Royal Navy Develop Directorate – Safety & Assurance Officer

The Develop Directorate acts as the thought leaders for the RN, leading the development of the Royal Navy’s future warfighting capability and acting as the Design Authority for RN capabilities of the future in order to achieve the optimum mix of present and future warfighting technologies for a modern, global and ready Royal Navy. 

Develop is divided into six parts, Strategic Force Development, Capability Sponsor, Underwater Capability Sponsorship (UWB), Shipbuilding, NavyX and the Deputy Director Aviation Futures and Programmes acts as SRO for all aviation projects and related change and delivery programmes, initially sitting in the Develop Directorate to aid launch of uncrewed air systems projects.     

Strategic Force Development is responsible for developing the changing and future demands of our operational commitments as outlined within Defence Plan, Transformation Plan and Navy Command Plan by delivering a more agile and adaptable military capability and by owning the Capability Management Plan and ensure the effective prioritisation of resources to meet the Navy’s strategic priorities and outcomes.  

Capability Sponsorship will deliver an ambitious capability portfolio, cohering all capability development programme and project activity across Navy Command. Through the development of future concepts, DEVELOP also leads future thinking beyond these headmarks and seeks to harness DSTL research to exploit the novel, affordable, battle-winning technologies of tomorrow and houses the NavyX Team which is driving innovation throughout the Naval Service. 

It also leads NCHQ’s Strategic and Maritime Force Development activity, collaborating with US and NATO allies on international capability development.

Within Develop, the UWB team is responsible for through-life capability sponsorship of Navy UWB capabilities and for cohering pan-Defence UWB capability planning; also responsible for establishing new major UWB programmes and delivery of the ASW Spearhead Programme and for managing substantial international collaboration activity, especially with the US, Australia, and within the new AUKUS framework.  

The Develop Shipbuilding Team is responsible for managing the Royal Navy’s 30 Year Shipbuilding Plan and the Shipbuilding Pipeline as outlined in the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS). 

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

The Develop Safety and Assurance Officer will assist the Develop Safety Manager to deliver all Safety and Assurance (S&A) activity within the Develop Directorate, undertaking the day-to-day assurance activities to ensure the Directorate achieves and maintains compliance with all regulatory S&A requirements.

This is a newly established role, and the successful candidate will be vital in ensuring departmental compliance with all Defence Regulator requirements. You will need to demonstrate flexibility and adaptability delivering in areas of novel and emergent technology where understanding is still developing.

The Develop Safety and Assurance Officer will report directly to Develop Safety Manager, as the responsibility for general S&A oversight sits within the Business Management area of the Develop Directorate.

Responsibilities

• Undertake and support development of Directorate-wide internal audit & assurance process for 1Party Assurance (1PA) and 2Party Assurance (2PA) activities.
• Support development and implementation of the Directorate-wide audit & assurance plan and provide maintenance of that schedule
• Provide support to the DEVELOP Health & Safety Environmental Plan (HSEP) performance dashboard by supporting and guiding the Directorate and capability areas in developing the subordinate dashboards and performance reports.
• Support the maintenance of the DEVELOP Safety Action and Improvement Log (SAIL) by working cross Directorate and capability areas to ensure safety actions and improvement tasks are undertaken and completed in a timely manner
• Support the development of fit-for-purpose HSEP & regulatory compliant governance within the DEVELOP capability areas, ensuring alignment with the Develop Safety and Environmental Management Plan (SEMP) to meet the RN Safety Management Systems.
• Assist the DEVELOP Directorate Capability Team Leader’s (TL’s) in development of subordinate SEMPs to ensure the teams compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure incidents, near misses, unsafe conditions are recorded and reported, and support the DEVELOP Occurrence Manager in investigations and maintenance of the RN Navy Lessons & Incident Management System (NLIMS) system.
• Establish and maintain a dedicated Stakeholder Network of contacts for safety and assurance related enquiries and support tasks.
• Establish and maintain a DEVELOP asset register, ensuring the movement of all assets are managed and recorded.
• 1 X Safety & Assurance Support (EO) (Dependant on management assignment).

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

• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing

• 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%

This post does not offer any assistance with relocation allowances. External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six month probation period.

Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed. 

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts. 

Any move to MOD from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/. 

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment by 31st December 2022. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments. 

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment by 31st December 2022. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.

Job contact :

• Name : Mike Greenwood
• Email : michael.greenwood106@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk