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- Tasks: Lead exercises and lessons learned to enhance transport resilience and preparedness.
- Company: Department for Transport, focused on major incident response and resilience.
- Benefits: Opportunity to work on high-profile events and make a real impact.
- Other info: Great career development opportunities in a supportive environment.
- Why this job: Join a dynamic team ensuring the UK transport network is prepared for any challenge.
- Qualifications: Strong analytical skills and experience in stakeholder engagement.
The predicted salary is between 40000 - 50000 £ per year.
Are you able to rapidly familiarise yourself with new skills, including those needed for crisis response, debriefing, or exercising? Can you think innovatively and strategically to analyse complex information and data? Have you built and maintained effective working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders? If so, we’d love to hear from you!
The Transport Resilience, Analysis, International and Sanctions Directorate within the Department for Transport (DfT) houses the Resilience Division, whose primary objective is to ensure the Department can prepare for, mitigate, and respond to major incidents affecting the UK transport network and wider government interests. As part of this Division, you will collaborate with partners across DfT, other government departments, and industry to strengthen resilience against future threats and hazards. These could range from terrorist incidents and cyber-attacks to severe flooding or volcanic eruptions.
The post holder will join the Major Events preparedness (MEP) team, whose role is to ensure the department is well prepared for both planned and unplanned major events. This includes:
- Leading the Department’s exercising programme to ensure departmental emergency plans are effective, and officials have the appropriate skills to respond effectively to unplanned emergencies.
- Leading the department's lessons-identified portfolio post major events or exercises to ensure the department continually improves.
- Coordinating the transport provisions for one-off, high-profile government priorities such as ceremonial, political, and sporting events (G7 summits, Tour de France, Euro 2028 etc.).
In this role, you will oversee the Department’s lessons identified and exercise programmes, ensuring both processes enhance resilience and preparedness. Following significant events, you will facilitate debriefs, capture participant feedback, and conduct research to produce clear, evidence-based reports with actionable recommendations. Alongside this, you will design and deliver departmental exercises, working closely with policy leads to define objectives, coordinate logistics, and assess feasibility. This includes meeting departmental exercise commitments and contributing to the Government’s annual national exercise programme. Together, these activities are critical to testing plans, mitigating future risks, and ensuring the Department can respond effectively to major incidents.
Key Responsibilities
- Coordinate the Department’s Exercising and Lessons Programme; take ownership of planning and delivering exercises and lessons learned activities that strengthen resilience and preparedness across the Department.
- Lead the DfT’s Lessons identification processes; deliver structured debrief sessions with stakeholders, capture feedback, and produce evidence-based reports with actionable recommendations that will drive business improvement and mitigate risk.
- Design and Deliver Exercises; work with policy leads to define objectives, coordinate logistics, and assess feasibility for departmental exercises.
- Collaborate with modal policy experts to understand the impacts of different risks facing the department, and escalating appropriately to senior leaders.
- Support the development and subsequent implementation of the Transport Resilience Strategy.
- Support the planning for major events to ensure transport is factored into central government Concept of Operations.
- Deputise for the Head of Major Events Planning, Exercising and Lessons at internal management, cross-Whitehall and external meetings.
Exercising and Lessons Officer in Birmingham employer: Government Recruitment Service
Contact Detail:
Government Recruitment Service Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Exercising and Lessons Officer in Birmingham
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to people in the industry, attend events, and connect with stakeholders. Building relationships can open doors that a CV just can't.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for interviews by researching the department's recent activities and challenges. Show us you’re not just interested in the role but also in how you can contribute to tackling major incidents.
✨Tip Number 3
Practice your crisis response skills! Think through scenarios related to transport resilience and be ready to discuss how you'd handle them. We want to see your innovative thinking in action.
✨Tip Number 4
Apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen. Plus, it shows us you’re serious about joining our team and making a difference.
We think you need these skills to ace Exercising and Lessons Officer in Birmingham
Some tips for your application 🫡
Know the Role Inside Out: Before you start writing, make sure you really understand what the Exercising and Lessons Officer role is all about. Dive into the job description and highlight key responsibilities and skills. This will help us see how your experience aligns with what we're looking for.
Show Off Your Skills: When you're crafting your application, don’t hold back on showcasing your skills! Use specific examples from your past experiences that demonstrate your ability to analyse complex information, lead exercises, and work with stakeholders. We want to see how you can bring value to our team!
Be Clear and Concise: Keep your application clear and to the point. Avoid jargon and overly complicated language. We appreciate straightforward communication, so make sure your writing is easy to read and gets straight to the heart of your qualifications and motivations.
Apply Through Our Website: Finally, don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it gives you a chance to explore more about StudySmarter and what we stand for!
How to prepare for a job interview at Government Recruitment Service
✨Know Your Stuff
Make sure you’re well-versed in the key responsibilities of the Exercising and Lessons Officer role. Familiarise yourself with crisis response strategies, debriefing techniques, and how to analyse complex data. This will not only show your enthusiasm but also your capability to handle the challenges of the job.
✨Showcase Your Relationships
Be ready to discuss your experience in building and maintaining effective working relationships with various stakeholders. Think of specific examples where you’ve collaborated successfully, especially in high-pressure situations. This will demonstrate your ability to work within a team and across departments.
✨Think on Your Feet
Prepare for situational questions that test your innovative thinking and strategic analysis skills. Practice articulating how you would approach unexpected scenarios, such as a major incident affecting transport. This will highlight your problem-solving abilities and readiness for the role.
✨Bring Evidence to the Table
When discussing your past experiences, back up your claims with evidence-based results. Whether it’s a successful exercise you led or lessons learned from a major event, having concrete examples will strengthen your case and show that you can deliver actionable recommendations.