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CONTEST Agenda Protect Specialist

Estates & Commercial Services

Location:  Stoke Campus
Salary:   £29,614 to £34,304 Per Annum
Release Date:  Wednesday 22 December 2021
Closing Date:   Sunday 20 February 2022
Reference:  ECS21-15R

Who is Staffordshire University?   

We are the Connected University with 100 years of experience and ambition in becoming the UK’s foremost digital Institution. Our main campus is located in Stoke on Trent alongside our Centres of Excellence in Healthcare Education located in Stafford and Shrewsbury. Staffordshire University London’s Digital Institute is our first campus outside the Midlands. 

With more than 10,000 Full Time Undergraduate and Postgraduate students on campus, we continue to drive innovation and change, aiming to positively disrupt our sector. For our University, it is about so much more than the numbers. In fact, if there’s one thing that sets us apart, it’s our people who are all #ProudToBeStaffs. Every one of our employees goes above and beyond to deliver on our connected mission, responding to the needs of our students, academic partners, businesses and society.   

Over the past 5 years, we have transformed ourselves into a Gold standard provider of teaching and learning, gaining historically high positions in the UK league tables. With digital skills being at our core, we strive for diversity in all its forms and play an important role in our local communities and regional economies. 

About the role   

Staffordshire University is recruiting a CONTEST Agenda Protect Specialist for their busy campus security team based in Stoke. This is a new and exciting role that has been created as part of a forward-looking Security Transformation Strategy within the University. It is also unique, being the first role of its kind to be developed in the country, meaning excellent opportunities exist for the successful candidate.

The role has been developed in light of a recent government public consultation document, preceding anticipated legislation that will come to be known as the Protect Duty (often referred to as Martyn’s Law). This legislation will place a legal requirement for publicly accessible locations (such as Staffordshire University) to ensure that measures are in place to protect our premises and surrounding areas against terrorist attacks

The successful candidate will be part of a dynamic and fast-paced in-house security team reporting directly to the Head of Campus Security and will play a key role in mitigating the terrorism-related risks that the University faces. This will include undertaking risk assessments and security audits, proposing and implementing control measures, liaising with external and internal stakeholders to establish and maintain a co-operative working relationship, managing the training of staff and students in terrorist-related threats and how to mitigate them, and generally improving the security culture of the organisation specifically with respect to terrorism. This is a challenging role and one that will require a strong customer-service mindset, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, work independently, and a determination to continuously improve our security culture in a manner that ensures buy-in without causing alarm or anxiety. In return we can offer you a generous benefits package including enhanced annual leave entitlement and private pension.

Successful candidates will have previous extensive experience working in a security and intelligence environment, with particular emphasis on intelligence, terrorism, and risk management. Knowledge and experience of working in a training environment is desirable but not essential, as is the ability to plan, manage and deliver projects successfully. You will be a positive individual and a committed team player, but with the ability to work independently and on your own initiative. You must be comfortable with technology and computer literate as we are a digital university. As a team we go beyond the traditional security boundaries and as an individual you must be highly skilled and flexible to deal with this challenging and varied role. The ability to embrace change is a must. As a university we consider the right attitudes and behaviours are just as important as experience and skill.

Our department philosophy is to keep our customers at the heart of everything we do and we expect our staff to uphold our values of being “Diligent, Kind and Excellent” at all times, linking in to the University’s overall vision, strategy and values.

The role will be weekdays and normal business hours, however the successful candidate will be required to work in a manner that maintains a degree of flexibility due to operational need, as this role is part of a 24/7, 365-day security service. 

For full details please see the attached job description and person specification.

In return for your dedication, we have a competitive benefits package available 

• Competitive incremental rates of Pay 
• Starting from 29 days Annual Leave (depending on job grade) plus 11 days Bank Holiday and Discretionary days 
• Excellent Pension Scheme 
• Access to continued professional and personal development 
• An opportunity to become part of the wider University community 
• Access to an Employee Assistance Programme 
• Discounted Health & Fitness Facilities on site at the Stoke Campus 
• Discounted Travel by Rail or Bus, with the option of season tickets loans 

We reserve the right to close any vacancies when we are in receipt of sufficient applications. All applicants are advised to complete and submit your applications as soon as possible.  

Further details:

• Person Specification
• Job Description