Director of System Resilience in London

We offer great flexible working opportunities, and have offices in Belfast, Cardiff, London and York. Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not overseas. Travel within the UK will be required on an occasional basis, possibly with overnight stays.

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1600 people. We play a critical role in protecting public health and consumers' wider interests in food across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our vision is to drive change, delivering "food you can trust" and working towards a healthier and more sustainable food system.

Are you ready to lead the FSA's work to strengthen the resilience of the UK food system at a time of significant change? We are recruiting our first Director of System Resilience, a pivotal member of the Executive Management Team reporting directly to the Chief Executive. This is a rare opportunity to shape and lead a newly configured directorate that will play a central role in how the FSA anticipates, assesses and responds to risks across the food safety and authenticity landscape.

You will oversee the FSA's work as a central competent authority, ensuring we manage risk across the food system with increasing agility and intelligence. Bringing together regulatory assurance, local authority delivery, business engagement, incident prevention and response, organisational resilience and our new Risk and Intelligence Hub, your directorate will strengthen our capability to detect, prevent and respond to emerging threats in a fast‑moving environment.

You will lead improvements in our engagement with local authorities and food businesses, deepening our understanding of operating conditions across the system and driving better, more transparent performance. You will also strengthen our incident response and resilience functions, ensuring the FSA is well prepared for future shocks and able to coordinate calm, decisive leadership during major events. You will represent the FSA in UK‑wide resilience planning and hold lead responsibility for key food-related risks on the National Risk Register.

We are seeking an outstanding system leader, someone who can draw insight from complex data, inspire coordinated action across organisational and sector boundaries, and provide confident judgement under pressure. You will set the tone for a directorate of around 175 people, bringing together existing and new teams and ensuring they operate collaboratively, intelligently and with a clear sense of purpose.

If you are motivated by the opportunity to shape a nationally significant agenda and strengthen the resilience of the UK's food system for the future, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Working pattern guidance: If applying as a job share partnership, you should both complete separate application forms on Civil Service Jobs but should make it clear that you are applying as job sharers. Applicants who wish to work compressed hours are welcome to apply - however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. 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.

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.

Alongside your salary of £115,000, Food Standards Agency contributes £33,315 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer.

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, applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Selection process details: You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role. You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the essential criteria.

• System leadership and driving change: Proven ability to use data‑driven insights to manage system‑wide risk and performance, bringing together stakeholders to address issues and deliver improvements.
• Leading risk and crisis response: Demonstrated ability to lead an organisation or system through major incidents, lead multi-agency or cross-sector collaboration to ensure rapid and effective response.
• Communication: First-class communication skills. Ability to communicate clearly, persuasively and confidently with internal and external audiences at all levels including media.
• Building effective networks and influencing: Experience of building strong relationships and drawing on them to deliver outcomes in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
• Inclusive leadership: Extensive experience of leading high performing teams and building capability to deliver exceptional results.

Full details of the selection process will be made available to shortlisted candidates. Shortlisted candidates will be offered the opportunity to meet (remotely) with the Chief Executive of the FSA prior to the final selection panel interview to learn more about the organisation and role; further details of this will be confirmed with the applicant.

Expected Timeline: Advert closes: 15th March 2026. Sift meeting: Expected to take place week commencing 23rd March 2026. Longlist meetings: Expected to take place weeks commencing 30th March & 6th April. Shortlist meeting: 17th April. Staff Engagement Exercise (SEE) & Media Assessment: 28th April 2026. Final panel interview: 14th May 2026.

As UKSV SC is required for this role, please confirm you have been resident in the UK for a minimum of 3 of the last 5 years. Appointment will be subject to the candidate having, or being able to achieve, National Security Vetting at Security Check (SC) level.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed.

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).

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.

If you feel your application has not been treated fairly, you should email the FSA's Director of People. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.