Head of Protective Security

The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is a system leader for health security; taking action internationally to strengthen global health security, providing trusted advice to government and the public and reducing inequalities in the way different communities experience and are impacted by infectious disease, environmental hazards, and other threats to health.

UKHSA’s remit, as an agency with a global-to-local reach, is to protect the health of the nation from infectious diseases and other external threats to health. As the nation’s expert national health security agency UKHSA will:

• Prevent: anticipate threats to health and help build the nation’s readiness, defences and health security
• Detect: use cutting edge environmental and biological surveillance to proactively detect and monitor infectious diseases and threats to health
• Analyse: use world-class science and data analytics to assess and continually monitor threats to health, identifying how best to control and mitigate the risks
• Respond: take rapid, collaborative and effective actions nationally and locally to mitigate threats to health when they materialise
• Lead: lead strong and sustainable global, national, regional and local partnerships designed to save lives, protect the nation from public health threats and reduce inequalities.

Job overview

The Protective Security Team provides professional expert support, training, guidance and advice on all matters relating to protective security, to facilitate and ensure compliance with relevant legislation, and to prevent incidents and protect UKHSA employees.

More generally, our expert staff work with and advise a range of government partners on health security matters; physical and personnel security is therefore of paramount importance to the organisation.

The role will be the head of the security profession within UKHSA and the focal point into the Government Security Group for UKHSA. The Head of Protective Security has direct line management responsibilities for 4 grade 7 posts, (Personnel Security, Physical Security, Security Education & Awareness and Threat Analyst).

Main duties of the job

• Corporate lead for the physical and personnel security strategy, with a corporate link to the Audit & Risk Committee of the UKHSA Advisory Board and, when required, the CEO and UKHSA’s Executive Committee, the senior executive decision-making body.
• Evaluating and managing risk, including trend analysis and data interpretation Overseeing UKHSA alignment to security standards and policies.
• Development and implementation of measures in relation to counter-terrorism to protect UKHSA staff and assets as appropriate to their workplace circumstances.
• Provision of advice on physical and personnel security to UKHSA management and staff.
• Meeting security monitoring and assurance requirements such as the Department Security Health Check, and utilising intelligence and information from those processes to identify areas for improvement and achievement of government security standards.
• Acting as an intelligent customer, establishing the need for and requesting and monitoring services from the Cluster Security Unit and Government Security Centres, and supporting the Government Chief Security Officer through governance structures to ensure security requirements are being met.
• Responsible for security incident management design and implementation, working with other relevant stakeholders across UKHSA.

This is not an exhaustive list please see Job description document for full list of duties

Working for our organisation

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Reporting to the Deputy Director of Workplace and Health and Safety, you will be responsible for leadership and direction of the Protective Security team, maintaining requirements for our highly regulated Science Estate, and across our wider GB portfolio of sites and activities.

Working closely with colleagues across UKHSA, you will:

• Support us in delivering effective security for UKHSA. You will be leading on the management and mitigation of security risks and incidents physical and personnel issues holistically.
• Be responsible for mitigating security threats and for ensuring continuous improvement of statutory security compliance applicable to UKHSA.
• Support business delivery leads and colleagues with their responsibilities, helping to build and embed a strong security culture within UKHSA and associated partners.
• Working collaboratively with Cabinet Office Government Security Group, the Department of Health and Social Care’s Senior Security Adviser external partners including local stakeholder manager for interactions with the Police, especially CTSAs (and oversight of CTSA interactions in other regions for example, via local site security managers at UKHSA’s scientific campuses).
• To work with and provide expert guidance and advice on physical and personnel security issues for any future proposals for the development of the Science Hub Programme.
• Acting as a security professional, championing and sharing best practice through the community and embedding government security culture within UKHS, across technology, operations and suppliers which includes the oversight and management of ROSA.

This is an exciting opportunity to join us and play a significant part in ensuring that we meet our wide-ranging obligations for UK biosecurity. The role is also part of the wider Government Security Profession; a community with a mandate to establish transformation, and responsibility for an entirely new security model to protect the UK.

The post holder should be willing to pursue a program of continuous professional development and actively maintain a high level of awareness of best practice and relevant legislation. You must also be comfortable to work flexibly and operate in a highly evolving environment while UKHSA continues its transformation journey and defines its organisational culture.

For a full list of the main duties and responsibilities of the role, please refer to the attached Job Description.

• Membership of the Security Institute or other nationally recognised security body or institute
• A senior security qualification in one of the main disciplines or ability to demonstrate equivalent experience.
• Sound and demonstrable understanding of security and risk, as well as a willingness to develop knowledge in these areas as appropriate whilst recognising future risks and strategically planning to mitigate them
• Extensive background in physical and personnel security, with experience/knowledge of technology, risk management or data profession advantageous.
• Significant experience of leading personnel and physical security within government or similar environment
• Extensive experience of engaging, advising and influencing at all levels of an organisation including senior managers, whilst projecting credibility and self-assurance.
• Ability to take a strategic approach, considering the impact of your decisions in the broadest of settings, articulating a clear vision for progress and high performance.
• Ability to form excellent relationships within your department and the wider cross-government security community, with the ability to draw on experts/the expertise of others when required.
• Ability to analyse, translate and simplify complex information to provide appropriate advice and guidance.
• Successful track record of proactively forging working relationships with staff at all levels within a complex multi-site organisation.

Selection Process Details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Ability and Experience

Success profiles

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed 10 essential criteria, and this will be in the form of a:

• Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
• 1500- word Statement of Suitability.

This should outline how your skills, experience, and knowledge, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

The Application form and Statement of Suitability will be marked together.

Longlisting: In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:

1. Meets all essential criteria
2. Meets some essential criteria
3. Meets no essential criteria

Please note Piles 1 & 2 will be carried though to shortlisting.

• Membership of the Security Institute or other nationally recognised security body or institute
• Sound and demonstrable understanding of security and risk, as well as a willingness to develop knowledge in these areas as appropriate whilst recognising future risks and strategically planning to mitigate them
• Extensive experience of engaging, advising and influencing at all levels of an organisation including senior managers, whilst projecting credibility and self-assurance

Unfortunately, late applications will not be considered.

Please do not exceed 1500- words. We will not consider any words over and above this number.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview.

Stage 2: Interview

Success profiles

You will be invited to a (single) remote interview

Behaviours, experience, ability and strengths will be tested at interview.

There will be a Presentation, with the title supplied with Invite to interview.

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the bigger picture
• Making effective decisions

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Please note you will not be able to upload your CV. You must complete the application form in as much detail as possible. Please do not email us your CV.

Eligibility Criteria

External

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants

Hybrid any Core HQ

As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's core HQ’s (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and London) or at one of our scientific campus sites (Colindale, Porton and Chilton).

Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport link and benefit from benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Security Clearance Level Requirement

Successful candidates for this role must pass an enhanced disclosure and barring security check before they can be appointed.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Developed Vetting.

For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 10 years as the role requires Developed Vetting (DV) clearance.

UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder / Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Person specification

Application Form & Statement of Suitablity

• Application Form & Statement of Suitablity

Behaviours

• Leadership
• Communicating and influencing
• Seeing the bigger picture
• Making effective decisions

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

Your application may be rejected and/or you may be subject to disciplinary action if evidence of plagiarism is detected. Examples of plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence (AI), as your own.

Applicants must also meet necessary security and vetting requirements, along with any other relevant pre-employment checks.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

For more information on job nationality requirements and the right to work in the UK, see the Civil Service Nationality rules (opens in a new window) and the UK Visas and Immigration rules (opens in a new window)

Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

The Civil Service pay structure and progression is different from NHS Agenda for Change (AfC), most local authority pay grades and other systems that have annual pay increments. For further details, please refer to the Information Sheet- Starting Salaries & Benefits attachment.

For AfC or Medical/Dental posts, you must have the correct professional registration to be appointed. The pay will follow the AfC or Medical & Dental terms & conditions. You may be asked to provide evidence of previous service whilst we are conducting pre-employment checks to determine your starting salary.

You cannot take the post up as a fixed term. If you are an existing UKHSA member of staff, you will take up the post as either a level transfer or a temporary promotion as per the UKHSA’s Pay policy.

Given the nature of the work of the UKHSA, as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act, you may be required in an emergency, if deemed a necessity, to redeploy to another role at short notice. You may also be required to work at any other location, within reasonable travelling distance of your permanent home address, in line with the provisions set out in your contract of employment.

Late Applications will unfortunately not be considered.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact UKHSA Public Accountability Unit via email: [email protected] If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website here.

Reserve List - If more than the required number of suitable candidates pass the interview criteria, you may be kept on a reserve list for 12 months subject to your agreement. You may be contacted, in merit-order, if similar roles with closely matching essential criteria become available and the department choose to appoint from a reserve list.

The panel will assess if candidates meet the requirement of the role first, using a specific benchmark system. If you are interviewed for the post and do not meet the required threshold for the specified grade, your application may be assessed against a similar, lower grade role and you may be offered the post should one be available.

Interview expenses will not be reimbursed.

UKHSA is required to check employment and/or education history covering three consecutive years. Please ensure you give details of at least two different referees, even if you were employed in one company for three years or more.

If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system. Please note, all communication regarding your application will be made via email, please ensure you check your junk/spam folders as emails are sometimes filtered there.

Any move to UKHSA 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/.

Benefits of working at UKHSA include:

• Generous annual leave:
• 26 days for the first 5 years of continuous service
• 28 days after 5 years of continuous service
• 32 days after 10 years of continuous service
• Plus public holidays and one privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions.
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving.
• Access to a retail discounts and cashback site.
• We also promote flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours). UKHSA views flexible working as essential in enabling us to recruit and retain talented people, ensuring that they are able to enjoy a long-lasting career with us. All employees have the right to apply for flexible working and there are a range of options available including working from home, compressed hours and job sharing.
• We also offer a generous maternity/ paternity and adoption leave package.

Hybrid Working

UKHSA operates a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce.

As a hybrid worker, you will usually spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted hours (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's locations (approximately 3 days a week pro rata) and the rest of your time working from home.

Disability Confident Scheme

If you wish to be included in this scheme please tick the box on your application form.

Reasonable Adjustments

The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone.

To help you during the recruitment process, we will take into account any reasonable adjustments that could help you.

An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work.

This is separate to the Disability Confident Scheme.

If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should:

Contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs.

You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

International Police Check

If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and could be time accrued over that period.

Internal Fraud check

Currently this is only for External candidates to the Civil Service.

Security Vetting

Please check the Security Clearance needed for the role and follow the link for more information:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels