The Head of Helicopters 2 role has the following areas of responsibility: Deliver and sustain a complex platform portfolio including influencing early concept work with Options & Commissioning and working with broader NAD Group stakeholders to engage Industry and Partner Nations. Be accountable for technical integration of equipment and systems provided by other Core Heads & Directors to your projects and support the integration of systems with other platforms/systems where required. Delivery of the Head of Helicopters 2 portfolio, and sustaining the following capabilities through life: Chinook, Apache, Jupiter 2, H-47(ER) and Dauphin N3. Principal Engineer for the Rotary Wing, Uncrewed Air Systems and Air Enablers portfolio. Support high-profile work under significant Ministerial, Parliamentary, Media and Stakeholder scrutiny, requiring personal resilience and senior stakeholder management. Contribute to the Defence Industrial Strategy as required, understand Industry capability to deliver and influence the longer-term Industrial Plan. Re-balance the approved work programme if required, whilst delivering change management and operational sustainment. Person specification To be successful with your application, you'll need to be able to demonstrate the following essential criteria: Behavioural: Being Accountable - Evidence of accepting and responding to challenges from stakeholders and colleagues in a constructive manner. Fostering Autonomy and Choice - Demonstrable evidence of encouraging measured risk-taking and innovation and encouraging staff autonomy to allow them to work in a way most suitable and productive for their work to deliver better approaches of services. Leading Through Change - Demonstrable experience of proactively championing and leading change by seeking innovative new approaches, policies and systems that add value to the organisation. Technical: A strong track record of successfully delivering a diverse and complex portfolio of acquisition projects and programmes. Demonstrable experience of supporting operations through the development, optimisation and provision of in -service support, logistics and supply chain management solutions. Substantial airworthiness, safety and environmental management experience across all aspects of the life-cycle. Essential Qualifications - Chartered Engineer Including Membership of a relevant professional institution. - Sufficient qualifications and experience to satisfy the Military Aviation Authoritys Airworthiness Competency Assessment and receive a Letter of Endorsement to carry out the roles set out in MAA Regulatory Article 1003. Benefits Alongside your salary of 90,900, Ministry of Defence contributes 26,333 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. 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 employer contribution of 28.97% Things you need to know Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. Selection process details This is an external competition and we welcome applications from candidates in both the public or private sector. To apply for this post, you will need to submit the following documents, via the link by 23:55 on Thursday 15th January 2026. A copy of CV in PDF format setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps. A Supporting Statement in PDF of no more than 1500 words (font Arial, size 11), outlining how you consider your personal skills, leadership attributes, qualities and experience match the essential criteria listed in the attached candidate pack. Applications that exceed the word limit will not be considered. For assistance with Supporting Statements or if you experience any technical issues with submitting your application, please do reach out to our executive search provider Veredus prior to the closing deadline. Late submissions will not be considered. Key Dates: Closing Date - 15/01/2026 Staff Engagement Exercise - 30/01/2026 Interviews - 06/02/2026 After you've applied: Shortlist All submissions will receive an email acknowledgement from upon application. If you do not receive confirmation of receipt of your application 3 working days post-closing date, please contact us at DESHR-SCSRecruitment@mod.gov.uk. The panel will consider the evidence you have provided against the essential criteria set out at page 11 of this candidate pack to determine their shortlist. Staff Engagement Exercise & Individual Leadership Assessment If you are found successful at shortlist you will be invited to attend a staff engagement exercise (SEE). This involves a 10 min presentation to a small group of DE&S employees followed by a Q&A session. Following the SEE the Employee Panel will provide feedback and scores to support the interviewing panel. Alongside the SEE, you will also be required to undertake an Individual Leadership Assessment (ILA). The ILA is completed by an occupational psychologist who will ask you questions around your leadership style and abilities. The ILA is not scored but is used as additional information for the panel. Interview Shortlisted candidates will be asked to attend a panel interview for an in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the essential criteria. Full details of the interview process will be made available to shortlisted candidates. The Panel will consist of Mark Langrill (Director Air Rotary, UAS & AE), Stephen Wilcock (Director Engineering & Safety), and a DE&S HR Business Partner. Offer We will notify all candidates of their outcome, as soon as possible after the final interview. DE&S reserves the right to make any offer of appointment conditional upon references and satisfactory conclusion of security enquiries. In the event that you meet the requirements for the role, but you are not offered the position, we will be pleased to retain your application for a 12-month period in case another suitable role arises. *Please see candidate pack for more information* Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Nationality requirements Open to UK nationals only. 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 equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window). Apply and further information This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Contact point for applicants Job contact : Name : Andra Parvu Email : andra.parvu@veredus.co.uk Telephone : 07763 202 178 Recruitment team Email : andra.parvu@veredus.co.uk Attachments 20251219_1-STAR_Head of Hels2_Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 2014kB) Apply at advertiser's site