Organisation: Defence Equipment & Support
Salary: £53,400 per annum (plus generous benefits)
Grade: Professional II
Working Pattern: Full time, Part time, Job Share, Flexible Working
Contract Type: Permanent
At Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), we supply and maintain vital equipment and services for the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. Together, we deliver a vast range of essential defence programmes, and strive for what's next. Because it helps keep our military at the top of their game and our nation safe – for today, and tomorrow.
DE&S has recently been integrated into the National Armaments Director (NAD) Group. The NAD Group brings together key Ministry of Defence (MOD) organisations to unite expertise across science, technology, procurement, infrastructure, and support to provide integrated capabilities faster and more efficiently for our armed forces and our allies. This is an exciting new opportunity to enable better ways of working and empower greater collaboration across Defence. For further information about the NAD Group, please visit: National Armaments Director Group - GOV.UK
We offer 26.5+ days’ holiday, flexible and hybrid working, enhanced parental leave schemes, shopping discounts, and an exceptional employer pension contribution of around 28.97%, to help work work for you.
Nationality, visas and vetting: For security reasons this role is open to sole UK nationals only. A ‘sole UK national’ refers to an individual who holds citizenship solely in the UK, without dual citizenship or nationality from another country. We’re unable to offer visa sponsorship.
This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 10 years and obtain Developed Vetting (DV) security clearance. Clearance must be obtained without any caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role you have been recruited for. If it isn’t obtained or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn. Obtaining DV security clearance can be a lengthy process. You’ll join us once Security Check (SC) clearance is obtained, and then the more enhanced DV checks will continue after you’ve started your employment. If SC clearance isn’t obtained within 12 months, we reserve the right to withdraw any conditional offer made.
Job description
Why join Salvage and Marine Operations (SALMO)?
SALMO is the MOD’s centre of excellence for marine salvage and emergency response. Our multidisciplinary team, ranging from Master Mariners and Naval Architects to Environmental Scientists and Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV) / Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) Operators, delivers critical support to UK Defence operations around the globe. Whether it's locating downed aircraft on the seabed, surveying wrecks, towing warships, or conducting emergency response drills, our work is as varied as it is vital.
What makes this role different?
‘Every day is different and I’ve had the opportunity to be part of some exciting projects: Bell from famous US destroyer sunk off Scillies returned to its owners’
What will your job include?
As a Subsea vehicle engineer within SALMO Seabed Operations (SBO), you will join a dynamic and enthusiastic team to deliver a discrete capability within SALMO using cutting edge commercial AUV and ROV technology to provide deep water salvage outputs in support of SALMO and wider MOD objectives. You will be responsible for overseeing the management and execution of subsea surveys using both AUVs and ROVs. The team currently operates Kongsberg Hugin AUVs and Perry Slingsby Work Class ROVs to support salvage and wreck management tasks.
You will be combining office-based engineering responsibilities with hands-on operational work at sea. In the office, you will collaborate closely with project and operational managers on activities such as procuring new systems, developing technical requirements, and producing engineering management plans and supporting documentation.
At sea, you will take on the role of engineering manager, overseeing the launch, recovery, and maintenance of systems. You will also use your technical expertise to operate, troubleshoot, and repair subsea systems while providing line management for junior engineers during deployments.
The position is ideal for an experienced AUV or ROV technician or engineer seeking a more varied role in a stable environment, or for a hands-on project engineer looking for a new and exciting challenge.
The role offers a good work life balance, only deploying at sea for a maximum of 120 days per year with the remaining time taken against leave, training and office-based activity at HMNB Devonport.
We champion flexible ways of working. Whilst onshore, regular in-person on site attendance is required (this is expected to be approximately 60% of your working week) to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance and business need. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role.
The role is operationally critical and comes with additional allowances under SALMO Terms and Conditions, https://bit.ly/SALMO-Terms-and-Conditions reflecting the importance and intensity of the work you’ll be doing.
For SALMO Retained Grade seeking promotion, please refer to Part 2, Section 10.2 of the SALMO Retained Grade Handbook.
Due to the nature of this role, you are:
Please see the Professional Engineering Institution Equivalences for a list of approved equivalent professional registration as per the requirements listed above.
In addition to the responsibilities above, the following technical competences and behaviours will be assessed at interview:
Improving innovation and enriching our culture, diversity of thought is vital to our success. So whether you’re looking for a new opportunity, a next step, or a helping hand as you return from a career break, bring your experiences and help deliver for the defence of tomorrow. Here you’ll find a supportive, family-friendly organisation to be a part of - and if you need any assistance with your application, just let us know.
Any personal data that you provide during the Recruitment process will be treated in accordance with the MOD Privacy Notice
Please note as a Disability Confident Leader we want to ensure you receive any reasonable adjustments that you need throughout the recruitment process. If you do require any reasonable adjustments, you can let us know on your online application under the section ‘Please indicate and give details of any reasonable adjustments you may require during the recruitment process.’
The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.
Please Note: In the event of a tied score at interview, the Order of Merit will be distinguished based on the ranking of the assessed behaviours and competencies below:
In the event of a further tie using the method above, we reserve the right to utilise the Lead criterion, and/or and additional assessment.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.
Selection Process Details
Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.
If you feel that 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 department via email: [email protected]
Where a competition identifies more appointable candidates than there are available vacancies, a Reserve List may be created for other similar roles in the Civil Service. This may be used for up to 12 months to fill the same role or other similar roles with closely matching essential criteria without further testing of merit.
Offering at a lower level:
If you’re not successful at interview, we may offer you a role at a lower level if this is a match for your skills and experience. If this applies to your application, you’ll be scored against criteria for the lower-level role and offers will be made in merit order. If you accept this position, you’ll be able to take advantage of opportunities to develop your career as part of our team.
