Project Manager

Location

Multi-location from one of our FSA Offices (Belfast, Cardiff, Birmingham, London or York), or home based in the UK. Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not overseas. Occasional travel to London and York offices and external locations for meetings, as required

About the job Summary

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”. Our primary goal is to continue to protect public health and consumers’ wider interest in food. As we have now exited the EU the FSA faces a significant period of change and activity.

Job description

The FSA is collaborating across government to launch a major new programme which aims to harness the power of genomic technology to identify and track foodborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistant organisms through the food system and environment.

This Shared Outcomes Fund (SOF) programme will build a national data system to enable ‘user-friendly’ analysis, storage and sharing of pathogen genome data and associated metadata. It will also test the application of novel genome-sequencing technologies for microbial surveillance, bringing together partners from academia, government and industry to produce a world-leading pathogen surveillance system.

We are looking for a Project Manager with a Science background to help drive the project forward.
 

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

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• A formal project management qualification such as APM PMQ, Prince2 or Agile.
• A degree or equivalent in a STEM discipline.

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 Security

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, Experience and Technical skills.

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

In the event of receiving a large number of applications an initial sift may take place on just the identified lead criteria indicated below:
• Has successfully project managed teams in the delivery of large, complex research programmes, and evaluated their performance.

The FSA is committed to being an inclusive employer with a diverse workforce. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible diversity of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. 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.

Any move to the Food Standards Agency from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare.
Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

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

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Further information on nationality requirements

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.