Shrivenham, MOD Sealand (Flintshire, Wales), Army Headquarters Andover or Aldershot.
Job Summary
You will lead the organisation through its senior management team to ensure the Security Services Group (SSG) delivers the role of Technical Authority for Above Secret Physical and Technical Security role on behalf of the Ministry of Defence (MOD). You will lead and manage a bespoke Defence capability to ensure that SSG delivers the correct classification of security architecture operationally, commercially and financially to a demanding MOD and cross-Government client base and ensure it is ready to meet evolving Defence risks and opportunities through the best use of Technology and Innovation. Strong engagement across Defence at both SCS2, SCS3 and Ministerial level will be required. You will lead on reforming the organisation and developing “Futures” technology ensuring it has the capability to meet current and future threat.
A key part of the role will be to represent the MOD across a broad Government security Network at Director level. As Head of Specialism for Physical and Technical Security in the Above Secret environment, you will support Tri-Service security training at the appropriate level. You will provide assurance of SSG’s ongoing operations, ensuring they are fully briefed on the risks and opportunities in the sphere of SSG, specifically and related security issues across Defence and wider government.
The vacancy holder will be offering an online Q&A session on Wednesday 11th June between 16:30 – 17:00 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process. If you have any issues accessing the session, please contact: People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.
Job Description
The current responsibilities of the role include:
* Leadership & Management of Staff in the Security Services Group (SSG):
* Provide visible and effective leadership of an organisation of up to 325 staff with Developed Vetting, and turnover of circa £30M per annum. Eight G6 & G7 direct reports. You will be expected to grow the organisation up to 350.
* Provide direction and support to SSG’s wider senior leadership team to ensure SSG outputs are delivered safely, in accordance with Defence and cross-Government priorities and supported by robust corporate governance. These staff are geographically dispersed through the UK and overseas, providing a 24/7 response to a critical capability.
* Provide a well governed and assured through life training and education opportunity for all members of SSG and to support the workforce model, provide consistency of engineering standards and enhance the employment offer to SSG employees.
* Deliver Technical Authority Capability and Strategic Advice across Defence, wider Government and UK Critical National Infrastructure
* Accountable for building strong and effective relationships with all stakeholders across the Government security environment at Head and Director level to ensure Defence’s Incident Prevention and Response (IPR) Owned Sovereign capability is optimised in its delivery.
* Provide the Technical Authority focus for Above Secret, Secret Strap and Attractive to Criminals and Terrorist Organisations (ACTO) equipment across Defence.
* Deliver an effective and efficient Strategic Expert Advisor role within the Army to ensure the niche Defence Owned capability is optimised to meet strategic priorities cross-Government.
* Technology and Innovation
* Provide key leadership and advice within the cross-Government security architecture with specific focus on the Above Secret, STRAP and ACTO areas within Defence.
* Development of a Futures SSG Research and Development team to enable Defence and PAG to have the right technology to meet current and future threat, which itself is linked across Government and Academia as required to retain SSG as Defence’s key in-house security capability.
* Business Development
* Responsible for the Security Services Group’s business plan, identifying and assessing opportunities for the building capability within the business going forward and seeking to grow SSG appropriately both with its Defence offering and across other Government Departments, ensuring that it maintains its place as the key provider of services.
* Government and Assurance
* Accountable for the establishment of an effective governance framework in the Security Services Group and Army and in relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
* Accountable for the development and implementation of a robust delivery assurance regime, in accordance with the Army and Ministry of Defence policies.
The Current Responsibilities Of The Role Include
* Leadership & Management of Staff in the Security Services Group (SSG):
* Provide visible and effective leadership of an organisation of up to 325 staff with Developed Vetting, and turnover of circa £30M per annum. Eight G6 & G7 direct reports. You will be expected to grow the organisation up to 350.
* Provide direction and support to SSG’s wider senior leadership team to ensure SSG outputs are delivered safely, in accordance with Defence and cross-Government priorities and supported by robust corporate governance. These staff are geographically dispersed through the UK and overseas, providing a 24/7 response to a critical capability.
* Provide a well governed and assured through life training and education opportunity for all members of SSG and to support the workforce model, provide consistency of engineering standards and enhance the employment offer to SSG employees.
* Deliver Technical Authority Capability and Strategic Advice across Defence, wider Government and UK Critical National Infrastructure
* Accountable for building strong and effective relationships with all stakeholders across the Government security environment at Head and Director level to ensure Defence’s Incident Prevention and Response (IPR) Owned Sovereign capability is optimised in its delivery.
* Provide the Technical Authority focus for Above Secret, Secret Strap and Attractive to Criminals and Terrorist Organisations (ACTO) equipment across Defence.
* Deliver an effective and efficient Strategic Expert Advisor role within the Army to ensure the niche Defence Owned capability is optimised to meet strategic priorities cross-Government.
* Technology and Innovation
* Provide key leadership and advice within the cross-Government security architecture with specific focus on the Above Secret, STRAP and ACTO areas within Defence.
* Development of a Futures SSG Research and Development team to enable Defence and PAG to have the right technology to meet current and future threat, which itself is linked across Government and Academia as required to retain SSG as Defence’s key in-house security capability.
* Business Development
* Responsible for the Security Services Group’s business plan, identifying and assessing opportunities for the building capability within the business going forward and seeking to grow SSG appropriately both with its Defence offering and across other Government Departments, ensuring that it maintains its place as the key provider of services.
* Government and Assurance
* Accountable for the establishment of an effective governance framework in the Security Services Group and Army and in relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
* Accountable for the development and implementation of a robust delivery assurance regime, in accordance with the Army and Ministry of Defence policies.
Person specification
The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:
* Extensive experience in leading and implementing Security in a Facilities Management setting, with knowledge on technology development and delivery of programmes in large, complex organisations.
* Proven experience of senior stakeholder management in a political, pressured environment with evidence of how and when you have been able to influence senior stakeholders within a complex environment in addition to building and maintaining a strong network of collaborative relationships, especially at Board level.
* An exceptional leader with experience of embedding systems thinking, including compliance, audit and propriety whilst delivering operational outputs, at scale and pace.
* Experience leading business improvement and change initiatives whilst maintaining business as usual activities.
* Experience of leading a mixed disciplinary team with a proven record of building, motivating and inspiring teams, driving inclusion, improving capability and ensuring high performance.
Alongside your salary of £81,000, Ministry of Defence contributes £23,465 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%
Selection process details
To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process no later than 23:55 on Sunday 22nd June 2025 and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:
* A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
* A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role.
We understand that you might use AI and other resources for your application; however, please ensure all information you provide is factually accurate, truthful, and original and doesn’t include ideas or work that isn’t your own. This is so that your application is authentically and credibly your own.
External candidates who join the MOD and are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
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.
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.
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).
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 : SCS Recruitment Team
* Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk
Recruitment team
* Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk
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