outcomes for personnel as they develop their careers and prepare for life beyond military service.

This is a varied role that combines programme management, stakeholder engagement and performance oversight, offering the opportunity to make a direct and positive impact on people's lives. The role also leads a key functional area within Educational and Training Services (South) (ETS(S)), providing direct support to ETS(S) Headquarters and advising the Commanding Officer on performance, risks and priorities relating to retention and resettlement.

The post is advertised on a 37-hour per week.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead the delivery, governance and quality assurance of Individual Education and Resettlement (IE&R) and retention services across Educational and Training Services (South) (ETS(S)), acting as the principal point of contact for all IE&R matters.
• Oversee the delivery of IE&R services, ensuring compliance with policy, mandated processes and service standards, while providing advice, direction and escalation through the Chain of Command where required.
• Develop and maintain assurance, governance and reporting arrangements, including performance monitoring, risk management and formal reporting to governance boards, using data and insight to drive service improvement and support future policy development.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders across Defence, government and external delivery partners, representing IE&R interests at key forums and ensuring services remain joined-up, effective and responsive to changing requirements.
• Lead engagement, support and professional development activities for the Individual Education and Resettlement Officer (IERO) network, including coordinating forums, continuous professional development and specialist advice.
• Oversee training requirements and outputs, including monitoring Resettlement Information Staff (RIS) course throughput, gathering feedback and supporting continuous improvement of training and service delivery.
• Exercise delegated authority for IE&R casework, including the authorisation of Post-Discharge Resettlement Authorities (PDRAs), Overseas Resettlement Authorities (ORAs), civilian work attachments and training requests, ensuring decisions are timely, consistent and compliant with policy.
• Act as the Service Single Representative (sSR) for Learning Credits and Enhanced Learning Credits Administration Service (ELCAS) activity, managing exceptions and ensuring compliance with relevant policy.
• Lead and support projects, transformation activity and digital initiatives relating to education, retention and resettlement services, ensuring organisational requirements are represented and delivered.
• Provide policy guidance and assurance to the IERO network, maintaining oversight of information management, record keeping, audit readiness and compliance with information management requirements.
• Contribute to the development of future policy and programmes, supporting improvements to resettlement services, learning opportunities and retention initiatives, including the Army Retention Effect, Life Skills and Leave Well Campaign.
• Undertake any other duties appropriate to the grade and responsibilities of the post, as directed by the Line Manager.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

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

At the application stage, you will be assessed against the following criteria, listed in priority order:

• Personal Statement - 500 words demonstrating your relevant skills and experience in line with the essential criteria.
• Behaviours Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service

Where a large number of applications are received, an initial sift may be conducted against the Personal Statement only. The remaining evidence submitted at the application stage will be assessed only if you are successful at this initial sift.

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following criteria, listed in priority order:

Behaviours:

• Developing Self & Others
• Leadership
• Working Together

Application sifting will be scheduled to take place within 7 days of the application closing date. Interview dates are to be confirmed and will be held in person. We endeavour to keep to these time frames, but these are subject to change around business needs.

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.

There may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all DCS candidates that meet the minimum criteria for the job. For example, in certain recruitment situations such as a high volume of applications, seasonal demand, or peak periods, the employer may wish to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both DCS and non-DCS applicants.

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.