Opportunity
Chief Executive, Animal Health
Location: Worcester (Head Office) with regular attendance in London and frequent travel throughout Great Britain.
Salary: Senior Civil Service Band 2 appointment, determined depending on track record and experience.
Responsible to: The Director General, Food and Farming Group, Defra.
The Role
The CEO will have overall responsibility for the operational, financial, professional and administrative performance of Animal Health, and the effective and efficient delivery of those animal health and welfare services and controls within the organisation’s remit, throughout England, Scotland and Wales, in accordance with Government policy in each administration.
The CEO will chair the Executive Board of the organisation. He/she will be supported by the executive team.
Defra is accountable to Parliament for the activities of Animal Health. The CEO will be responsible to the Minister for Sustainable Food Farming and Animal Health and will deal with other Ministers in relation to their policy responsibilities. Reporting lines will be through the designated Defra Senior Civil Service ‘corporate owner’ for the strategic and operational management of the Agency. The Chief Executive will be the Accounting Officer for the organisation, and will receive formal delegated authority from the Defra Permanent Secretary.
Key accountabilities
The new CEO will be expected to:
- Lead a large and diverse organisation.
- Continue to develop and direct the executive team and senior managers that will together agree and propose corporate and business plans for the organisation and manage day-to-day business.
- Continue to develop the organisation’s capacity and competence and the services it provides, and continuously improve its readiness and resilience for exotic animal disease outbreaks.
- Implement new systems and ways of working, and deliver and embed proposed changes to its operating model.
- Agree and deliver ministerial targets for the Agency.
- Lead or otherwise contribute to the transformation programmes of Defra and wider government.
- Actively support the Government’s strategic objectives and policy initiatives.
The Candidate
The candidate will need to bring to the role a suitable mix of operational and business skills together with a clear grasp of how the organisation interacts with livestock and veterinary interests to deliver benefits for the taxpayer.
You will need to demonstrate the following;
- Highly-developed business executive, strategic management and influencing skills
- Excellent track record in delivering a complex customer service to exacting standards
- Demonstrable success in delivering and embedding organisational and cultural change
- Demonstrable success in delivering IT change programmes
- Experience in working with national or local government is desirable
For full details regarding the responsibilities, candidate specification, benefits and codes of practice please click here to download the Candidate Brief.
To view the competency framework please click here.
