Drones have long promised to offer significant societal benefits, such as autonomous search and rescue operations, personal flying taxis or advanced building construction. With the emergence of new technology comes the risk they will be misused for nefarious purposes. This is your opportunity to lead the science and technology development which will secure our transport networks from the malicious use of drones. You will be at the forefront of this new, fascinating and exciting field, setting the future direction for years to come. You will establish and lead a new programme of scientific work to understand the potential threat from drones, now and in the future, and develop the capability to counter them. You will generate robust evidence base, using it to advise ministers and senior officials, influencing decision-making in the UK and internationally.
The scope of the counter-drone challenge is broad, complex and still ill defined. You will not have control over all the resources you need to tackle this challenge alone, so will need the support and cooperation of others to realise success. Therefore, you will need to build trusted partnerships with other Government departments, manufacturing industry, transport operators, universities and international counterparts, leveraging their counter-drone initiatives to meet Departmental aims.
It is advanced technologies that enable drones to operate. Advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are also likely to play a key role in future drone countermeasures. To succeed in this role you will need to be agile and innovative in your approach to delivery and the technologies you explore to tackle the threat. The speed of drone technological advancement sets the high pace of this role. Not only will you need to address today’s problem, but you will need to anticipate and prepare for tomorrow’s, ensuring solutions are suitably future-proofed.
This post sits in the Department’s Research, Analysis and Development (RAD) Team. The team is responsible for providing technical support in the development of policies and regulation that protects transport systems and the travelling public from terrorist attacks. Provision of advice and evidence in underpinned by a £6.5M research programme, which the team designs, administers and facilitates the exploitation of. We are a diverse, passionate, friendly, technical, dedicated and supportive team that is committed to ensuring the security of transport, as well as the prosperity of the UK and transport industry. We are internationally renowned as a technical authority on transport security, and have strong collaborations with many international partners, including the US and Europe.
Responsibilities
Within your role you will be responsible for:
- Leading the formulation and delivery of DfT’s new counter-drone research programme, leveraging industry, academia and international partners, to deliver new capabilities and evidence. Take a systems view of the entire problem and solution space, designing a programme that is holistic and prioritised;
- Overseeing reporting of the DfT counter-drone programme, ensuring delivery to time, cost and quality, providing regular updates to the RAD Programme Manager. Identify and manage programme risk and issues, actively mitigating them and escalating to seniors as required;
- Leading the Department’s counter-drone science and technology (S&T) engagement with other government departments, ensuring alignment and suitable prioritisation of work. Leverage cross-government initiatives to meet departmental aims, managing the relationship with other S&T counter-drone leads to foster Government coherence, communication and collaboration;
- Developing a robust evidence base on the threat posed by the malicious use of drones, using it to drive informed policy making, risk assessment and advice to ministers or senior officials;
- Working with manufacturers and operators to develop system-wide approaches to counter-drone challenges, ensuring that solutions are legal and meet end user needs. Utilise existing initiatives where possible, such as the development of Unmanned Air Traffic Management, to deliver security benefits whilst not impeding the UK's beneficial adoption of drones;
- In partnership with other government initiatives, identifying market failure in the counter-drone technology industry where government intervention is required. Align departmental S&T to support industry meet counter-drone challenges, promoting the UK as a global leader in counter-drone technology;
- Seeking and engaging new funding opportunities in concert with other government departments, to deliver the technical aspects of the UK's Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Strategy;
- Maintaining an overview of testing and evaluation programmes taking place across government and internationally, ensuring that results support transport security operators implementation of effective capability;
- Working through other parts of governments, lead the development of a holistic picture of the future use of drones, including associated emerging technologies which enable them, using it to drive the development of future-proofed policy;
- Leading the DfT’s international counter-drone S&T engagement, working closely with other like-minded countries to share and collaborate. Building strong working relationships to jointly deliver S&T, providing the UK with improved value for money or increased capability.
About you
You don’t need to know anything about drones or security to be successful in this role, but what you will need is a willingness and a passion to learn. You will have excellent communication skills both verbally and in writing, with the ability to adapt your delivery to suit a wide variety of audiences, maximising both impact and understanding. You are someone who gains rapport quickly with others as you build effective working relationships with both colleagues and stakeholders.
You will have confidence in your ability to come in and make a real impact within our team where you will lead from the front and drive those around you to achieve the same shared objectives. You will have excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple and often conflicting priorities to time and of a high standard. You are someone who is not afraid to challenge, and who can push back to our stakeholders where necessary in managing their expectations.
About us
Our mission at the Department for Transport is ‘connecting people and places’. Everything we do to achieve this is reinforced by our values:
Confidence: to challenge, to take action, to innovate
Excellence: in our professionalism, in our delivery, in our learning
Teamwork: we are inclusive, we collaborate, we support each other
These values define the kind of organisation we want to be – delivering for today whilst being ambitious for tomorrow.
We embrace diversity and celebrate our differences. Everyone is involved in making DfT an inclusive and great place to work. We actively promote a flexible approach to working whilst giving our staff opportunities to maximise their skills and achieve their full potential.