Thematic Research Analyst

The Ministry of Defence is a central government department with a mission to protect our country and provide the ultimate guarantee of its security and independence, as well as helping to protect its values and interests abroad.

The Directorate for National Security and Global Themes, within MOD Head Office, is responsible for the policy, strategy, planning and governance of strategic operations, special operations, state threats, global issues and cyber. We are a mixed team of military personnel and civil servants, reporting to Director National Security.

This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time an employee is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise. As part of accepting this role, ideally you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

The operations overseen by the Directorate are necessarily informed by the advice, insight and understanding of subject matter experts. As a Thematic Research Analyst, you’ll deliver subject matter expertise to decision-makers, so that they can deliver operations that contribute to wider national security goals and priorities. You’ll lead a range of research projects, drawing upon industry, academic and wider HMG expertise to help the Directorate make better decisions. You will have a focus on the pacing threats to national security, and Defence’s role in mitigating them. It’s a fascinating and diverse role where you’ll use everyday skills, including communication and judgement, to tackle extraordinary challenges.

Responsibilities

Successful candidates can expect to be involved in the following:

• Collaborating with colleagues and stakeholders across Government to develop insight and understanding to enable decision making.
• Building and sustaining relationships with stakeholders, to ensure that the thematic research you conduct is valuable, unique and well-informed.
• Bringing together a range of analytical skills to identify problems and find solutions through a multi-disciplinary, collaborative approach.
• Providing visible, accessible, and effective subject matter leadership, taking a personal lead in communicating messages with clarity and conviction.
• Analysing intelligence and information relating to threats, to continually develop your subject matter expertise and provide timely, robust advice.

You will meet with senior officials and decision-makers to provide up to date and accurate advice. You will work with colleagues across the armed forces, security and intelligence agencies, international allies and partners, industry and academia to deliver real world outcomes. Whatever the requirements, you’ll be at the heart of what we do – contributing to national security and protecting the UK.

To succeed as a Thematic Research Analyst, you’ll need some key attributes. You’ll have first-class interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence and an excellent academic record. You will have a passion for foreign affairs and a keenness to contribute to the UK’s safety and prosperity. You will have evidence from previous roles of taking responsibility and showing clear evidence-based decision making within a national security context; consulting widely and challenging assumptions; as well as using intelligence to enable decisions. You’ll have experience of working with the national security community, ideally in an all-source analytical role.

Open to UK nationals only.

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

Interviews will be held in person in London.

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

Candidate will be required to provide a Personal Statement of up to 500 words.

At sift, you will be assessed against your CV, Personal Statement and the following Behaviours:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture

At interview, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Communication and Influencing

DV clearance is required for the role, you will need to be able to obtain this if this is not held already.

Due to security clearance requirements, this position is restricted to Sole UK Nationals only. Due to the nature of the role, the successful candidate will be expected to be in the office minimum 4 days. One day a week working from home is not guaranteed and will be around business needs when and if possible. This role is not suitable for work share, part time or flexible/remote working arrangements.

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.

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.