Senior Application Manager

This exciting and interesting post puts you at the heart of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate’s (VMD) role in the regulation of veterinary medicines, working alongside scientific colleagues, the pharmaceutical industry, and other worldwide regulators.
The team co-ordinates all application-related activities, which are subject to published targets and strict timescales. Veterinary medicines regulation is undergoing a period of significant change due to the introduction of new legislation in GB, and the continued adjustment to the new landscape following Brexit with veterinary medicines regulation operating slightly differently in NI. This adds to the complexity of the work dealt with by the team, who must navigate a large volume of work in this unsettled environment., You (as the jobholder) will manage a large team of people (currently 15) dealing with application-related activities.
Your main duties will include:
+ Line management and leadership of a large team.
+ Ensuring staff wellbeing and effective performance in their roles.
+ Becoming quickly familiar with the nature of the work, so that you triage procedural issues, implement solutions, as well as monitoring trends and communicating precedents throughout the VMD.
+ Implementation of the new GB legislation, ensuring people and business readiness within the immediate team and wider Authorisations’ Division.
+ Day-to-day oversight of BAU work, freeing up the Head of the Team to focus on other projects including IT development work.
+ Complying with ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 27001 (information security) standards, and GDPR and record management requirements.
+ Acting corporately – meeting and role-modelling the corporate objectives set by the VMD., We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
+ Changing and Improving
+ Communicating and Influencing
+ Leadership
+ Developing Self and Others
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
+ Changing and Improving
+ Communicating and Influencing
+ Leadership, As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a Personal Statement and Behaviour Statements.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Your Personal Statement should be no more than 500 words and should demonstrate how your qualifications / knowledge / skills / experience match the requirements set out in the job advert.
When giving examples of Behaviours please use the Situation, Task, Action, Result (STAR) format. Behaviours , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk).
Sift
Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the Lead Behaviour Changing and Improving. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
The sift will be conducted week commencing 14 October 2024.
Interview
If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Behaviours, Experience, and Strengths.
A presentation or additional exercise may also be assessed.
Interviews are currently scheduled to take place in person at the VMD office week commencing 11 November 2024.
Please note that this timeline is indicative at this stage and could be subject to change.
Location
As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s)
Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.
Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post may choose to remain in their current contractual location or may choose to change contractual location to one of those listed above. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.
The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.
Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.
The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.
Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.
Please be aware that this role(s) will be contractually based at the VMD headquarters in Addlestone, Surrey.
Near miss
Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in Defra which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match., This is a full time post. The type of work we do in Application Management involves multiple, complex reactive timetables and key deliverable dates, requiring full time staff to manage these effectively. The nature of this work would make it very difficult to manage the team on a part time basis, due to the reactivity needed of this role. In addition, IT system development is agile and the individual will be required almost daily to feed into the development and subsequent testing cycles.
Loan and Fixed Term Appointments
Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.
This is a Fixed Term Appointment as an SEO Senior Application Manager in the VMD's Applications Management team managing a large team of people (currently 15) dealing with application-related activities.
The appointment runs until 31st March 2026.
This is not a permanent post. It is fixed term because of the time-limited funding, although there may be opportunities for this programme to be extended in future.
Your responsibilities in this post will be implementation of the new GB legislation, ensuring people and business readiness within the immediate team and wider Authorisations’ Division. Day-to-day oversight of BAU work, freeing up the Head of the Team to focus on other projects including IT development work. This post will therefore begin from your agreed start date and end on 31st March 2026.
Reasonable Adjustment
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes., Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter.
Childcare Vouchers
Any move to Defra from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
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) (opens in a new window)
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
+ individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
+ Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).
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.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

You must be proficient in the use of Microsoft Office 365 packages, particularly Microsoft Teams, Word, Excel, and Outlook, and have the ability to learn in-house packages quickly., You (as the jobholder) will be focused on managing the team through this period of change. You do not need a background in veterinary medicines’ regulation. The emphasis for this role is on strong management and leadership skills with demonstrable experience in role modelling corporate objectives for the benefit of the wider organisation.
We’re looking for someone that has experience in:
+ staff management and motivation of teams.
+ working in an operational delivery environment.
+ holding or facilitating difficult conversations.
+ promoting and supporting corporate initiatives and policies, even when they may not personally agree with them.
+ working under pressure and in a fast-paced environment.
+ managing a varied, high-pressure workload, including prioritisation, and multitasking.
+ change management, ensuring business and people readiness.
We’re looking for someone that:
+ can problem solve, prioritise, and think on their feet.
+ understands complex issues quickly.
+ is adaptable, flexible, and proportionate in their approach.
+ champions a culture of continuous improvement, review and iteration.
+ thinks creatively and widely around issues.
+ Demonstrates sound analytical skills to inform their decisions or when providing advice.

Alongside your salary of £42,577, Veterinary Medicines Directorate contributes £12,334 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
+ Learning and development tailored to your role
+ An environment with flexible working options
+ A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
+ A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
+ Free onsite parking
+ Free eyesight test
+ Onsite gym
+ Access to a prayer room, New entrants are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.
Visa Sponsorship Statement
Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.