Chief Operating Officer

Alongside your salary of £135,000, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £39,109 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%

We are at a pivotal moment for DESNZ and the COO will need to lead the department through a period of significant organisational transformation and delivery challenges, changing and radically improving how we operate and function to deliver our historic Spending Review settlement and meet the ambitions of our Clean Energy Superpower Mission.

Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 18th October 2026

484036

£135,000

If you are successful and are an external candidate, you can expect your salary upon appointment to be circa £135,000 per annum. Existing civil servants will be appointed in line with the Civil Service pay rules in place on the date of their appointment.

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

SCS Pay Band 3

Permanent

DESNZ - Corporate Services

Senior leadership

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share

1

You can be based in London or any of the DESNZ Places for Growth locations (Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh or Salford) - however, this role will require frequent travel to London, so you will need to be prepared to spend time there.

As our new Chief Operating Officer and a member of the DESNZ Executive Committee, you'll be central to shaping the future of the Department and supporting the delivery of the Secretary of State's key priorities: making energy more affordable, creating good jobs through the clean power programme, and ensuring every community benefits from the clean energy transition.

For more information please refer to the Candidate Brief attached below.

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the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.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.

For more information please refer to the Candidate Brief attached below.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

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.

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)

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.

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.

• Name : Sarah Vale
• Email : sarah.vale@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

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