UK Ministry of Defence
Chief Operating Officer, Defence People and Standards
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
MOD Main Building, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2HB
Job Summary
The Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Defence People & Standards reports to the Director General People and leads the operational management of the DG People portfolio. The role ensures effective delivery across governance, performance, risk, and resources, supporting Defence priorities. The COO provides operational grip during ongoing reform, driving organisational design, embedding new ways of working, and coordinating senior stakeholders. They oversee budget and workforce matters, enabling the Strategic Centre to deliver coherent, high-quality people services across Defence.
Job Description
Prioritisation & Performance
- Define and maintain Defence People & Standards (DPS) priorities
- Ensure clear understanding of performance
- Support decision-making through insight and effective trade-offs
Risk, Compliance & Assurance
- Ensure DPS operates within financial, legal, and policy frameworks
- Oversee the DPS budget and maintain an integrated view of risk
- Ensure effective mitigation and compliance activities
Operational Leadership & Delivery
- Provide strong operational grip on day-to-day activities
- Resolve cross-cutting issues
- Ensure DPS functions efficiently, even under pressure
Stakeholder Engagement & System Leadership
- Engage senior Defence leaders and wider stakeholders on People matters
- Align activity across Defence’s four areas
- Influence decision-making
- Support internal governance
Transformation & Organisational Design
- Lead organisational design initiatives
- Embed new operating models to deliver sustainable change aligned with strategic objectives
Crisis, Ministerial & Ad Hoc Activity
- Coordinate responses to ministerial commissions, crisis situations, and high-priority issues
- Ensure timely and effective action
Person specification
- Proven experience of leading multidisciplinary teams through significant change, demonstrating your personal contribution to building capability, improving performance and delivering measurable results.
- Strong strategic thinking skills with experience in developing and implementing plans aligned to organisational goals.
- Proven track record of driving complex change in challenging and dynamic environments.
- Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with a proven ability to use evidence and data to support informed decision-making.
- Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to make sound decisions under uncertainty.
- Experience managing governance frameworks to ensure organisational control, compliance, and assurance.
- Demonstrable experience in financial management, including budget oversight and resource allocation.
Benefits
- Alongside your salary of £86,000, Ministry of Defence contributes £24,914 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
- 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%
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process no later than 23:55 Sunday 23 August 2026 and will involve providing the two documents which are weighted equally:
- A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
- A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) providing tangible examples that clearly evidence how you meet the essential criteria for the role.
External candidates who join the MOD and are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Security
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
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).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact
- Name: SCS Recruitment Team
- Email: People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk
Recruitment team
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location