JOB SUMMARY

Are you looking for a senior officer role within Food Standards Scotland where you will have national influence in the safe manufacture, import and distribution of animal feed products through collaboration with our local authority partners and our in-house Feed team?
The Senior Feed Officer is a member of the Feed Delivery Branch and part of the Operations Delivery Division of Food Standards Scotland (FSS). The Feed Branch is responsible for official control visits and the inspection and sampling of animal feed businesses to determine whether feed safety and quality assurance systems are compliant and effective in meeting legislative requirements. This is a regulatory service of which 80% of activity is delivered through 16 Local Authority (LA) partners working under an FSS Delegated Service Level Agreement (DSLA) and a further 20% is delivered through a small in-house FSS team of 4 Feed Officers.
The Senior Feed Officer post involves directly leading and managing the FSS Feed Officers undertaking official controls of feed businesses in our on-house areas, and technically supporting, advising and monitoring the performance of our LA partners in conjunction with our admin support team and business information systems. You will be a significant assistant to the Lead Feed Officer of the Feed Branch in the wider development of our feed delivery model on behalf of FSS as the Competent Authority for animal feed related matters across Scotland.
The role will be home-based with occasional travel required within Scotland to support monitoring and management of our field level activities. This includes attendance at our FSS offices in Aberdeen and other Scottish Government offices in the central belt as needed for meeting purposes. A driving licence and a willingness to drive within Scotland are therefore essential.

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Lead, manage and technically advise our FSS Feed Officers in undertaking feed official controls and approval visits to feed business establishments, including coordinating and monitoring the workload and performance of direct reports.
• Provide technical guidance and advice to our LA partners including supporting the FSS Lead Feed Officer in the monitoring and periodic assessment of their performance in accordance with technical standards and the KPI measures within the FSS Delegated Service Level Agreement.
• Support the Lead Feed Officer by carrying out assigned projects and portfolio activities associated with the continuous improvement of the FSS Feed Branch including tasks such as monitoring feed additive trials, creating inspection and sampling programmes, policy reviews and development of training plans.
• Establish and develop working relationships with internal and external stakeholders including representing FSS at select external workgroups as a subject expert on feed-related matters e.g. engagement with FSS Science and Policy Divisions, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Agricultural Analysts and Testing Laboratories within our sampling programme.
• Take the lead on tracking and leading more complex feed enforcement cases when required, acting as the FSS point of contact officer for stakeholders engaged in case management to achieve feed business compliance.

QUALIFICATIONS

Past and present Trading Standards Qualifications which includes Feed or other qualifications showing knowledge and competence in feed law.

TECHNICAL / PROFESSIONAL SKILLS:

• Connections and communication. Builds and maintains networks internally. Adopts a government wide perspective, aligning activity, making links across government and learning from others. Embeds a culture of open and transparent communication that stretches widely across government. Recognises the complexities and communicates the key messages in a simple, inclusive and accessible way to stakeholders. Promotes honest discussions where there are differences of opinion and is keen to receive feedback.
• Data and insight. Thinks analytically, using trends and insights from data to support decision-making and forecasts. Makes decisions in complex environments using accurate and timely data and insights. Leads the development, design and commissioning of meaningful management information and dashboards (data outputs) to provide data and insights at pace to support service delivery and operational standards. Assures how data is used to drive decision making in a consistent way across the organisation. Is confident in weighing up competing data sets to ensure sound decision making across the organisation. Takes responsibility for the way data drives decision making and asks the right questions around data sets to focus attention.
• Delivery and decision making as pace. Empowers others to make decisions where appropriate, supporting others and by being accountable. Facilitates quick decision making. Confidently take decisions to positively impact services. Manages and is accountable for the risks around delivery and decision making at pace, balancing ‘getting it wrong’, because something was missed or not factored in due to demands for pace.
  You can find out more about the skills required here

EXPERIENCE:

Proven knowledge and understanding of animal feed law, including delivery of official controls.

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)
• 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

Other