Description DE&S Chief of Staff Senior Civil Service Pay Band 1 Thank you for your interest in the Chief of Staff role at DE&S: This is a critical senior appointment for DE&S, as the sole Chief of Staff for the organisation, providing strategic executive support to our Executive Leadership Team to enable delivery of the DE&S Strategy. This is an opportunity to join an organisation making a material difference to defence of the UK homeland, at a hugely pivotal moment in its development, looking both externally across wider MOD and UK defence, and internally to our change programme. Defence Equipment and Support delivers and sustains capability for His Majesty’s Armed Forces. We also play a major role in the prosperity of the UK by spending £8 billion every year on UK contracts, supporting more than 88,000 jobs. The Chief of Staff role has responsibility for bringing coherence to a complex change and delivery landscape in order to direct and focus the senior leadership’s priorities. It will provide the link between the organisation and its stakeholders and the Executive Leadership Team providing the ‘corporate glue’ to enable effective and efficient organisational leadership. To be successful you will have experience of operating at a strategic level in a large and complex organisation and working effectively as part of a multidisciplinary leadership team, actively drawing links across different areas, identifying risks and opportunities and managing competing priorities across a range of internal and external stakeholders. You will be confident operating at the most senior levels both internally and externally, including at Board level. As a leader in the business, you will embody servant leadership and play a pivotal role in creating a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can flourish. You will support transformation of the business, and specifically the corporate organisation. This is an exciting time for DE&S, and we look forward to discussing with you how you might become part of our journey during the recruitment process. Michelle Pester & Katherine Carr, Director Strategy & Corporate Affairs DE&S Location: Your Permanent Duty Station will be DE&S Main office in Abbey Wood, with some travel to MOD Main Building, London. Occasional UK Travel may also be required. Contract: Permanent, Full-time, alternative working patterns including job shares will be considered. Salary: £87,000 - £96,400 per annum for external candidates. Civil Servants applying on promotion into the SCS will receive the higher of up to a 10% increase on current salary or the SCS pay band 1 minimum All SCS applying on level transfer will remain on their current salary. Further information - including pay guidance for existing civil servants - can be found here . Bonus: You will be eligible to earn a non-pensionable, non-consolidated performance-related award. Currently, this is up to 30% for this role and is dependent upon personal and organisational performance, this may be subject to change. Vetting: The role requires Security Clearance (SC), which can be obtained following success in the campaign. Hybrid Working: We’re proud to champion hybrid working, to support our people with work-life balance, while ensuring we meet our mission. Working flexibly between your home and the office - together, we’ll find a balance that works for us both. There is a general expectation that senior leaders will spend at least 60% of their time attending MoD premises in person. Role Responsibilities: Sole Chief of Staff for the whole of DE&S supporting the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), including the CEO and the DE&S Board, Supporting the ELT and DE&S Board to strategically lead the organisation by understanding the key challenges across the breadth of DE&S and MOD. Cohering and advising on ELT priorities across the organisation to ensure the senior leadership is operating as a strong team, focussed on providing strategic direction, driving organisational change and recognising and responding to the wider global and political context. Supporting the ELT to deliver the DE&S strategy and ensuring they operate in line with the management construct through provision of strategic agendas and coordinating and driving the ELT initiatives Setting performance metrics and behavioural goals for the ELT and supporting delivery Providing a critical link between DE&S and our broad range of Stakeholders using your strong communication and relationship management skills Provide leadership on DE&S Operating Model changes within own areas to ensure maximum benefit is achieved for the organisation as a whole. Embody servant leadership and provide direction and support to a wider executive support team of c20 people and beyond own area, championing equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Essential Criteria: To be successful with your application, you'll need to be able to demonstrate the following 6 essential criteria: Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion. Demonstratable visible leadership, with a proactive commitment to diversity and inclusion and demonstrable experience of creating and maintaining a psychologically safe and inclusive environment. 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 Being accountable. Evidence of accepting and responding to challenges from stakeholders and colleagues in a constructive manner. Demonstrable experience of exceptional delivery in a senior leadership role within a large and highly complex organisation Evidence of deploying high levels of influence, especially with senior leaders, to achieve positive outcomes for the organisation. The ability to managing competing priorities, influencing decisions and challenging behaviours at senior levels. Desirable Criteria: Evidence of being agile trained and having lean six sigma knowledge Evidence of understanding organisational governance and strategy How to apply: 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, by 23:55 on Wednesday 15th January 2025. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps. A Supporting Statement of no more than 1750 words (font Arial, size 11), outlining how you consider your personal skills, leadership attributes, qualities and experience match the essential criteria on page 11. Applications that exceed the word limit or that are submitted without a supporting statement will not be considered. For assistance with Supporting Statements please do reach out to the recruitment team.