• Details

Reference number

399724

Salary

£40,661 - £50,472

Per Annum/Pro Rata

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

GBP

Job grade

Senior Executive Officer

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

Chief Operating Officer Group (COO) Commercial, Vaccines and Countermeasures Supply Countermeasures & Preparedness

Type of role

Planning

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

• Location
• About the job
• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Location

Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London –Canary Wharf (Core HQs)

About the job

Job summary

The Countermeasures and Preparedness Team (CPT) sits within Commercial, Vaccines and Countermeasures Delivery in UKHSA, reporting to its Chief Operating Officer.

The CPT is responsible for ensuring the UK can respond effectively to new and emerging disease threats, pandemics, and emergency response situations. This includes risks to national and wider health security, such as the accidental or malicious release of a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agent, and in incidents involving certain venoms and toxins.

The CPT is at the heart of the UKHSA’s mission to keep all our communities safe, save lives and protect livelihoods through effective prevention, preparedness and response to infectious diseases and environmental hazards. We achieve this through the effective oversight, procurement, supply and operationalisation of a range of medical countermeasures.

We also manage key pandemic preparedness capability, including an advance purchase agreement with CSL Seqirus, the National Pandemic Flu Service and the Moderna-UK Strategic Partnership. The CPT has a serious remit, but we deliver this with a positive, supportive and fun working culture.

This role specifically will work with the Response Operations Lead to develop this key organisational capability, whilst developing deployment plans and response testing for a range of countermeasure products.

The post holder will also collaborate with counterparts in National Security Policy, DHSC, and wider HMG to identify the right interventions and investments for long-term resilience. Some of the duties for the role include;

• Contribute and develop business cases and submissions and monitor their progress.
• Monitor the progress of business cases and approvals.
• Prepare papers and submissions, make arrangements for their timely reviews and coordinate comments and responses amongst stakeholders.
• Contribute to requests for information including FOI and parliamentary questions
• To be responsible for managing the stocks of exotic antivenoms, antitoxins, immunoglobulins and vaccines including deployment of these as required.
• Ongoing management of operational responses as required.
• Ensure that there is appropriate policy input into the maintenance of stockpiles of clinical countermeasures.
• Implement good project management practice, tracking key activities and milestones, updating project plans and risks and issues registers.
• Ensure all operational activities and processes adhere to Good Distribution Practice (GDP) standards, maintaining compliance and supporting the integrity of the supply chain.
• Manage relationships with an extensive network partners and stakeholders

The Countermeasures and Response team leads the charge for the supply of relevant pharmaceutical products against a range of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) threats, overseeing the end-to-end design, procurement and operational planning for all products necessary for an effective response.

In addition, the team lead on the procurement and deployment of a range of exotic Anti-venoms, anti-toxins and Immunoglobulin’s, alongside acting as the lead Response team for CVCD when incidents occur.

Person specification

Essential criteria - You will be assessed on the below 11 essential criteria, which have been selected from the Job Description Document.

• Educated to degree level in a relevant subject or significant experience of working at a similar level
• Proven experience of writing briefings, submissions and reports for senior officials and/or ministers.
• Proven experience in establishing and maintaining relationships with a range of stakeholders to support delivery of business outcomes.
• Demonstrable understanding of the public health system and its political environment.
• Basic knowledge of commercial, financial and procurement.
• Written and oral communication skills, including ability to clearly articulate complex issues in a clear and concise way.
• Gathering and use of evidence to be used to inform decision making.
• Works well with others and encourages collaborative working within a team.
• Effective use of project management skills and techniques to deliver outcomes, including identifying risks and mitigating actions.
  Works confidently with financial information and other quantitative data.
• Must be able to prioritise own work effectively and be able to direct activities of others.
• Actively develops their own knowledge, skills and capabilities through continual career and professional development and supports others with theirs.

Careers website

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,661, UK Health Security Agency contributes £11,779 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours, Ability and Experience

Stage 1: Application & Sift

Success Profiles

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed 11 essential criteria, and this will be in the form of a:

• Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
• 1200- word Statement of Suitability.

This should outline how your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

The Application form and Statement of Suitability will be marked together.

Longlisting : In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:

• Meets all essential criteria
• Meets some essential criteria
• Meets no essential criteria

Please note Piles 1 & 2 will be carried though to shortlisting.

Shortlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will shortlist on:

• Must be able to prioritise own work effectively and be able to direct activities of others.
• Proven experience in establishing and maintaining relationships with a range of stakeholders to support delivery of business outcomes.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview.

Please do not exceed 1200-words. We will not consider any words over and above this number.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage

Reasonable Adjustments

You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

Stage 2: Interview

Success Profiles

You will be invited to a remote interview.

Behaviours, experience and ability will be tested at interview.

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Please note you will not be able to upload your CV. You must complete the application form in as much detail as possible. Please do not email us your CV.

Eligibility Criteria

External

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants).

Location

Hybrid any Core HQ

This role is being offered as hybrid working based at any of our Core HQ’s. We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce.

As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA’s core HQ’s (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and London)

Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport link and benefit from benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Security Clearance Level Requirement

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Security Clearance (SC)

For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 5 years as the role requires Security Check (SC).

UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder / Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

International Police check

If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and it could be time accrued over that period.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Your application may be rejected and/or you may be subject to disciplinary action if evidence of plagiarism is detected. Examples of plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence (AI), as your own.

Internal Fraud check

If successful for this role as one aspect of pre-employment screening, applicant’s personal details – name, national insurance number and date of birth - will be checked against the Cabinet Office Internal Fraud Hub and anyone included on the database will be refused employment unless they can show exceptional circumstances. Currently this is only for External candidates to the Civil Service.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check .

See our vetting charter .

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard checks.

Nationality requirements

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)
• 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

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles .

Apply and further information

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Chris Williams
• Email : chris.williams2@ukhsa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : chris.williams2@ukhsa.gov.uk

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: Complaints@ukhsa.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk