DASA – Delivery Manager

Dstl Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP4 0JQ or Dstl Portsdown West, Fareham, Hampshire, PO17 6AD

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) finds and funds exploitable innovation to support UK Defence and Security mission quickly and effectively, and support UK prosperity. Our vision is for the UK to maintain its strategic advantage over its adversaries and build a safer future for the country and our people.

DASA is part of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) but we work across all Government departments who have responsibility for national security. We are serious about making a difference to those on the front lines in the armed forces, police and elsewhere who protect us, and we are committed to supporting the innovators who can help.

DASA has four mutually supporting teams, Outreach, Operations, Partnership & Impact and Support Services. This role is within the Operations Team running our main competition processes.

You will join a team of DASA Delivery Managers who help Government customers to identify solutions to their priority challenges from within the wider supply base. You will be supported by other DASA staff across the teams, to design and deliver these services ensuring that what DASA provides meets customers’ innovation needs.

Could you help us by undertaking this exciting and dynamic management role?

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.

In this role you will:

• Design and deliver funding cycles, maintaining strict deadlines.
• Undertake engagement with, and management of, defence and security customers and stakeholders relevant to your tasks.
• Lead delivery of the overall service from definition of the problem space to award of contract, ensuring it is managed to time, cost and quality, including appropriate monitoring and reporting.
• Support our Outreach team to reach out to relevant suppliers from industry and academia to support your service.
• Work with our Partnerships & Impact team to ensure that we are accelerating ideas in a way that maximises the potential for exploitation.
• Work with our Support Services team to ensure events, communications and logistical support are integrated with our service delivery.
• Work with Dstl’s Commercial and Intellectual Property (IP) teams to ensure timely placement of contracts with suppliers and compliance with relevant legal and regulatory obligations.
• Work with Project Managers from Dstl and across Government, and their wider support teams, beyond the initial point of contracting, to maintain an oversight of progress and where DASA can further support.
• Work at pace and to tight deadlines to achieve what is required of this role, whilst maintaining close, trusting relationships with those you work with. You will be a team player who is focused on delivery, and is comfortable operating in a high pressured and demanding environment.

You will become an employee of Dstl but working for DASA which reports to Director Defence Innovation within MOD Finance and Military Capability. You will be line managed by one of the DASA Delivery Leads who is also a Dstl employee. 

We are looking for someone who has:

• A passion for innovation; wanting to help customers quickly and effectively find solutions to meet their most pressing challenges. This will include an ability to spot areas of mutual interest across customers, making the linkages and avoiding duplication of effort.
• The organisational skills, leadership skills and enthusiasm to design and deliver bespoke services including competitions, market investigations, hackathons, or other services to meet the requirements of defence and security customers.
• Consultancy and facilitation skills to support our customers in exploring and curating their challenges, ensuring open mindsets and embracing diversity of thought.
• The ability to balance the delivery of longer term tasks with the ability to react to quick-turnaround tasks.
• A range of effective communication skills including: development of publishable content for our website, provision of clear and defendable guidance and feedback and internal communications such as progress updates and briefs to the Delivery Leads, Senior Management Team and key stakeholders as appropriate.
• People skills to develop good working relationships with the other parts of the wider defence and security innovation ecosystem, including the Defence Innovation Unit and Front Line Commands Innovation Hubs, a range of security customers and Government departments as well as with the expert assessors, moderators, technical partners and project managers who help inform the down-selection of successful proposals and deliver contracted proposals.
• Commercial awareness to support Commercial Services to ensure timely placement of contracts with successful suppliers.
• Good reflective and creative skills to suggest improvements to current processes and contribute to the development of novel service offerings.
• The ability to be a team player and contribute to the development of the team including the directing and mentoring of Associate Delivery Managers to support delivery.

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.

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Leadership

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing

Alongside your salary of £35,970, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory contributes
£9,711 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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 (find out more here). 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.

Open to UK nationals only.

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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

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Job contact :

• Name : Dstl Recruitment
• Email : dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk