Safety Engineer at Defence Equipment and Support

Organisation: Defence Equipment & Support 
Salary: £37,600 per annum (plus generous benefits)
Grade: Senior Technical Specialist I
Working Pattern: Full time, Part time, Job Share, Flexible Working
Contract Type: Permanent

Job Summary

At Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), we supply and maintain vital equipment and services for the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. Together, we deliver a vast range of essential defence programmes, and strive for what's next. Because it helps keep our military at the top of their game and our nation safe – for today, and tomorrow.

We offer 25+ days’ holiday, flexible and hybrid working, enhanced parental leave schemes, shopping discounts, and an exceptional employer pension contribution of 28.97%, to help make work work for you.

This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 5 years and obtain Security Check (SC) security clearance. Clearance must be obtained without any caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role you’ve been recruited for. If it isn’t obtained or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn. Obtaining SC security clearance can be a lengthy process, and we reserve the right to withdraw any conditional offer made if the necessary security clearance isn’t obtained within 12 months.

Job description

Are you ready to make a difference in the field of Safety Engineering? In this exciting role you will work alongside a team of talented engineers within the technical discipline of Safety Engineering.

As a Safety Engineer, you will be responsible for providing expert advice and guidance to support the delivery of Acquisition Safety policy and solutions for simple equipment. Your role will involve managing project safety risks throughout the lifecycle, ensuring the delivery of safe and suitable equipment, systems, and services to Front Line Commands.

You will be given the opportunity to specialise in key areas such as system safety policy and governance, system safety management, and system safety assurance and audit. These specialisms are critical to ensuring the highest standards of safety and reliability in the equipment and systems we deliver.

You may have the opportunity to travel to various UK locations, including visiting suppliers’ sites. If you are passionate about safety, thrive in a collaborative environment, and are eager to contribute to vital projects, this is the perfect opportunity for you.

We champion flexible ways of working. Regular in-person attendance is required (this is expected to be approximately 60% of your working week) to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance and business need. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role.

What you’ll be doing

• Manage the generation of technical safety requirements and documentation for sub-systems, considering the in-service support and associated costs. This includes specifying safety-related systems architectures up to the highest safety integrity levels. 

• Supports the development and management of effective Safety Management Systems. Identifies and analyses hazards and contributes to the identification and evaluation of risk reduction measures, ensuring that these are adequately documented and managed.

• Working in a highly regulated area, differentiate and comply with relevant safety legislation, regulation, policy, processes, and standards to deliver technical documentation for a sub-system. This includes the essential relation to quality, safety, security, and sustainability, of the sub-system, and the interoperability with other sub-systems.

• Acts upon identified risk (such as safety, environment, support, financial) and applies the principles of risk escalation and risk transfer.

• Participate and scrutinise the system’s safety: test, verification, validation, and evaluation process.

• Support technical assurance activities within the limit of your technical discipline.

• Contribute to the development and maintenance of policy and process to satisfy the DE&S corporate standards for Acquisition Safety Management.

Person specification
To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• Hold a Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics based qualification at RQF Level 4 
• Have experience of providing technical advice and delivery of successful safety systems/safety acquisition/ engineering outcomes 
• Have technical safety systems/safety acquisition/ engineering experience in in a variety of contexts 
• With a relevant Professional body/institution related to your discipline, be professionally registered as either: Engineering Technician (EngTech) or Registered Science Technician (RSciTech). Alternatively, if professionalisation registration is not held, you must hold a minimum RQF Level 6 in a Science, Technology or Engineering based discipline.

In addition to the responsibilities above, the following technical competences and behaviours will be assessed at interview:

• Core Behaviour 1: Communicating and Influencing 

• Core Behaviour 2: Making Effective Decisions

• Technical Competence 1: Suitable Systems and Systems Thinking - Supervised Practitioner

• Technical Competence 2: Safety Management - Supervised Practitioner

Offered benefits

• 25 days’ annual leave +1 day a year up to 30 days, 8 bank holidays and a day off for the King’s birthday
• Flexible and hybrid working options
• Market-leading average employer pension contribution of 28.97%
• Annual performance-based bonus and recognition awards
• Access to specialist training and funded qualifications
• Support for progression
• Huge range of discounts
• Volunteering days

• Enhanced parental leave schemes

Improving innovation and enriching our culture, diversity of thought is vital to our success. So whether you’re looking for a new opportunity, a next step, or a helping hand as you return from a career break, bring your experiences and help deliver for the defence of tomorrow. Here you’ll find a supportive, family-friendly organisation to be a part of - and if you need any assistance with your application, just let us know.

#LI-Hybrid

Further Information

• Civil Service Recruitment Principles: Recruitment Principles - Civil Service Commission 

• Candidate Information Pack: https://bit.ly/DES-Candidate-Information-Pack 

• Terms and Conditions: https://bit.ly/DES-Terms-and-Conditions  

• Civil Service Code: The Code - Civil Service Commission 

Any personal data that you provide during the Recruitment process will be treated in accordance with the MOD Privacy Notice which can be accessed here.

Disability Confident:

Please note as a Disability Confident Leader we want to ensure you receive any reasonable adjustments that you need throughout the recruitment process. If you do require any reasonable adjustments, you can let us know on your online application under the section ‘Please indicate and give details of any reasonable adjustments you may require during the recruitment process.’

Conflicts of Interest:

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.

Selection Process Details

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

1. Pre-sift - We will check that you meet any essential or eligibility criteria that are listed in the Person Specification section of this advert. On your CV, please clearly show how you meet the essential criteria.

2. Sift - Your CV will be assessed against the following categories, using a simple numerical scoring system: Key Achievements; Relevant Experience; Applied Knowledge and Skills. Please follow our guidance on CV writing for best chance of success.

3. Interview - If you're invited to interview, you'll be assessed against the Sift categories listed above, as well as the Technical Competences and Behaviours listed in the Person Specification section of this advert.

Please Note: In the event of a tied score at interview, the Order of Merit will be distinguished based on the ranking of the assessed behaviours and competencies below:  

•  1st: Core Behaviour 1 
• 2nd: Core Behaviour 2 
• 3rd: Technical Competencies 
• 4th: CV Review 

In the event of a further tie using the method above, we reserve the right to utilise the Lead criterion, and/or and additional assessment.  

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview. 

If you feel that 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 department via email: [email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Recruitment Complaints - Civil Service Commission

Offering at a lower level

If you’re not successful at interview, we may offer you a role at a lower level if this is a match for your skills and experience. If this applies to your application, you’ll be scored against criteria for the lower-level role and offers will be made in merit order. If you accept this position, you’ll be able to take advantage of opportunities to develop your career as part of our team.

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