Senior Risk Analyst (SR21.59 and SR21.62)

This post in the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) offers the opportunity to utilise your expertise in risk assessment to protect animal and plant health and food safety, as well as develop your skills further. APHA is an executive agency of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). We are responsible for identifying, managing and controlling incidents and outbreaks of endemic and exotic diseases and pests in animals, plants and bees. We provide unique capabilities and an evidence base for UK government, together with international reference responsibilities.

The Biomathematics & Risk Research (BRR) Workgroup within the Department for Epidemiological Sciences is a nationally & internationally recognised group of risk analysts, modellers and statisticians providing high quality scientific evidence for policy formulation and outbreak response, as well as specialist support to research and operations in the area of animal and public health.

You will lead on new imports risk assessments related to policy and trade negotiations, due to EU Exit as well as reactive projects in response to potential incursion of pathogens relevant to livestock, pets and wildlife. Through these risk assessments, you will ascertain the risk to animal health and impact on policy within this field. The post will focus primarily on qualitative risk assessment, although you will design, develop and lead both qualitative and quantitative risk assessment projects in the fields of national and international veterinary and public health.

You will be an integral part of the team within the Biomathematics & Risk Research Workgroup working on these import risk assessments. You will ensure delivery of risk assessment outputs, advise policy-makers and offer consultancy both within and outside of the APHA. Furthermore, you will develop research projects on current topics of interest in the field of animal health and food safety, such as emerging infectious diseases, Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies, and avian influenza. You will be expected to write project proposals, develop a network of collaborators in the field of risk assessment, and present complex results with clarity. This post therefore provides an opportunity for a self-motivated individual, with excellent leadership, communication and management skills, to shape future policies in the area of animal health/food safety.

The main responsibilities of a Senior Risk Analyst will involve:

• Developing the appropriate use of qualitative or quantitative risk assessment techniques for application to current national and international risk assessment in the veterinary and public health fields
• Leading and co-ordinating risk assessment projects (which may be qualitative or quantitative but with a focus on qualitative) including planning the project, functional management of staff, managing the project budget and resource allocations, and successful delivery of the project
• Ensuring risk assessment performed is of the highest quality, required level of complexity and appropriate for the applications to policy and trade
• Initiating new funding contracts from Defra, FSA, EU, UKRI and commercial customers
• Advising policy-makers on results of these projects and offer consultancy on risk assessment both within and outwith the APHA
• Liaising and maintaining contact with national and international disease and risk assessment experts (including within APHA) to enable potential collaborations and provision of information or data for current projects
• Line and/or functionally managing a small team of staff within the Biomathematics & Risk Research Workgroup
• Promoting BRR science at national and international meetings and conferences by presenting, and publishing in reports and peer reviewed journals etc
• Reviewing and evaluating methodological developments in the field of risk assessment particularly as applied to the veterinary and veterinary public health fields
• Providing expertise and support in the event of outbreak emergency

The successful candidate will have:

• An established reputation in risk assessment, as demonstrated through a publication record in international journals and/or experience writing reports to stakeholders or policy
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to be able to communicate with people at all levels, both within and outside of APHA, and represent APHA with confidence
• A willingness to learn quantitative risk assessment and tools for performing quantitative risk assessments (e.g. @Risk software) if required
• Previous involvement in writing funding applications and/or project proposals
• The ability to work both independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary team across different projects
• Experience in leading projects and managing others to deliver on time and budget
• The ability to provide expert knowledge and consultancy to others
• Self-motivation, with the ability to motivate teams to maintain consistent performance and delivery
• An agile mind-set, leading delivery at pace and prioritisation when circumstances change, specifically for disease outbreaks

Essential skills/experience:

• Significant expertise in the area of qualitative or quantitative risk assessment applied to biological systems e.g. demonstrable work experience on a variety of risk assessment projects, which could include a PhD in this area
• Experience in leading or managing risk assessment projects
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral
• Competence with Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel)

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership

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

• Applying scientific and technical knowledge

In return for your dedication, we will support your ongoing personal development through appropriate training. Inclusion, support and the development of our people matter to us. We aim to support the career and personal wellbeing of everyone in APHA. Our benefits include generous annual leave, flexible working, a contributory pension, staff bonuses and recognition, salary sacrifice benefit options, and an employee discount scheme.

Specialist Pay

A specialist pay allowance will be given under the following conditions:

• You must be carrying out a DS science role (as defined in the GSE career framework and assured by the Deputy Director of Scientific Services) in the Science Directorate within APHA, either in a permanent or FTA SSO role.
• Scientists in these posts are eligible for level 0 allowances – on appointment or from the date of implementation of this allowance.

Overview of how the Specialist Pay lead will work:

The assessment framework has three levels of capability, all levels of capability attract an allowance. The capability assessment framework has been developed based on the GSE framework to build the technical skills and capabilities required by APHA at the DS SSO grade. The allowance levels are: • Level 0 – Emerging (£2,500) – On appointment or basic knowledge and limited relevant experience. You understand how the skill can be applied. You can describe the benefits and importance. Individual is developing within the role, including skills and technical ability. The postholder will be assessed after 3 months in post, and thereafter yearly, to determine whether they can move up to a Level 1 (£3500) or Level 2 (£5000) allowance.

Other Information

The Weybridge site is a strategically important national asset due to its role as a reference laboratory supporting the Governments response to national emergencies including disease outbreaks. For this reason all postholders based on the APHA Weybridge site must hold a valid Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) security clearance or above. It is up to each person applying for a post at APHA Weybridge to ensure they meet the residency criteria. UK residency is required from 3 to 10 years depending on the level of Security. However residency qualification maybe reduced for certain roles and will be considered on a case by case basis.

Should you be successful at interview you will be required to undertake this security check along with Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check. This includes: identity, employment status, nationality and immigration status, criminal records and any other essential pre-employment checks.”

Depending on the areas of work involved you will be expected to have any necessary vaccinations or health surveillance. This will be arranged by the Health Team, Weybridge.  It may also be necessary to undergo a pre-employment medical assessment.

Out of hours work may be required in the event of an incident. 

Travel will be required to attend meetings, training courses or conferences.  You must have a valid driving licence, or be able to call upon suitable alternate means of transport.

Office attendance

Successful candidates are expected to work from one of the office locations listed in this advert in order to connect with their colleagues, as required by their role and business team needs. Defra’s current policy is that no more than 40% of the working week should be spent at home, averaged over a month unless exceptional circumstances apply and/or the post-holder is a contractual home worker.

Job contact :

• Name : Gemma Aliaj
• Email : gemma.aliaj@apha.gov.uk

Recruitment team

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