Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Vetting Officer
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Job Locations
Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, Salford
Job Summary
The Integrated Corporate Services (ICS) is a shared corporate service. It provides corporate services (HR, Finance, Digital, Commercial, Security and Estates) across the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT).
Our team of over 400 professionals will be leading the way in how these functions will be delivered in the future. Our ambition is to be the leading provider of integrated corporate services for government and set the standard for quality, efficiency, and innovation in our field.
We offer great working benefits including a world-class pension, flexible working options and a career where your learning and development is taken seriously. We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.
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You can also follow our LinkedIn Careers Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/desnz-careers/
Job Description
This role is based within the Integrated Corporate Services (ICS) Departmental Security Unit (DSU), which delivers protective security and business continuity support and assurance to our departmental customers through a shared service approach.
This role is within the Personnel Security team, run by a Grade 6 Security Adviser for Physical and Personnel Security, manages vetting administration, including sponsoring, assessing and confirming clearances. The team also manages the Overseas service, and insider risk programme activities.
The team has a positive, welcoming, and inclusive culture, and we are looking for proactive and engaged team members to join us and help to deliver a high-quality security service to our department customers and partner organisations.
You will be a part of the Government Security Profession. There are a wide variety of roles, specialisms and career paths for Government Security Professionals who work throughout the Civil Service helping to protect the UK Government and our citizens both at home and overseas.
Please contact the vacancy holder if you would like to discuss this role in further detail.
Person Specification
The key responsibilities of this role are:
- Facilitating the transfer of existing security clearances in coordination with UKSV and departmental process, primarily for staff joining the department who already hold NSV.
- Attend and support with internal security briefs alongside the Senior Personnel Security Manager, and Personnel Security Manager.
- Close management of the team’s multiple shared inboxes, working across all additional workstreams.
- Manage and maintain multiple trackers and databases, including data entry, data validation and data analysis.
- Continuous management of the team's SharePoint site holdings, ensure relevant content is filed and stored in accordance with internal policies, government security classifications, and data protection regulations.
- Support audits and implement corrective actions where necessary.
- Develop and maintain up to date desk instructions and process documents for the Vetting Administration Officer and Vetting Officer roles.
- Identify service issues and trends and raise to line manager and seniors as required.
- Undertake initial review of complex vetting cases where additional decision making is required, escalating as appropriate.
- Performing appropriate secondary duties across the Personnel Security Team, as the need arises by the management team, to maintain cross-functional security resilience and as part of your development.
- As part of the Department Security Unit, demonstrate leadership by modelling best security practices and promoting a strong security culture.
- As a member of the regional Personnel Security Team, you may be required to travel to other offices to participate in training sessions and team engagement activities.
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Essential Criteria
We would love to hear from you if you have a genuine interest in security and improving departmental security culture.
Our Ideal Candidate Will
- Be an excellent communicator with a customer-focused approach, able to work within a small team
- Proven ability to work with high accuracy and attention to detail
- Experience in using MS Office
- Have a flexible, team player attitude, encouraging collaborative team and cross department working
- Experience in supporting colleagues in a team environment to achieve set objectives
- Experience of working under pressure handling multiple tasks and prioritising your own workload
- A willingness to undergo National Security Vetting in order to achieve SC, including ongoing adherence to the standards and behaviours expected of a clearance holder
Desirable Criteria
- Security experience and knowledge of vetting or supporting a vetting service would be useful, but not crucial, as we can offer the training you need. If you have not worked in a vetting role before but have strong administrative, organisational and other transferrable skills, you should still apply.
- A history of working in a customer-focussed environment
- A proven ability to deliver an ‘at volume’ service consistently and at pace
- An understanding of the principles of data protection and a strong commitment to confidentiality and discretion when handling sensitive personal or organisational data
Additional Information
Successful candidates must pass disclosure and barring security checks. If successful, you must also hold or be willing and able to obtain security clearance to SC level. You do not need to already hold SC to apply. We will sponsor you through the process but any offer will be conditional until SC is obtained.
Individuals Applying For Security Clearance Should Usually Have Been Continuously Resident In The UK For The Following Periods Immediately Before The Clearance Is Launched
- SC – 5 years
- DV – 10 years
If you have spent more than six months resident outside the UK within these timeframes then you are still encouraged to apply. Eligibility for security clearances will be assessed on a case by case basis but in some instances, it may not be possible to take forward applications from those who do not meet residency requirements.
Note: If a large number of applications meet the minimum standard, an interview wait list may be created for this position. This means that if you have met the minimum requirements at sift you may be placed at a ‘Hold’ status for up to 12 months and if we are able to invite you to an interview we will be in touch.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Delivering at Pace
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
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- Managing a Quality Service
Alongside your salary of £30,940, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £8,963 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).
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero offers a competitive mix of benefits including:
- A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
- Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an 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, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
- Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
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
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.
After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Numerical Test and a Civil Service Judgement Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.
Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests is 23:55 on 7th September 2026. If you fail to complete the online test before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.
Online Test Maintenance
You will be directed to the Talogy - True Talent – Scheduled Maintenance Window Webpage for online tests during an outage.
Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between 4pm and Midnight on Sunday 30th August 2026. You will be unable to access tests during this period.
If you are in the middle of a test when the maintenance begins, your progress will be paused. You will be able to resume your test from where you left off via your application centre once the downtime has ended. Please note that you will not be able to launch any new tests while the system is offline.
Applications will be sifted on behavioural statement, CV, and personal statement.
In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the personal statement only.
The interview will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions.
Sift and interview
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