Special Projects Technical Lead – Support to Operations (S2O)

Physics World; Salisbury; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job description

Location
Dstl Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 0JQ

At Dstl, our vision is to have a modern way of working efficiently, accommodating and enabling our people to create, collaborate and deliver. To do this successfully in this job will require 80% attendance, this role will be office based at our Porton Down site.
Your role is primarily based in the offices and laboratories at Dstl Porton Down. There will be the need to work on other Dstl sites, MoD locations and with external partners, for example when attending meetings or conferences. There will also be the opportunity to participate in off-site equipment trials which will usually involve staying in hotel accommodation for up to a week at a time. A flexible outlook with a willingness to travel at short notice is highly desirable.
Due to the classification of expected work, you will be required to be at the Dstl Porton Down site.
Where business needs allow, and with the agreement of your line manager, there may be the option for a combination of workplace and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement.

About the job
Job summary
Do you have a background in systems engineering with excellent leadership skills? Have you honed your skills within scientific and technical environments? Do you want to support & lead our Special Projects delivery into current & planned Military operations?

If so, this could be the role for you!

You will bring a strong aptitude for technical writing to drive continuity of a high-quality corpus of specialist research.

As the Technical Lead, you will be responsible for our delivery to His Majesty’s Government (HMG) most sensitive operations. You will work with internal and external stakeholders to influence and drive our processes and ensure we have the right permissions and authorities in place to deliver our work safely and securely.

Dstl recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximises their contribution.

Job description
In this role you will:

• Lead the delivery of bespoke systems for specialist military operations.
• Support military headquarters with triage decisions to identify appropriate routes to market, articulating technical limitations, capabilities, security risks, and appropriate mitigations.
• Champion the continued professional development of special projects staff, identifying opportunities for staff to learn on the job and through external or specialist training.
• Provide assurance that our methods, supported by the right permissions and authorities, preserve the safety and security of our people, capabilities, and operations now and in the future.
• You will receive the opportunity to work on unique projects and make a real difference to the UK defence and security landscape.

Important Information

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be UK Nationals who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to undertake the projects we are involved in to protect us from security threats. For this reason, only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners.

This role will require full UK security clearance and you should have resided in the UK for the past 5 years. For some roles, Developed Vetting will also be required; in this case, you should have resided in the UK for the past 10 years.

Person specification
We are looking for someone who has:

• Excellent leadership skills to lead our special projects delivery into current and planned operations. Working closely with the project technical authority and headquarters S&T lead, this post will ensure that our technical solutions are fit for purpose, are delivered at the pace of relevance, and with safety and security embedded.
• Effective communication skills are required for all facets of this role, as you will be engaging with staff from across the lab and our industry/government partners in order to satisfy our stakeholders’ varying research and operational requirements.
• A strong background in systems engineering, with experience of delivering into military operations built through a range of roles.

Qualifications
• Education at Degree Level or equivalent in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electronic Engineering, or a related discipline or equivalent experience
• Minimum Grade C in GCSE Maths and English or equivalent qualification.

Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Leadership

Benefits
Dstl’s full range of great benefits can be found in the information pack which includes:

• Financial: An excellent pension scheme starting from 26% employer contribution. In Year Rewarding Achievement bonuses and thank you vouchers. Rental deposit scheme and cycle to work scheme.
• Flexible working: Options include alternative working patterns such as compressed hours (e.g. working a 4 day week/ 9 day fortnight), job shares, and annualised hours (agreed number of hours per annum paid monthly i.e. working term-time only).
• Working hours: Flexibility around your working day (e.g. start time, finish time). Ability to bank hours in a 12 month reference period including the ability to accrue and use 3 days per calendar month.
• Where you work: Depending on your role, blended working may be available including remote working to suit you and your team. This can be discussed at interview.
• Annual leave: 25 days pro rata (rising to 30 after 5 years) plus 8 public holidays with the ability to buy/sell 5 additional days per annum.
• Family: Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks with full pay, an additional 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid.
• Learning and Development: Dstl encourages and supports charterships, accreditations and provides employees access to fully funded apprenticeships up to level 7 (Masters Degree). Dstl will pay for 2 memberships with relevant bodies/institutions. Employees also have access to Civil Service Learning.
• Facilities: Onsite parking, EV Charging points, restaurants, cafés, and gyms.
• Pension: Alongside your salary, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory contributes a minimum of £15,470 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
We want you to have your best chance of success in our recruitment process, so if at any stage of the application process you would like help or assistance please contact the Dstl Recruitment Team at [e-mail] and we will do all we can to support you.

Sifting will take place week commencing the 28th April 2025 with interviews to be arranged from 12th May 2025, the interviews will consist of a technical & behavioural interview to include a 10 minute presentation details of which will be given in the invite to interview.

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 developed vetting.

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

Nationality requirements
Open to UK nationals only.

This job is not open to candidates who hold dual nationality.
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.

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

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants
Job contact:
Name: Dstl Recruitment Team
Email: [e-mail]
Recruitment team
Email: [e-mail]
Further information
Should you wish to raise a formal complaint about the Dstl recruitment process you should email [e-mail] stating the nature of the issue. We will respond within 5 working days.