Animal and Plant Health Agency
Plant & Bee Health Regional Manager
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Job Summary
Are you an experienced leader who thrives in a dynamic and challenging environment?
Would you like to play a vital role in safeguarding plant health, protecting the economy, and supporting food traceability?
If so, we have an exciting opportunity for two Regional Managers to join our Plant Health Operations Team at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
These Vacancies Are Based In
South West Region with office locations at Exeter, Truro, Launceston, or Bridgewater.
North East Region with office location at York (Sand Hutton)
All posts will be offered in merit order based on location and business need.
As a Regional Manager, you will lead a team of Plant Inspectors and Horticultural Marketing (HMI) inspectors across a geographic area. You will ensure delivery of regulatory activities, prioritise resources, and maintain high standards of service. This is a role where your leadership will make a real difference to biosecurity, and the horticulture and agriculture industries.
Job Description
You will:
- Manage a geographically dispersed team, ensuring performance, conduct, and attendance meet organisational standards.
- Provide leadership and direction, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement.
- Prioritise workloads and resources to meet delivery targets and regulatory requirements.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders, operational partners, and internal colleagues.
- Champion best practice and lead your team through organisational change.
- Ensure compliance with quality standards, including ISO 17020.
- Participate in emergency and outbreak response activities, including contingency planning and exercises.
- Promote health, safety, and wellbeing across your team.
This role requires regular travel within the region and occasional detached duty during incidents. Successful candidates must be able to operate without travel restrictions within the delivery area.
Person Specification
We are looking for an experienced and confident leader with a positive attitude who can motivate and inspire a team to deliver effectively and efficiently, particularly during periods of change.
You will have:
- Strong IT skills, including proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, and the ability to analyse and use data to inform decisions.
- Practical experience in horticulture, agriculture, or the fresh produce industry.
- Awareness or understanding of statutory plant health controls.
- A commitment to developing and supporting your team, recognising individual skills, experience, wellbeing, and development needs and working through HR cases and policy when required.
As a Civil Servant, you will demonstrate honesty, integrity, and impartiality. You will also be supported in your own development, through workshops, online training, mentoring, and coaching.
Essential Criteria
- Leadership & People Management – Proven ability to lead, motivate and develop teams, delivering KPIs, SLAs and service expectations while supporting staff wellbeing and managing HR processes.
- Analysis, Decision-Making & Problem Solving – Strong analytical skills with the ability to use data and evidence to identify issues, develop solutions and make informed business decisions.
- Communication & Stakeholder Engagement – Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate clearly to diverse audiences and build effective working relationships.
- Collaboration & Partnership Working – Strong interpersonal skills and experience working collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams, including regional and operational colleagues, to deliver consistent service standards.
- Change Leadership & Resilience – Ability to lead and support organisational change, demonstrate Civil Service values, and remain adaptable and resilient in challenging or evolving environments.
- Operational Delivery & Quality Assurance – Experience delivering operational services within quality assurance frameworks, managing multiple priorities and projects, and ensuring high standards of performance and compliance.
- Industry Knowledge & Regulatory Awareness – Understanding of relevant legislation or regulatory frameworks, with knowledge or experience of the plant health, horticultural or agricultural sectors, and confidence in using technology to support service delivery.
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Licences
- Full UK Driving licence (evidence to be provided at interview)
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality Service
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Communicating and Influencing
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £42,665, Animal and Plant Health Agency contributes £12,360 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
- Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
- A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
- An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities tailored to your role.
- Access to a range of retail, travel, and lifestyle employee discounts.
- A hybrid office/home based working model.
Please refer to the Candidate Information Pack for more detail around offered benefits.
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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection Process Details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, and Experience.
Application Process
As part of the selection process, you will be asked to provide:
- A CV submitted through an online tool accessed through the Civil Service Jobsite; there is no requirement to upload your personal CV.
- A 500 word personal statement.
- A 250 word Communicating & Influencing Behaviour.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
CV Guidance
Your CV should consist of your career history, including any key achievements and your main responsibilities in each role and be no longer than 2 pages. Your CV will be used to provide further context on your Personal Statement and scored against the essential criteria.
Personal Statement Guidance
When completing your Personal Statement, please read and understand the Person Specification thoroughly, as this is what your written evidence will be assessed against. Please ensure you evidence the key personal qualities and experiences that align with the criteria. Consider the Job Description and look to demonstrate how your previous experience may align with the expectations and be applicable to the role. The written evidence you provide must relate to your own experiences. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc.
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We encourage you to use the full 500-word allowance of the Personal Statement but not to exceed.
You may choose to address each criteria separately, however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several essential criteria.
Sift
Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
For further guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV, Personal Statement and Behaviours), you are encouraged to visit the Civil Service Careers website.
Interview
If successful at the application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on your Presentation skills, Behaviours, Experience & Strengths under the Success Profile Framework.
When giving your Behaviour answers, you should focus on very specific examples and frame your answer using the STAR method.
Communicating & Influencing Behaviour will be assessed as a presentation. The title will be provided when invited to interview.
All interviews will be conducted virtually via MS Teams.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Location
As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).
The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.
Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.
The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.
Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas, and VMD.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for a period of 3 months from which further appointments can be made.
Merit Lists
Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to state your location preference at interview.
Near Miss
Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in APHA which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match.
Visa Sponsorship Statement
Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.
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
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