Health, Safety & Environment Lead

At Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), we supply and maintain vital equipment and services for the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. Together, we deliver a vast range of essential defence programmes, and strive for what's next. Because it helps keep our military at the top of their game and our nation safe – for today, and tomorrow.

DE&S has recently been integrated into the National Armaments Director (NAD) Group. The NAD Group brings together key Ministry of Defence (MOD) organisations to unite expertise across science, technology, procurement, infrastructure, and support to provide integrated capabilities faster and more efficiently for our armed forces and our allies. This is an exciting new opportunity to enable better ways of working and empower greater collaboration across Defence.

We offer 25+ days’ holiday, flexible and hybrid working, enhanced parental leave schemes, shopping discounts, and an exceptional employer pension contribution of 28.97%, to help make work for you.

This is a unique opportunity to shape how Health, Safety & Environmental Protection (HS&EP) is delivered across multiple areas of Defence. You will play a vital role in ensuring that our people and others affected by our activities are protected, that our operations remain environmentally responsible, and that our organisations consistently deliver outputs that are both safe to operate and operated safely. By developing policy, professional standards, and assurance activities, you will help create the conditions necessary for a safe, sustainable, and effective working environment.

In this strategic role, you will collaborate closely with senior leaders, specialist practitioners, and key stakeholders to embed continual improvement, strengthen organisational resilience, and influence the governance and arrangements that underpin effective HS&EP management. Your proven leadership and expertise across a broad range of specialist disciplines—including occupational safety, health and wellbeing, environmental protection, fire safety, risk management, assurance, and incident management—will be essential to your success.

Joining us means taking responsibility for developing and authoring HS&EP policy and standards that implement a unified Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS). This system is designed to deliver a consistent and proportionate approach to managing health, safety, and environmental risks across multiple organisations. You will have the scope to foster a positive HS&EP culture by influencing behaviours, strengthening decision-making, and promoting a collective commitment to keeping people safe and enabling safe delivery.

You will lead assurance activities, analyse performance and risk information, and provide professional oversight to a network of specialist advisers and subject matter experts. This role empowers you to work directly with senior leaders on complex and high-profile challenges, while benefiting from investment in your professional development and coaching.

Please note that this role can be carried out at any of our sites across the UK with some travel to other sites and locations required.

What Our People Say: "The organisation provides a genuine opportunity to influence policy, set professional standards and work across a diverse range of environments. The breadth and scope to deliver meaningful improvements for people across Defence is both challenging and highly rewarding."

We champion flexible ways of working which include regular in-person attendance at our sites across the UK with an expectation of this being at least one day a week to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration and flexibility of hours to support work-life balance and business need. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourself with the site, Stakeholders and your role.

This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 5 years and obtain Security Check (SC) security clearance. Clearance must be obtained without any caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role you’ve been recruited for. If it isn’t obtained or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn. Obtaining SC security clearance can be a lengthy process, and we reserve the right to withdraw any conditional offer made if the necessary security clearance isn’t obtained within 12 months.

What you’ll be doing:

• Provide tactical H&S advice on complex and contentious issues.
• Development of H&S policies, procedures, guidance, and rules for DE&S.
• Manage functional assurance activity to ensure due diligence.
• Conduct H&S trend analysis and provide functional advice to relevant stakeholders.
• Analyse status and risk reports against KPIs and BPIs, communicating key outputs to necessary stakeholders.
• Assist in analysing the skill requirements for the OHSE specialism, helping to provide training and development where appropriate.

To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• Lead Criterion - Demonstration of working in a Health and Safety leadership role
• NEBOSH Diploma or equivalent Level 5/6 qualification.

In addition to the responsibilities above, the following technical competences and behaviours will be assessed at interview:

• Core Behaviour 1: Leadership – CSBC 4
• Core Behaviour 2: Changing and Improving – CSBC 4
• Technical Competence 1: Fundamentals (OHSEP) – Expert
• Technical Competence 2: Conducting Risk Assessments (OHSEP) – Practitioner/Expert

Offered benefits:

• 25 days’ annual leave +1 day a year up to 30 days, 8 bank holidays and a day off for the King’s birthday
• Flexible and hybrid working options
• Market-leading average employer pension contribution of 28.97%
• Annual performance-based bonus and recognition awards
• Access to specialist training and funded qualifications
• Support for progression
• Huge range of discounts
• Volunteering days
• Enhanced parental leave schemes

Improving innovation and enriching our culture, diversity of thought is vital to our success. So, whether you’re looking for a new opportunity, a next step, or a helping hand as you return from a career break, bring your experiences and help deliver for the defence of tomorrow. Here you’ll find a supportive, family-friendly organisation to be a part of - and if you need any assistance with your application, just let us know.