Resilience Advisor

UK National Audit Office; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 56,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Civil Service Pension

Training and development opportunities

Job summary

A government accountability office in the UK is seeking a Resilience Advisor to support its Financial and Risk Management Insights team. The role involves curating insights from audit knowledge, influencing resilience practices across government, and collaborating with the Senior Risk & Resilience Specialist. Candidates should demonstrate expertise in resilience and strong communication skills. This position is key to enhancing public services and supporting the NAO Strategy 2025–2030.

Qualifications

• Expertise in resilience and its application across contexts.
• Ability to analyze complex data and deliver practical insights.
• Effective communication skills for engaging diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

• Support the daily running and delivery of FaRM’s strategy.
• Curate and share insights derived from audit knowledge.
• Influence risk management practices across government.

Skills

Resilience subject matter expertise

Prioritisation and delivery

Technical expertise and judgement

Analysis and synthesis

Communication and influence

Collaboration and teamwork

Education

Relevant professional risk qualification

Postgraduate qualification in resilience/risk disciplines

Tools

ISO 22301

Job description

Salary: c£56,000 in London and c£50,000 in Newcastle (more may be available for exceptional candidates + Civil Service Pension)

Please note: if successful, you will be required to undertake and maintain Security Check (SC) level clearance as part of this role.

Financial and Risk Management (FaRM) Insights

The National Audit Office (NAO) supports Parliament in holding government to account and improving public services. The NAO Strategy 2025–2030 sets two strategic outcomes: improving the productivity and resilience of public services and strengthening financial management and reporting across government.

FaRM is the NAO’s specialist Insights team for financial management, risk management and resilience. We support audit teams and the wider office by curating lessons learned from NAO work, developing practical knowledge products (tools, frameworks and guidance), and providing expert advice and guidance. We also engage with external stakeholders across government and professional communities to influence good practice to help improve public services.

By turning audit knowledge into practical, accessible insights and learning, FaRM helps deliver the NAO Strategy 2025–2030 and increase the impact of our work on productivity, resilience and financial management across government.

Purpose of the Role

As a core member of FaRM you will support the daily running and delivery of the team’s strategy and programme of work. You will be central to:

• leveraging NAO knowledge to curate and share insight,
• developing and sharing accessible lessons learned and good practice,
• influencing resilience and risk management practices across government

Scope of the role

This is a resilience advisor role within the team’s Risk & Resilience portfolio of insight work. The postholder will focus primarily on resilience advisory and capability‑building, while being comfortable applying core risk management concepts when supporting teams and integrating resilience into audit work.

Key relationship

The postholder will support the Senior Risk & Resilience Specialist, who leads FaRM’s Risk and Resilience portfolio of insight work.

How to apply

To apply, you should submit no more than two sides of A4, clearly outlining your suitability based on the key criteria below:

Key Criteria

• Resilience subject matter expertise: demonstrate depth of expertise in resilience, with the ability to apply this knowledge in different contexts to inform analysis, shape advice, and support high quality decision making in an advisory role.
• Prioritisation and delivery: balance tasks and priorities to deliver a complex portfolio of work, including supporting others on discrete projects (project management).
• Technical expertise and judgement: use your technical knowledge and expertise to deliver high quality work, applying sound judgement and reaching clear evidence-based conclusions.
• Analysis and synthesis: ability to analyse large and varied sets of data and concepts to develop meaningful, insights, recommendations and practical advice.
• Communication and influence: communicate clearly and confidently, with the ability to write well structured outputs that add value and can engage non-specialist audiences.
• Collaboration, teamwork and continuous improvement: work collaboratively and flexibly in a fast‑paced supportive and inclusive team environment, demonstrating initiative, creativity, and a strong commitment to continuous personal and professional development.

In addition, applicants are required to submit their CV alongside their supporting statement.

Selection Process:

We will shortlist based on your CV and suitability statement, and if successful, you will be invited to attend an interview which will include a short presentation, followed by a competency and values-based interview. The topic of the presentation will be provided in advance.

Equal opportunities and diversity

Disability and Reasonable Adjustments: Applicants with a disability who wish their application to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme should confirm this when submitting their application. Under this scheme we guarantee an interview to an applicant with a disability who meets the minimum requirements for the role. You should also let our HR team know if you wish us to consider any Reasonable Adjustments at any stage of the process (HR Service Desk: [e-mail]).

Applicants will not be discriminated against on the grounds of any protected characteristic or any other extraneous factor.

Nationality Requirement:

UK Nationals

Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with (or eligible for) status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

Please note, we are not able to sponsor work visas or accept temporary visas as we are looking to hire on a permanent basis. Please contact the HR Service desk ([e-mail]) should you have any questions on your nationality eligibility.

Key objectives

• Develop and deploy knowledge: turning specialist knowledge into accessible insight and usable lessons learned, good practice and advice.
• Providing resilience expertise and advice to VFM and wider assurance teams, helping strengthen audit approaches, methodologies and the quality of resilience-related findings and recommendations.
• Translating resilience concepts into audit-ready approaches, including framing questions (lines of enquiry), identifying and testing evidence, articulating “what good looks like”, and supporting practical, evidence-based recommendations.
• Synthesising evidence and stakeholder perspectives into practical insight and clear, well-structured written outputs that add value and engage non-specialist audiences.
• Influence and engagement: engaging with government networks and stakeholders to understand developments, challenges, and opportunities to influence outcomes.
• Contributing to and helping coordinate resilience-related stakeholder engagement (including networks and communities of practice) to share learning and extend the reach of NAO insights and knowledge.
• Working collaboratively across the NAO and client teams to offer and access expertise, helping colleagues identify where resilience knowledge can add value.
• Developing capability: Providing opportunities for our staff to deepen their expertise through supporting staff in getting relevant on the job experience.
• Providing resilience advisory and guidance to client service delivery teams, including helping teams assess evidence quality to strengthen resilience elements of audit outputs.
• Leading discrete pieces of knowledge work to successfully deliver high impact and high-quality products and outputs (such as tools, guidance, briefings and presentations).
• Supporting how we develop resilience capability across the office through guidance, briefings and assisting with learning initiatives.

• Demonstrable, relevant resilience experience (e.g., business continuity, emergency management, crisis management, operational/organisational resilience), including applying resilience concepts to improve decision making, planning and delivery.
• Working knowledge of recognised resilience and/or business continuity standards and frameworks (e.g., ISO 22301) and a clear grasp of how resilience interacts with risk management.
• Confident applying core risk management concepts (e.g., risk identification, assessment, appetite, tolerance, controls and assurance) in support of resilience thinking and audit work.
• Complementary professional certification / membership in a relevant discipline (e.g., Business Continuity Institute, Emergency Planning Society, Institute of Crisis Management, Institute of Risk Management or equivalent).
• Relevant postgraduate qualification and evidence of continued professional development resilience / risk disciplines.
• Experience of working in, or with, the public sector and/or across government and arm’s‑length bodies. Alternatively, experience from sectors with mature resilience practice (e.g., infrastructure, financial services, utilities).

Educational requirements

• Relevant professional risk qualification (e.g., IRM, PRMIA, GARP or equivalent).