Head of Safety, Health, and Environment (SHE)

Head of Safety, Health, and Environment (SHE)
Science and Technology Facilities Council
Salary: £84,001 – £93,335 (depending on skills and experience)
Contract Type: Open-ended (Permanent)
Hours: Full-time (Flexible working considered/ Part-time (min 30 hours per week)
Location: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX OR Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus, Warrington, WA4 4AD
Closing date: 19th May 2025

Together, our scientists, technologists, engineers and business support team explore the unknown and turn what they find into work that changes the world around us. Whether it’s sending probes into space or finding new ways to treat cancer, everyone here plays a vital role in making a positive difference to society.

Come and discover how much you can achieve when you’re surrounded by world-leading experts, encouraged to constantly learn and empowered to explore your curiosity.

Responsibilities

The SHE team is responsible for assuring Safety, Health and Environment compliance, reporting into the Chief Operating Officer who is a key member of STFC’s Board. The team encompasses expertise in specialist subject areas, such as radiation safety, and is supported by subject matter experts. As head of department, you will be responsible for ensuring a coherent safety quality management system, and for providing advice and support to departmental directors and line managers in discharging their responsibilities. You will work closely with the heads of health and safety across a wider and supportive community to share best practice, knowledge, experience, mutual assistance, and policy development. This community includes UK Research and Innovation, other Research Councils, and DSIT (our parent Department).

Your leadership plus expert guidance will strengthen an already effective team and safety culture across STFC. You will have domain oversight of nationally important science and innovation campuses, experimental facilities, and collaborations. You will ensure a highly effective system of compliance and operational good practice extending across all our activities, partnerships and collaborations. Some reaching beyond the UK, such as through CERN and international astronomy observatories.

Leadership and Governance

• Accountable for the SHE strategy, governance framework, and effective delivery that together continually elevates our operational excellence.
• Assurance of performance, compliance to statutory inspection programme, and verification through audit. Utilising data-driven reporting to provide assurance of statutory, regulatory compliance, and adherence of best practice to support the legislative responsibilities of the Executive Chair, COO, and the Directors responsible for the operation of National Laboratories and Departments.
• Ensuring the effectiveness of the quality management system, policies and codes, as verified though an appropriately aligned audit programme. Identify, coordinate and support audit findings, improvements, and incident investigations to identify root causes and implement corrective actions.
• Accountable for the department’s financial management, reporting and budgeting.
• As a highly effective collaborator, ensuring efficiencies including sharing of good practice and resources across the UKRI (our parent) effectively.
• Able to deputise effectively for the COO on SHE matters.

Performance and Continuous Improvement

Championing continuous improvement of STFC’s SHE performance from identification to benefit realisation, including our quality management systems and staff training programmes.

Training and Culture

Enhancing good collaboration and sharing of SHE best practice, including an already positive SHE culture. Identify general and specialised SHE training needs, matching these with training interventions blended to stakeholder needs.

Influence

• Primary liaison between STFC and external bodies, including the Health and Safety Executive and Environment Agency.
• Highly competent at representing STFC’s interests. Able to solve complex problems, form high quality solutions, articulate benefits, and coalesce stakeholders’ opinions across UKRI (our parent), trade unions, management, and staff.

Key Skills

• Relevant management experience leading a corporate services function responsible for SHE within an analogous environment, accustomed to adopting agility, and organisational change to bring about improvements.
• The ability to demonstrate operating at strategic level, working collaboratively with partner organisations with a record of translating organisational vision and strategy into beneficial outcomes.
• Being a motivational and inspirational leader with experience of successfully leading and developing high performing teams to deliver quality outcomes is critical.
• Having the specialist domain knowledge backed up by certifications and demonstrable experience will enable you to offer accurate advice and solve otherwise complex matters.

Essential

• An inspirational leader able to develop and empower high-performing teams.
• Consistent track record of improving health and safety performance backed by a Level 6 or level 7 relevant qualification or demonstrably equivalent experience.
• The experience necessary to plan and develop robust health and safety strategies, policies, lead improvement initiatives, resolve problems, and implement audit recommendations.
• Accustomed to working and communicating effectively across all levels including collaborating with external partners.
• Able to travel to support STFC’s locations within the UK, and occasionally abroad. Where a reactive situation requires (occasional need) working outside of routine office hours to return normal operation.

STFC values their employees by offering a benefits package designed to provide an excellent work/life balance including 30 days’ annual leave, 10.5 public and privilege holidays, flexible working hours, a workplace nursery (RAL only), exceptional average salary pension scheme, social and sporting activities and societies and a subsidised restaurant.

As one of Europe’s largest research organisations, this is a place where there’s always something new to learn about the world around us, about your career, but most of all, about yourself. Join us and discover what’s possible by submitting your CV and covering letter, which outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified, along with your motivation for STFC and the role.

The post you are applying for attracts a National Security Vetting clearance, and there are further eligibility requirements. To meet National Security Vetting requirements, you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 3 years for the Counter Terrorist Check (CTC), 5 years for the Security Check (SC) and 10 years for Developed Vetting (DV) clearance prior to the date of application. All DV posts are required to be UK nationals.

You may still be considered if, for example:

• You've been serving overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of HM Government
• You were studying abroad
• You were living overseas with a parent.

Please note: if you will require sponsorship to work in the UK, as part of your sponsorship application, you and any dependants travelling with you will be required to pay costs directly to the Home Office for the application before you start your role with us. UKRI is normally able to reimburse some or all of these fees after you have become an employee, and this can be discussed with the hiring manager.

How to apply
Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application.