Business Manager (NSCAH Team)(ID5106)

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and works on behalf of the Scottish Government and Welsh Government. Our diverse teams of over 3,000 skilled and committed professionals come together to provide research, advice and support to UK Government for safeguarding animal, public and plant health for benefit of the environment and economy.

APHA is a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, because it helps us be more innovative and make better decisions. We are dedicated to being an inclusive employer, offering equitable opportunities for all individuals. Our goal is to build a diverse workforce, and we hope to attract applications from all backgrounds and underrepresented groups.

The National Science Centre for Animal Health (NSCAH) Department represents APHA on National Biosecurity Centre (NBC) projects at its Weybridge headquarters. NSCAH has business obligations to ensure its smooth running, and strong integration into corporate workstreams and initiatives. This role is the engine that drives those business operations, with responsibility for autonomously refining and running the function with oversight and support from the NSCAH Business Lead and Office Manager. There is also opportunity to lead on areas within the Project and Programme Support Office.

Relationship Building

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with the:
• NSCAH Head of Department (HoD), to assist them in their HoD obligations to APHA
• NSCAH Business Lead and Office Manager, to develop and follow a strong vision, and ways-of-working, for the NSCAH Business area
• NSCAH Departmental colleagues to ensure that NSCAH fulfils its Departmental business obligations to APHA
• NBC Finance Team
• Science Business & Admin Team Lead
• Science Business Manager network
• APHA Quality Network

Finance and Procurement

• Lead engagement with Finance to control information, and co-ordinate queries/requests-for-information between NSCAH, APHA Finance, and NBC.
• Work closely with Finance to ensure that Defra/corporate policies are understood and implemented efficiently to avoid duplication.
• Ensure preparedness of the Department, and the HoD, for regular APHA Finance meetings, such as Star Chamber.
• Establish an annual Departmental budget and monitor/update spend and forecasts as necessary.
• Manage the governance process around procurement requests of the NSCAH budget.
• Manage monthly Financial Forecast Tool (FFT) Return
• Manage and communicate the correct use of work-recording codes for NBC projects to ensure accurate time recording by NSCAH colleagues.
• Lead on NSCAH procurement, including developing and managing an end-to-end process for, and managing, procurement activities of the Department, and providing support and advice on procurement processes.

Quality and Audit

• Represent NSCAH as the Local Quality Manager, and ensure that the Department fulfils all quality obligations, for example, completing the ICQA, or leading the Department though all quality audits, including preparing the team through holding surveillance and mock audits.
• Line manage the NSCAH Quality Rep

Recruitment & Workforce Planning

• Manage NSCAHs end-to-end recruitment process, working with APHA and Defra recruitment teams.
• Forecast the NSCAH recruitment profile and report progress to central APHA and NBC.
• Manage the Establishment List

Governance and Reporting

• Administer the required NSCAH business Departmental meetings, such as the monthly Senior Management Team meeting, the monthly Team Brief, and grade check-ins. This includes developing agendas with the chair, preparing slides where necessary in conjunction with the chair and wider team, taking minutes, actions, and decisions, and managing actions and decisions logs.

Information Management

• Manage the flow of information within NSCAH, including controlling information storage in repositories i.e., SharePoint Online, Content Cloud, Personal OneDrives etc.

Science Transformation Project and Programme Support

• Deputy Secretariat for NSCAH Decision Panel
• Secretariat for NSCAH Quality Check Group

Corporate Duties and other responsibilities

• Line or functional management of one EO post for Business Support. This includes management through setting goals and reviewing performance, mentoring, and supporting development and learning.
• Lead the end-to-end annual NSCAH People Survey process, from ensuring team population of survey, to analysis of results, communication of key points, generation of action plan for improvements, and follow-through of actions.

Experience and skills:

You will need to demonstrate the following:

• Proactive and self-motivated, with ability to own and drive areas of responsibility autonomously
• Strong relationship builder, with ability to use those relationships to advance work and overcome issues
• Effective planning and organisational skills, with ability to switch between and manage multiple workstreams concurrently
• Basic understanding of fundamental financial practises, such as budgeting, forecasting, and resource-allocation
• Excellent written and oral skills to be able to communicate plainly and succinctly
• Experience of management of budgets and preparation of reports, forecasting etc.
• Experience of organisation of workshops and minute-taking

Education

• A-levels/BTec Level 3 or higher, or several years relevant experience from the above experience section.

Workplace arrangements

The post holder must work from the location listed in the Location section of the advert. This role is based at Weybridge and requires you to spend at least 60% of your working week on-site. The post will require Health clearance. You will be expected to complete a questionnaire on your general health (applicable for all roles) and have any necessary vaccinations or health surveillance, including skin sensitizers. This will be arranged by the Health Team, Weybridge.

Security clearance

The Weybridge site is a strategically important national asset due to its role as a reference laboratory supporting the Governments response to national emergencies including disease outbreaks. For this reason, all postholders based at the APHA Weybridge site must hold a valid Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) security clearance or above. For this role, the postholder is required to hold a valid Security Check (SC). It is up to each person applying for a post at APHA Weybridge to ensure they meet the residency criteria. Applicants must be currently resident in the UK & have at least five years continuous UK residency as this is a requirement to work at the Weybridge site where the team and work is situated.