Location

Office based; multi-location; home based in the UK Belfast, Cardiff, Birmingham, London, York. Occasional travel for meetings within the UK, possible international travel in line with business need. Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not overseas.

About the job

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1300 people, with a big vision – to drive change in the food system so that it delivers “food we can trust”. More than 90% of food and feed law in the UK currently comes from Europe and our primary goal is to continue to protect public health and UK consumers’ wider interest in food. As we have now exited the EU the FSA faces a significant period of change and activity.

Job description

We are looking for someone to head up our Veterinary & Meat Hygiene Policy (V&MHP) team and ensure consumer safety is at the heart of meat production in the UK. The team works with colleagues across the FSA (e.g. our Operational teams, lawyers, our Better Regulation team and in conjunction with the FSA’s offices in the devolved countries). The V&MHP team also works closely with veterinary and industry representatives, colleagues in other Government Departments and internationally, to develop effective, proportionate and practical policies that protect consumers and maintain safe trade.

This role offer is a great opportunity to work on policy, EU and international-related issues affecting everyone in the UK. The role will focus on contributing to the work of the directorate and providing senior leadership to the Veterinary and Meat Hygiene Policy team. The successful candidate will bring their veterinary expertise and excellent communication skills to work across the FSA, wider government and with stakeholders, driving policy development and problem resolution using project management principles and ensuring that technical input is robust and quality assured.
 

Responsibilities

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process. We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Qualifications

Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) registered or eligible for registration

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer. Please also refer to the attached Terms and Conditions statement.

Things you need to know

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Full details of the selection process are detailed in the attached candidate pack. This will consist of shortlisting against the essential and desirable person specification criteria stated. If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to the final selection stage consisting of a behaviours-based interview and presentation (based on experience).

In the event of receiving a large number of applications an initial sift may take place on just the identified lead criteria indicated below:
• Robust knowledge of the national and international legal framework for food (specifically meat hygiene and veterinary public health issues, including epidemiology, transboundary epizootic diseases, zoonotic and foodborne diseases, food hygiene and technology) and experience of leading complex and challenging food safety policy development

We particularly welcome applications from black and minority ethnic candidates as they are under-represented within our organisation at this level. All appointments are made on merit.

We actively review the deployment of talent on a periodic basis in the interests of optimising personal development and the achievement of business plans.

Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer. Please also refer to the attached terms and conditions statement.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK, Commonwealth and European Economic Area (EEA) and certain non EEA nationals. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here.

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.