Director, Armed Forces People Policy

Ministry of Defence

Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 27th October 2024

 
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Details

Reference number

373159

Salary

£100,000
Plus a Civil Service pension, with an employer contribution of 28.97%, and a London Weighting Allowance

Job grade

SCS Pay Band 2

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

MOD - Head Office & Corporate Services

Type of role

Human Resources
Policy
Project Delivery

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

MOD Main Building, Whitehall, London SW1A 2HB

Job summary

The Director of Armed Forces People Policy is a key strategic leadership role in Defence. Ensuring we have people policies and initiatives that address this and aid the retention of Service Personnel is a high priority and you will need to play a critical role in aiding the retention of Service Personnel and increasing their satisfaction with service life as well as their families. You will be required to provide advice to Ministerial priorities such as delivery of manifesto commitments and respond to the strategic direction of the new Ministerial team related to the retention of Armed Forces Personnel.

You will be a key enabler for People Transformation and the delivery of Haythornthwaite UK Armed Forces incentivisation review recommendations. Its combined parts ensure that we attract, retain, motivate and transition well, a diverse and talented workforce that have choice over how they live, flexibility in how they work and confidence their welfare needs will be met to reflect the unique nature of Service life.

Job description

The current responsibilities of the role include:

  • Present advice to Ministers on a range of policy areas that aids the retention of Service Personnel as well addressing high profile issues and Ministerial priorities.
  • Chair various Boards and Committees, including the Defence Safeguarding Partnership Board and the UK Invictus Games Board.
  • Lead and oversee the progress of priority initiatives, including people TX initiatives to drive the execution and acceleration of the Defence People Strategy.
  • Collaborate and deliver across the entire people function to best service Defence’s needs, advocating and supporting People Function leadership alignment and delivery.
  • Leading and developing a large and diverse multi-disciplinary team, bringing together strong policy generalists, technical expertise and people professionals to drive the execution of the Defence People Strategy and provide the very best policy advice to Ministers.
  • Deliver, through others, innovative policy solutions to complex problems that aids the retention of Service Personnel.
  • Collaborate with, engage and influence a high profile, vast and often disparate group of internal and external stakeholders.
  • Full member of several internal committees and boards, including the People Leadership Team, Fraud & Ethics Advisory Panel and the Royal NAAFI Council.
  • Trustee of the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (AFCFT) and Member of the AFCFT Remuneration Committee.

Person specification

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:

  • An inspiring and confident leader, with the ability to handle complexity, engage and can motivate and empower a workforce to deliver at pace with delegated authority due to the breath of the portfolio. You will also need to demonstrate how you are able to build and lead large, high performing, diverse and inclusive teams in a matrixed environment.
  • A Board Level people and policy professional, with a proven track record of developing and delivering innovative solutions and long-term improvement to complex people problems, using evidence-based strategies to evaluate the full range of options, understand the impacts, exploit new opportunities and get the right solution.
  • Board Level experience in delivering change and forging policy transformation, using appropriate project delivery disciplines and solid analytical skills, in particular the use of data, evidence and knowledge, to reach decisions about policy and transformation.
  • Demonstrable experience of building and maintaining a strong and highly effective network of collaborative relationships with a range of key colleagues at the most senior levels.
  • A credible and persuasive individual who can command the confidence of a range of Senior stakeholders including Ministers and Senior Officials. You will also need to demonstrate how you can display courage with the confidence and authority to articulate, challenge, explain and justify decisions to stakeholders whilst remaining resilient in the face of extraordinary pressure.
  • Excellent ability to lead through a backdrop of uncertainty and high levels of scrutiny, role-modelling personal resilience and agility. You will need to demonstrate how you are comfortable making difficult decisions and setting direction, applying knowledge and experience to reduce ambiguity.
  • Relevant professional qualification or knowledge - Chartered Fellow/fully qualified member (Level 7) of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and experience of developing organisational level people policies and workforce systems in a senior leadership role.
  • 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%

Selection process details

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the advertisement listed for this role. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on Sunday 27th October 2024 and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:

  • A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
  • A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with direct reference to the essential criteria found on page 7.

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.

Vice Admiral Phil Hally will also be offering an online Q&A session on Tuesday 22nd October between 11:00 - 11:30 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process. 



Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant 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 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. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).
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.
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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) 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 : SCS Recruitment Team
  • Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

  • Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk

Attachments

SCS2 Director, Armed Forces People Policy Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 2373kB)

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