Job Description

Details

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Reference number

416248
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Salary

81,000
If London based, you will also receive a London Weighting Allowance of 3,300 per annum.
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP
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Job grade

SCS Pay Band 1###

Contract type

Permanent###

Business area

MOD - Head Office & Corporate Services###

Type of role

Analytical


Finance

Senior leadership###

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share###

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

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Abbey Wood, Bristol or MOD Main Building, London

About the job

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Job summary

Reporting to the Director Assurance, but with direct access to the Permanent Secretary and Ministers, you will be responsible for leading the provision of independent advice to a range of stakeholders that enables the Ministry of Defence to make effective investment and planning decisions that secure value for money.


You will need to be a trusted voice in Defence, across Government and Internationally whose purpose is to drive Cost, Risk and Schedule management through independent assurance. Collaboration is at the heart of the how the team operates so relationship building will be a key aspect of the role. You will lead a team of circa 250 technical experts across Accountancy, Estimating (risk, cost and schedule), Cost Engineering and Analytics, geographically dispersed around the UK, with 12 offices close to or within sites of key Defence industrial suppliers. They provide expert independent costing advice to enable the Ministry of Defence to make effective business decisions on procurement and support.


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Job description

Working to the Director Assurance, you will have responsibility for:

Leading the Ministry of Defence's independent Cost Assurance and Analysis Service, providing effective corporate and strategic leadership and management of some 250 geographically dispersed staff (with Abbey Wood, Bristol and MOD HQ in Whitehall the main centres). Providing functional leadership across Defence on cost management and assurance. Maintaining strategic relationships within the Department of State and all areas of Defence. Delivering trusted and expert cost management, assurance and analysis services to customers. Ensuring the quality of services provided to customers, including the most senior staff and Ministers, and developing innovative products. Maintaining and developing the team's professional skills. Supporting Commercial customers in the Single Source environment with the provision of advice on Qualifying Defence Contracts and providing similar services to overseas governments. Maintaining an independent view of the costs of major projects to inform Departmental budgeting, approvals processes and stakeholders like the National Audit Office and HM Treasury. ###

Person specification

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:

Extensive knowledge and experience of providing cost management and advisory services to support high value change and transformational projects or programmes over 400m, in large, complex organisations. Strong analytical skills, with the ability to manage and interpret complex financial data and information to provide valuable business insight and innovative solutions. An exceptional leader with a track record of building, motivating and empowering high performing teams, often under pressure. Acting as an inspirational role model who engages, develops and nurtures staff at all levels to build a confident, delivery focused team. Proven experience of senior stakeholder management in a political, pressured environment with evidence of being able to build and maintain a strong network of Board level working relationships. Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to influence and provide advice to very senior leaders. Must be a qualified Accountant, with the relevant professional qualification, OR has deep experience in cost estimating or cost engineering.

Benefits

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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%

Things you need to know

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Selection process details

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process by no later than

23:55 Monday 4

th

August 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.

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.


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 security check .



See our vetting charter .
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.###

Nationality requirements

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) 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
Further information on nationality requirements
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Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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 .
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 and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

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This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans 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

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Job contact :

Name : SCS Recruitment Team Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk
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Recruitment team

* Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk