Heavy Vehicle Technical Officer

£38,540

The salary of £38,540 includes a basic salary of £37,090 and a non-pensionable Recruitment and Retention Allowance of £1450.
Please note: a London Weighting Allowance of £4,000 may also be payable additionally within certain locations.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King's birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:

• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
• 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King's birthday.
• Access to the staff discount portal.
• Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
• Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.

Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies (opens in a new window).

Please note that we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates must ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.

Can you apply technical expertise to assess complex vehicle applications and ensure compliance with regulatory standards?

Have you successfully identified risks, solved operational challenges, and delivered excellent customer service in a technical environment?

Are you a collaborative leader who can support teams, influence stakeholders, and drive continuous improvement across a busy operation?

If so, we'd love to hear from you!

The team plays a key role in ensuring heavy vehicles meet statutory testing and approval requirements before entering and whilst in service. The team assesses complex vehicle applications, including first tests, conversions and type-approved vehicles, ensuring compliance with legislation and DVSA standards. Working closely with operators, manufacturers, testing staff and policy teams, the department provides expert technical advice, monitors testing processes, manages risks and supports the development of new requirements and guidance. The team is committed to delivering an efficient, customer-focused service while maintaining high standards of safety, compliance and operational performance across the vehicle testing network.

The Heavy Vehicle Technical Officer will play a pivotal role within the wider leadership team of Vehicle Services.

The role holder will process technical applications ensuring that they are fully assessed and documentation is compliant.

They will respond to technical queries from the non-technical processing teams as well as acting as trusted advisors to front line colleagues, Vehicle Operators, Vehicle Manufacturers and others.

The role holder will work with technical standards, legal and technical assessments and ensure that DVSA meets its Key Targets and Objectives as detailed in the Business Plan.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren't limited to:

1. Provide professional assessment of heavy vehicle statutory test applications for both first test and vehicle conversion, checking reports and supporting documentation, ensuring compliance.
2. Undertake assessment of applications of approved vehicles via the European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval (ECWVTA) teams.
3. Provide technical support to non-technical processing teams and act as an advisory service to front line staff, operators, manufacturers, trade organisations, other agencies as well as the public on a variety of subjects including DVSA and related services, responding to written and verbal enquiries in a timely manner.
4. Investigate possible solutions to solve issues or mitigate risks.
5. Collaborate with the Vehicle Policy Team on new initiatives and developing new requirements and standards, for example where there are regulatory changes or to improve clarity within existing publications.
6. Communicate positively and effectively with internal and external customers to ensure a full understanding of their requirements and to ensure a concise accurate response is delivered via technical inbox
7. Provide support to the Heavy Vehicle Processing Manager, representing DVSA at trade events and to carry out ad hoc related tasks.
8. Maintain relevant data bases as required.

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 35 hours per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

Regular travel to our Swansea offices will be required, which may involve overnight stays.

If you have questions regarding how hybrid working is practiced within the business area, or any reasonable adjustments or flexible working arrangements you may currently have or need in place if successful in your application, please contact the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

If you have a question about part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Apply before 11:55 pm on Monday 9th November 2026

486442

Higher Executive Officer

Permanent

Engineering
Operational Delivery

1

Aberavon, Aberdeen, Abergavenny, Aberystwyth, Aldershot, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Ashford (Kent), Atherton, Aviemore, Avonmouth, Axbridge, Aylesbury, Ayr, Bala, Bangor (Gwynedd), Barking, Barnsley, Barnstaple, Barrow-in-Furness, Basildon, Basingstoke, Bath, Bedford, Beverley, Bexleyheath, Bicester, Bideford, Birmingham, Bishop's Stortford, Blackburn, Blackpool, Blandford Forum, Bletchley, Bodmin, Bolton, Borehamwood, Boroughbridge, Boston, Bracknell, Bradford, Brentwood, Bridgend, Bridlington, Bristol, Bromley, Bromsgrove, Buckingham, Burgess Hill, Burnley, Burton-upon-Trent, Bury, Bury St Edmunds, Buxton, Caernarfon, Calne, Camborne, Cambridge, Canterbury, Cardiff, Carlisle, Carmarthen, Castleford, Chadderton, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, Chertsey, Chesterfield, Chichester, Chingford, Chippenham, Clacton-on-Sea, Colchester, Corby, Coventry, Crawley, Crewe, Crosby, Croydon, Darlington, Dartford, Derby, Dewsbury, Doncaster, Dorchester, Dover, Driffield, Dudley, Dumbarton, Dundee, Duns, Durham, Ealing, Eastbourne, Edinburgh, Elgin, Ely, Enfield, Exeter, Falkirk, Falmouth, Fareham, Farnborough, Featherstone, Fleetwood, Flint, Folkestone, Fort William, Frome, Gainsborough, Gairloch, Gateshead, Gillingham (Kent), Glasgow, Gloucester, Golborne, Goole, Gosport, Grantham, Grays, Greenock, Gretna, Grimsby, Guildford, Halifax, Harrogate, Hartlepool, Hastings, Hayes, Heckmondwike, Hendon, Hereford, Herne Bay, High Wycombe, Hinckley, Holyhead, Hornchurch, Hornsea, Horsforth, Huddersfield, Hull, Huntingdon, Ilford, Ilkeston, Immingham, Inverness, Ipswich, Irvine, Isleworth, Keighley, Kendal, Kettering, Kidderminster, Kilmarnock, King's Lynn, Kirkcaldy, Kirkham, Kirkwall, Knaresborough, Launceston, Leatherhead, Ledbury, Leeds, Lee-on-the-Solent, Leicester, Leighton Buzzard, Leominster, Lerwick, Lichfield, Lincoln, Liverpool, Livingston, Llanelli, Llantrisant, London, Loughborough, Ludlow, Luton, Lytham St Annes, Macclesfield, Maidstone, Manchester, Merthyr Tydfil, Middlesbrough, Milford Haven, Milton Keynes, Mitcham, Monmouth, Morden, Musselburgh, Nelson, Newbury, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newport (Gwent), Newtown, Northallerton, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Nuneaton, Oban, Oldbury, Oldham, Oxford, Paisley, Pembroke, Perth, Peterborough, Peterhead, Plymouth, Pontefract, Pontypridd, Poole, Port Talbot, Portlethen, Portsmouth, Potters Bar, Preston, Reading, Redditch, Redhill, Redruth, Rhyl, Richmond (Greater London), Ripley, Rochdale, Romford, Ross-on-Wye, Rotherham, Rothwell (West Yorkshire), Royal Tunbridge Wells, Royston (Hertfordshire), Rugby, Rugeley, Runcorn, Saffron Walden, Sale, Salisbury, Sandbach, Scarborough, Sevenoaks, Sheffield, Shepton Mallet, Shrewsbury, Skegness, Skipton, Slough, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, Southport, St Albans, St Helens, St Ives (Cornwall), St Neots, Stafford, Stevenage, Stirling, Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent, Stornoway, Stowmarket, Swansea, Swindon, Tamworth, Tarbert, Taunton, Telford, Tenby, Thirsk, Tilbury, Uxbridge, Wakefield, Walsall, Walthamstow, Warminster, Warrington, Warwick, Washington, Watford, Wednesbury, Wellingborough, Welshpool, Westminster, Weston-super-Mare, Wetherby, Weymouth, Whitehaven, Widnes, Winchester, Woking, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Worthing, Wrexham, Yate, Yeovil, York, Bridgewater, Barnet, Bexley

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture

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.

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)

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