Deputy Director, Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser
Description
- Job grade: SCS Pay Band 1
- Contract type: Fixed term, Secondment
- Length of employment: 3 Year Fixed Term
- Business area: FCDO - DG Strategy and Delivery
- Type of role: Science, Senior leadership
- Working pattern: Part-time
- Number of jobs available: 1
Location
About the job
Job summary
The Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser (DCSA) provides senior leadership to ensure FCDO has the science advice and scientific capability it needs for policy, diplomacy, programming and crisis response. As the Chief Scientific Adviser’s (CSA) principal Deputy on science, you will shape FCDO’s strategic scientific direction, strengthen the systems through which evidence informs decisions, and represent the FCDO across government and externally to strengthen UK international partnerships and strategic advantage in science.
The DCSA leads the FCDO’s Science Cell with responsibility for scientific preparedness and response for emergencies — including natural disasters, health threats and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) risks — ensuring authoritative, rapid and actionable advice is provided to Ministers, senior officials and partners. You will steward relationships across government and academia, ensuring the FCDO can draw on the best available evidence and expertise during crises and during routine policy development. You will need strong judgement, the ability to work at pace under uncertainty, and the authority to convene internal and external expertise in support of Ministers, senior officials and operational teams.
You will oversee FCDO’s contribution to the Government Science and Engineering (GSE) profession, working with specialist networks and senior leaders to set professional standards, develop capability, support accreditation and ensure that scientific and engineering expertise is embedded in policy and delivery. The DCSA also provides technical oversight of the Senior Research Fellows, ensuring their work has visible impact across FCDO.
You will play a central role in ensuring strong governance, financial stewardship and people management across the Science Cell and GSE profession, setting performance standards, championing inclusion, and aligning scientific capability with departmental priorities.
You will be a core part of the Research and Analysis Directorate senior leadership team.
Candidate Engagement Call
We will be running a Candidate Engagement Call on Monday 23rd November from 15:00 – 16:00. During the call, you will have the opportunity to ask any questions that you have about this role. You can join the call here.
Job description
Key Responsibilities
- Act as the CSA’s principal Deputy on all areas of science advice, providing senior authoritative, proportionate and timely advice to support strategic decisions across FCDO priorities.
- Oversee the Science Cell and wider science-for-emergencies capability so that crisis response draws on the best available modelling, evidence and expert judgement.
- Oversee FCDO’s contribution to the Government Science and Engineering profession, including professional standards, capability, networks and routes for specialist advice to influence policy and delivery. Lead the development and implementation of FCDO’s Science Systems Plan, strengthen departmental science advisory mechanisms, and ensure appropriate links to the Government Office for Science, the CSA network and cross-government science advice systems.
- Provide technical oversight of the Senior Research Fellows to ensure they bring deep expertise to the Department’s highest-priority policy, programme and diplomatic challenges.
- Provide senior technical advice and insight to FCDO’s Research and Development (R&D) portfolio to ensure that it represents the latest scientific developments, thinking and rigour.
- Represent FCDO confidently across government, with the Government Office for Science, departmental Chief Scientific Advisers and academia e.g. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), national academies and research organisations, and our university sector. The DCSA will be required to act as FCDO lead for priority external relationships.
- Support the CSA in their role to strengthen UK science diplomacy and influence, engaging with external science partners including Foreign Ministers, Science Ministers and international research institutions, building and strengthening UK partnerships and comparative advantage in science.
- Ensure strong governance, risk management, people leadership and value for money across the DCSA portfolio.
- Direct leadership of 20 FTE staff and oversight of 300 professionals in FCDO.
Person specification
Working at the FCDO will be the most challenging and rewarding time of your career. We want to be the best diplomatic and development ministry in the world, with jobs that are the envy of Whitehall and the rest of the world. We aim to recruit and retain the best people; those who are delivery focused and have a strong track record in high impact outcomes.
The Civil Service is open to talented people from any career background; we will always seek to identify transferable skills from the individual’s experience. The Essential Criteria to succeed in this role and be selected are:
- Proven senior leadership experience in shaping organisational strategy and leading high-performing, multidisciplinary scientific, technical and analytical teams through change, delivering impact across large organisations or systems. This could come from experience in academia, industry, the technology sector or government.
- Substantial experience providing senior scientific, engineering or technical advice and influencing decisions in complex organisational settings, translating evidence into clear and actionable advice for senior officials or equivalent decision-makers.
- Experience strengthening organisational systems to improve the use of science and technology advice and experience engaging with cross-government or national science systems to meet organisation objectives in this area.
- Demonstrable ability to build influential relationships and represent an organisation credibly with senior government, academic, international or industry stakeholders.
- Deep technical expertise in one of the following FCDO priority areas: climate, nature, energy, food security, engineering-biology, geopolitics, gender, humanitarian, migration, national security, chemical biological radiological and nuclear, education, and AI or frontier technologies, including quantum. This expertise may come from academia, research or industry and you should be externally recognised for excellence in the topic.
- PhD or Masters (with PhD equivalent skills and experience) in a relevant scientific, engineering or technical field (listed above), or equivalent standing demonstrated through senior level scientific leadership roles.
It is important that your application provides evidence and examples that meet these criteria.
Benefits
- 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 employer contribution of 28.97%
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Selection process details
How to Apply
You must be a British Citizen at the point of application.
Closing date for applications 9:00am Thursday 3rd December 2026.
Your submission should include:
- A CV setting out your educational and professional qualifications and full employment history, including an explanation of any gaps in your employment history.
- A Statement of Suitability of no more than 1,250 words explaining your personal skills, qualities, abilities and experience relevant to the requirements of the job in support of your application with particular reference to the Essential Criteria in the Person Specification. It should also describe your vision for the job and how you would propose to approach this if appointed.
- As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a Diversity questionnaire. The FCDO is committed to equal opportunities. Our officers are recruited on merit, through fair and open competition. We seek our strength through diversity and appoint suitably qualified individuals regardless of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, social backgrounds, age or disability. To help us ensure that our recruitment activity reflects the diversity of British society, we would be grateful if you could complete the diversity monitoring form. As part of the application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say'. All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel. The information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming the most inclusive employer. See the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for more information. All data is reported in an anonymous and aggregate format and will not be seen by anyone assessing your application.
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to:
- Participate in a Staff Engagement Exercise with a selection of people from across the FCDO.
- Meet with John Edmunds to learn more about the role. Please note, this is not part of the formal assessment process, and it will not be used to inform the Panel’s decision in any way.
The interview panel will be chaired by John Edmunds, Chief Scientific Adviser. Other Panel members at interview will include, but may not be limited to, Nathanael Bevan, Deputy Director, Global Research.
Candidates will be asked to make a Presentation to the panel on strategic leadership and influencing. The topic will be provided in advance of the interview.
The interviews are expected to be held in London, in person. There may be the option to conduct the interview by Microsoft Teams for overseas candidates. If this is preferred, you should make this clear at the application stage.
Full details will be provided to shortlisted candidates. Recognising that there are a number of steps in the process, we will do our best to arrange the sessions in a way that works for you.
We expect the process for this role to be as follows (please note these dates are indicative):
Shortlist outcome w/c 14th December 2026
Assessments w/c 4th and 11th January 2027
Interviews w/c 18th January 2027
Interview outcome w/c 1st February 2027
Further Information:
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.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
- Contact Government Recruitment Service at: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
- Complete the ‘assistance required’ section in the ‘personal information’ page of your application form to provide information we should be aware of that will enable us to support you further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
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).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : SCS Recruitment Team
- Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
Attachments
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