Ready to lead the delivery of essential food safety and regulatory controls across Scotland?

The Operational Delivery Division works closely with other FSS Divisions and across other portfolios, to deliver official controls in approved meat establishments, animal feed controls, the FSS shellfish monitoring programme and wine standards as well as overseeing a range of SLAs with local authorities and other government departments. The Operational Delivery Division is structured across 4 Branches; Vet Profession & Vet Policy / Liaison, Field Operations, which consists of 3 geographic areas covering the whole of Scotland, Feed Delivery, Shellfish Monitoring and SLAs. It has around 145 staff and budgetary responsibility of c. £8M per annum.

The Head of Operational Delivery plays a key leadership role within FSS, overseeing a wide range of official controls delivery responsibilities as well as corporate and executive leadership functions. The role will require close working with FSS Executive Management and Corporate Governance teams, veterinary, meat, fish and shellfish sectors and senior colleagues across government. Ministerial engagement is also a prominent feature of this role.

Responsibilities

Lead and empower the Division to deliver an effective contribution to FSS’s overarching strategic objectives, setting aims and objectives, taking decisions on strategy for delivery, promoting a positive culture of collaborative working, and managing resources to ensure they are deployed, monitored and assessed against outcomes.
Provide leadership and direction for the development of expert knowledge, strategic support and advice which meets identified needs and priorities relating to the delivery of food and feed law enforcement and consumer protection by partners.
Oversee the delivery of all meat Official Controls in slaughterhouses, cutting plants and game handling establishments approved by FSS and the delivery of animal feed controls.
Oversee the delivery of various controls for other government departments in the same establishments an manage the Scottish shellfish monitoring programme.
As a member of FSS Executive Management Team and working with other Heads of Division, contribute actively to FSS strategic decision-making, risk management, corporate planning and performance, organisational development, financial management, and assurance.
Maintain a comprehensive knowledge and high-level awareness of developing operational policy and practice and current issues in meat, animal feed, and shellfish controls and make recommendations on future strategic developments.
Provide authoritative advice and guidance to FSS CEO and Deputy CEO on areas within the remit of the Division, and clear and authoritative briefing and advice to the wider Executive Management Team, FSS Board, Ministers and Scottish Parliamentary Committees as required.
Be an authoritative and credible representative of FSS, managing stakeholder engagement and working relationships at a senior level with key industry and government stakeholders and partners, including the Scottish Government, UK and devolved government departments, and local authorities.
Management and development of staff (line management of 3 x C1 and 1 x B3 staff and oversight of approximately 140 band B staff).

Success profile

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on. The Success Profile will include the Professional / Technical skills, Experience and Behaviours. Please note - only items marked in the Profession Job Profile with a star (*) should be included in the advert.

Technical / Professional Skills:

Connections and Communication - Practitioner
Data and Insight - Practitioner

You can find out more about the skills required, here: ODP Competency Framework

Experience

Strong understanding and experience of emerging national and local developments in the meat, feed and shellfish sectors, and ability to use analysis and identification of key evidence to develop recommendations, with experience working collaboratively at a strategic level to deliver outcomes and a track record of building effective partnerships.
Excellent leadership skills, with experience and proven track record of leading others (beyond line management responsibility) to successfully deliver outcomes within and beyond organisational boundaries, and the ability to manage priorities, set direction and articulate a clear vision of success, and think strategically to support delivery of organisational strategies and priorities.
Strong communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills, with evidence of building good working relationships and commanding the confidence of stakeholders and partners, with a proven ability to clearly articulate complex ideas and technical information both in written form and verbally, and to influence and challenge others to deliver strategic objectives.
Proven planning and organisational skills to respond effectively to the demands of a fast-paced and changing environment, with the ability to build resilient capacity and capability to meet current and future challenges, with experience of developing coaching and leading others to achieve the objectives of both the organisation and individuals.

Behaviours:

Seeing the bigger picture - Level 4
Changing and Improving - Level 4
Making Effective Decisions - Level 4
Managing a quality service - Level 4

Find out more about Success Profiles.

How to apply

Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1500 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the experience listed in the Success Profile above. Technical and Professional Skills and behaviours will be assessed at the interview stage.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples 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, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.

If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation. Assessments are scheduled for mid-late July however this may be subject to change.

Recruitment Principles
As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.

About us

Skilled Worker sponsorship is not available for this role. As a result, we are unable to appoint candidates who require Skilled Worker sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have an existing and ongoing right to work in the UK.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has a wide and diverse remit which covers all aspects of the food chain which can impact on public health – aiming to protect consumers from food safety risks and promote healthy eating. Our mission is to be Scotland’s leading authority on food safety, standards and healthy eating; using data and evidence to provide assurance and advice that inspires consumer confidence and improves public health.

Our staff are part of the UK Civil Service, observing the Civil Service Code and working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.

We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer.

As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Working pattern

Our standard hours are 35 hours per week and we offer a range of flexible working options depending on the needs of the role, including Flexi-leave. In line with our current ways of working, Food Standards Scotland follows a hybrid working approach, where colleagues use a mix of office based and remote working (working from home) depending on the requirements of the role and personal circumstances. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.

Security checks

Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).

You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, and read about the Government Vetting Charter, or about all the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide.

Internal candidates may need to gain higher security clearance than they currently hold if successful in their application.

Equality statement

We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation. 

Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.

Further information

Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website.

Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.

This post is open to Internal Scottish Government candidates and Common Citizenship organisations only.
Please apply before 23:59 - 12/07/26

Head of Operational Delivery

Key skills

About this role