Team Leader

As Dstl’s first line of management, your primary purpose as a Team Leader is to provide leadership to the people in your team. This has a balance of leading / managing people and technical leadership, ensuring the development and delivery of capability to meet current and future demand.

The Platform Systems Division of Dstl supports the MoD and wider government in a broad range of ground breaking technical research areas. We respond to current and future demands ensuring that the UK retains a battle-winning advantage.

We are recruiting Team Leaders for the following teams:

The Air & Space Warfare Centre Team. The team works directly with military personnel providing authoritative scientific expertise to ensure evidence based decisions and outcomes across a wide range of air requirements. The team has an immediate and high-profile impact on operations playing a tangible role in ongoing technical development, future procurement, and future Science and Technology focus areas. The team are primarily based within the Air and Space Warfare Centre HQ at RAF Waddington, and also have members at other UK sites. The Team Leader for this team is not required to relocate permanently to be co-located with the team, though will need to make regular in-person visits. Location expectations can be discussed at interview.

The Rotorcraft Analysis and Engineering Team. The team address the enduring requirement to provide impartial technical advice, leadership and support to MOD to support the development, acquisition, and operation of military rotorcraft. We achieve this facing into an array of customer and stakeholder organisations spanning the MOD Research Programme, Defence Equipment & Support, and the Front Line Commands. The UK military rotorcraft fleet is approaching a period of extensive upgrade and replacement. This presents an opportunity to take advantage of new technologies and capabilities, including those enabled by autonomous uncrewed air systems.

The Air Enablers Team. The team is comprised of Operational Analysts who support evidence based decision making in the Air domain using a range of analytical techniques including, but not limited to, modelling, simulation, wargaming and soft systems methods. The team provide analysis, advice and support to decision makers on current and future capability on a platform and system level. Domain areas covered are broad and include: C2, Survivability, Air Mobility; and Operational Logistics.

In this role you will:

Develop & sustain capability (people relationships, infrastructure, knowledge, licences to practice) to provide technical/scientific contribution to current and future projects across Dstl through effective use of the Team's resources/expertise:

• Maintain awareness of current and future demand requirements
• Understand and use the different resource options to ensure an appropriate mix of team members
• Understand and effectively develop capability to align with Division Capability plans
• Build resilience through succession planning, including developing future leaders

Direct Line management of a team of 15 Team Members:

• Enable effective performance management and development of team members
• Allocate employees to tasks or projects based on requirements
• Coach and support Team Members career and personal development.
• Ensure that people have the necessary skills and competencies for the tasks assigned
• Ensure employees have knowledge of and conform to all safety and security and resilience requirements.
• Allocation of employees to all leadership roles on projects (PM, PTA, LTR)

Build employees engagement and create an environment which nurtures excellence through:

• setting the direction for team, including how the team fits with strategic aims;
• creating a positive and inclusive working environment that aligns with Dstl Values, champions diversity and enables employees to excel
• communicating and owning difficult messages;
• challenging and addressing poor performance
• recognising and highlighting high performance
• networking with other Team Leaders and stakeholders to share good practice and ensure a coherent approach

Implement Dstl's policies and ensure compliance with the Management System.

Provide individual technical/professional contribution as agreed with Line Manager.

Recommending allocation of employees to all leadership roles on projects.

Safety

• Pro-actively support safe working practices, appreciating the need for colleague welfare is the top priority for Dstl. You will take responsibility for working safely and report on any practices, no matter how big or small, to mitigate any potential risks.

We are looking for someone who has:

• The ability to quickly develop good working relationships with a variety of people.
• Good networking skills.
• Tact and diplomacy in dealing with a wide range of issues/challenges
• Persistence to see things through to a conclusion
• Passion for developing capability and people
• The ability to lead through change
• Able to communicate coherently and sensitively, explaining complex issues in a way that is easy to understand.
• Emotional Intelligence, able to understand own and others reactions, motivations etc
• Able to handle conflicting priorities successfully delivering to changing requirements.

Essential Skills

• Effective leadership
• Management and/or supervision of people and tasks
• Excellent communication skills.
• Sufficient technical and business management expertise to understand the tools, techniques and skills required within the Team and how to develop them.
• Understanding of safety, security and resilience risks in order to assess/mitigate those relating to the specific team.
• Understanding the business benefits of diversity and equality and how to create an inclusive working environment
• Commercial Awareness - ability to understand what makes a business or organisation successful. Understanding of the commercial implications of contracts and working practices.
• Able to develop networks and use these to resolve issues/challenges.

Essential Experience

• Experience of providing effective leadership
• Experience of managing and/or supervising people
• Experience of successfully communicating difficult/complex messages
• Successful management and delivery of work
• Supervision of others; this may include tasking or guidance.

Desirable

• Understanding of defence environment
• Experience of working with military customers

Leadership

As a leader in Defence you will help shape, role model and bring to life the ‘One Defence’ mindset that will enable us to deliver our vision and strategic objectives. Your leadership style must be inspiring, confident and empowering. Working at every level of our organisation to break down silos, unite teams and create a culture that is trusting, collaborative, innovative, diverse and inclusive. Enabling us to deliver with pace and agility through the skills, commitment and empowerment of our employees and military colleagues.

Important Information

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be UK Nationals who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to undertake the projects we are involved in to protect us from security threats. For this reason, only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners.

This role will require full UK security clearance and you should have resided in the UK for the past 5 years. For some roles Developed Vetting will also be required, in this case you should have resided in the UK for the past 10 years.

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Developing Self and Others
• Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Leadership

Benefits

Dstl’s full range of great benefits can be found in the information pack which includes:

• Financial: An excellent pension scheme starting from 26% employer contribution (find out more here). In Year Rewarding Achievement bonuses and thank you vouchers. Rental deposit scheme and cycle to work scheme.

• Flexible working: Options include alternative working patterns such as; compressed hours (e.g. working a 4 day week/ 9 day fortnight), job shares and annualised hours (agreed number of hours per annum paid monthly i.e. working term-time only).

• Working hours: Flexibility around your working day (e.g. start time, finish time). Ability to bank hours in a 12 month reference period including the ability to accrue and use 3 days per calendar month.

• Where you work: Depending on your role, blended working may be available including remote working to suit you and your team. This can be discussed at interview.

• Annual leave: 25 days pro rata (rising to 30 after 5 years) plus 8 public holidays with the ability to buy/sell 5 additional days per annum.

• Family: Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks with full pay, an additional 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid

• Learning and Development: Dstl encourages and supports charterships, accreditations and provides employees access to fully funded apprenticeships up to level 7 (Masters Degree). Dstl will pay for 2 memberships with relevant bodies/institutions. Employees also have access to Civil Service Learning.

• Facilities: Onsite parking, EV Charging points, restaurants, cafés and gyms.