UK Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer and Head of Global Animal Health

The post of UK Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer is critical to the successful delivery of the Department’s ambitious biosecurity and animal health and welfare objectives, at home and abroad. The UK DCVO reports to both the UK Chief Veterinary Officer, Professor Christine Middlemiss CB, and the Animal and Plant Health and Welfare Director, Gareth Baynham-Hughes. In the light of the scale of current challenges, the Department has decided to recruit a second UK DCVO to work in an expanded team that also includes Dr Ele Brown as UK DCVO. Each DCVO is also a full member of the Senior Management Team for the Animal and Plant Health and Welfare Directorate.

The DCVOs support the UK CVO in carrying out her role. Each UK DCVO also leads a team of people focused on specific elements of the Departments animal health and welfare policy portfolio. The new UK DCVO will lead the team responsible for our international animal health policy work, including market access for UK exports, and our ever-growing One Health agenda. The postholder will deputise for the UK CVO as necessary, leading some programmes and issues and supporting on others, to provide senior veterinary advice and leadership, and represent the UK Competent Authority. The postholder will work across a number of areas of Defra Group business and with other Departments.

The postholder will help ensure that senior veterinary and scientific advice and evidence underpinning the work of Defra is robust, relevant and timely. The role undertakes a significant amount of communication activity on animal health and welfare to external audiences on behalf of UK Government.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Lead maintenance and growth of UK international market access for animals and their products, including leading our team of veterinary trade facilitators.
• Contributing to delivering the strategic direction of the Department through facilitating future trade relationships
• Working as part of UK CVO office to prevent, prepare, detect, respond and recover from exotic notifiable and zoonotic disease incidents.
• Leading and promoting Defra’s One Health and Global Health Security Strategy and policy agenda across government and internationally as well as managing the Directorate’s central international functions.
• Building effective and productive working relationships with external stakeholders across government, industry and international partners. This will include identifying and leading opportunities to collaborate with partners to promote the UK’s USP and influence future trade relationships.
• Supporting the UK CVO in providing independent advice to Ministers and the Department on the veterinary evidence underpinning policy and operational decisions, drawing in internal and external experts as required, and, where necessary, in relation to emergency exotic notifiable disease response.
• Contributing to effective communication of UK animal health status and policy initiatives in external forums.
• Championing the use of evidence and science in policy making, challenging the quality of advice and its use by officials to ensure that decisions are appropriately informed by the best available evidence.
• Leading a large team ensuring resources are deployed effectively on highest, and frequently changing, priorities.
• Being a full and active member of the Senior Management Team for Animal & Plant Health and Welfare  (APHW), leading on specific areas of corporate responsibility and contributing to the APHW Refresh programme and the Animal and Plant School, our capability building programme.

The full division of day-to-day responsibilities between the UK CVO team will be finalised once recruitment has been completed.

The successful candidate will have excellent leadership, communication, veterinary and policy-making skills.

You should bring a passion for veterinary evidence having an impact on government policy and delivery and be able to demonstrate a broad understanding of the role of senior vets within Government and use of veterinary evidence and risk management in government. You will need to be someone who can maintain a broad and strategic view across a wide range of subjects, policy areas and disciplines whilst appreciating the significance of specific technical detail.

 You should be able to demonstrate:

• Experience of technical decision making grounded in science and evidence, in a complex environment with multiple stakeholder groups across a large organization
• Experience of the policy-making process
• Being able to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary environment as a leader and a team member, including of a senior management team
• Engagement and establishment of strong working relationships at senior levels, including with policy makers, domestic and international stakeholders and trading partners
• Effective communication across a variety of groups

It is important that, through your CV and supporting statement, you give evidence and examples of proven experience of each of the essential criteria detailed below:

• Eligible for full Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons membership.
• A thorough understanding of the use of science and evidence in animal health and welfare policy and operational and disease control decision-making. This might have been gained through working with government or a similar operational environment.
• Proven experience of setting strategic direction for veterinary public health, which is clearly linked to policy or delivery outcomes.
• The ability to communicate complex veterinary, scientific and evidence issues clearly and succinctly to senior decision makers, stakeholders and to the public.
• The ability to lead teams in a fast-paced environment and through times of change, including anticipating strategic changes and adapting to new priorities.
• Evidence of an ability to work collaboratively in both a multidisciplinary environment and across different organisations with different priorities to produce identifiable and effective outcomes.

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%

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.

Job contact :

• Name : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk