Army - Technical Support Officer

We are passionate about Smarter Working and believe that a combination of flexible working practices, digital technology and modern workspaces will give you the opportunity to enjoy a healthy work-life balance, while ensuring you deliver your outcomes effectively and efficiently. However, recognising the benefits of face-to-face working, there is an expectation that you would be in the office at least 60% of the time (3 days a week).

The Defence School of Transport (DST) is looking for a motivated and driven individual to join the Operations Planning Cell department in the role of Technical Support Officer. The Defence School of Transport (DST) was formed in 1996 to provide driver and transport management training to personnel from the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines. The School trains 10,000 service personnel every year, delivering outstanding training on road-going and specialist military vehicles.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job Description

The Technical Support Officer will be responsible for planning and deconflicting the resource requirement for both centralised and supported distributed training courses. This amounts to the planning and allocation of training infrastructure including classrooms and training area and up to 40 vehicle types over 3000 centralised and distributed course instances annually.

Key Responsibilities Of a Technical Support Officer:

• To be the liaison with the Fleet Management Team to ensure resource availability matches the demand for training resource.
• You will be the school lead on the integration and arrival of new platforms through engagement with higher formations and project teams.
• Provide technical advice to the training design and assurance process as part of the safe system of training.
• As part of our ethos of continuous improvement and development, you will also be an essential part of our Continuous Improvement Working Group, where collaboration with our Training Deliverers and Standards and Assurance Department will ensure effective output and compliance with policy.
• Responsible for building and maintaining the resource plan that underpins the annual centralised and supported distributed training plan.
• Responsible for technical assurance in the course design process.
• Ensuring DST meets the annual training requirement in line with the safe system of training.
• Building the annual vehicle resource plan in order to maximise efficiency and meet fleet management obligations.
• Maximise fleet demand signal in order to exploit and plan supported distributed training opportunity.
• Organisation point of contact for external resource meetings.
• Organisation point of contact on platform safety panels.
• Provide technical advice in the training design process.

Person specification

Essential Skills Required:

• Strong communication skills both written and verbal.
• Confidence as you will be required to articulate plans to the chain of command as there will be required interaction with internal and external stakeholders.
• Good analytical skills as you will be required to assess data, identifying trends and issues.
• IT literate as you will be required to utilise the Office 365 package.

Desirable Skills:

• Understanding of Military platforms and training fleet.
• Cat C+E Licence.

Behaviours

We will assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace

Alongside your salary of £29,580, Ministry of Defence contributes £8,569 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. The Army prides itself on being a supportive employer and where possible encourages flexible working, helping you to maintain a great work/life balance.

Other Benefits For Army Civil Servants Include:

• 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years’ service.
• Highly competitive pension scheme.
• Personal and professional development of skills.
• Alternative working patterns for many roles.
• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), a free service that assists you with achieving a productive, healthy environment that is conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
• Enhanced parental and adoption leave.
• 6 days special leave per year which can be used for volunteering activities.
• A thriving diverse and inclusive culture.
• Free onsite parking.
• Catering, retail and leisure facilities on site including a shop, takeaway food outlets and dining facilities.
• Access to onsite Gym.
• Wellbeing lake & nature walks.
• Conservation area & group.

We believe that everyone has the potential to make a difference and you will be supported to help you learn and advance in your career. This includes working towards membership of a professional body and/or undertaking a modern apprenticeship as part of your role.

The post does not offer relocation expenses. External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk.