Senior Analyst (Test and Evaluation)

The Homeland Security and Technical Analysis team provides evidence-based advice and to inform the Ministry of Defence (MOD) on the development of novel techniques for undertaking test and evaluation (T&E) of defence and security capabilities. This to ensure that we can transform the current T&E enterprise in to one which is permanently innovative, adaptable, responsive and proactive to evaluate technology enabled military capability against rapidly emerging threats. 

You will be immediately leading work responsible for the development of innovative T&E capabilities to transform UK defence T&E and unlock the full potential of UK military capability.  As a result of delivering enhancements to T&E you will be helping to accelerate next generation technologies into the hands of our military personnel by ensuring we have the right capabilities to evaluate their performance and effectiveness, and ultimately saving lives.

Working in partnership with industry suppliers, you will be responsible for leading study teams on aspects of T&E transformation to develop technical and capability demonstrators in areas such as: Synthetic Environments, Data and Autonomy for T&E.

These roles include opportunities to support your development of own practical skills and experience in Test and Evaluation and we welcome applications from within and outside the Defence T&E community.

This role is a research based role, looking to develop new Test and Evaluation techniques, we do not actively undertake direct testing or evaluation of defence capabilities.

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.

We particularly welcome female and ethnic minority applicants and those from the LGBTQI community, as they are under-represented within Dstl at these levels.

In this role you will:

• Work on 1-2 large projects concurrently and depending on experience, take leadership of Work Packages.
• Work with our customers to understand their requirements & develop solutions.
• Be responsible for planning, designing, developing a suitable cost-effective and innovative approach.
• Lead work packages, being responsible for your team’s research and providing advice and direction to junior team members and/or industrial partners and suppliers.
• Coaching and mentoring junior team members.
• Through routine engagement, provide timely, impartial, evidence-based advice to customers on progress and results to enable them to make informed decisions on future policy, research or procurement.
• Develop your knowledge and understanding of defence and security challenges and issues and the role of T&E in addressing these.
• Develop your understanding of new technologies, and the opportunities or risks they present to test and evaluation.

You will be expected to work with large multidisciplinary teams encompassing Dstl, MOD, industry and academia to deliver innovative, high quality and impactful advice directly to our customers, building enduring relationships to ensure that we can deliver the best possible advice and demonstrations of future capabilities to customers. You will need to be able to communicate complex ideas & results to non-technical specialists.

Please see full job description at the bottom of the page

We are looking for someone who:

• Knowledge of system design and evaluation techniques such as testing & trials, model-based systems engineering, synthetic environments and digital twins.
• An understanding of how data collected from testing and trials could be used to support the development of models and synthetic approaches used to undertake evaluation.
• Knowledge of assurance and acceptance processes.
• Experience of planning, leading and delivering research projects for customers.
• Experience of leading study teams, or working with external suppliers to deliver work.
• Experience of testing, evaluating or assessing systems or capabilities to provide assurance they are fit for purpose.

The following criteria are used as key performance indicators for the role:

• Quality of analytical outputs, reports and presentations.
• Customer satisfaction and feedback of the quality and nature of advice provided.
• Maintaining an awareness of customer and stakeholder issues and challenges.
• Evidence of exploiting work to maximise its impact.
• Proactive approach to continued professional development
• Build and maintain good internal and external relationships.  

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:

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

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

• Leadership

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

• Evaluation skills and experience

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.

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

Job contact :

• Name : Dstl HR Recruitment
• Email : Dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk