About the job

Job summary

Border Force is a Law Enforcement arm of the Home Office. We are responsible for handling the UK border control by implementing immigration and customs regulations and working with the wider Home Office on counter terrorism, organised crime, modern slavery and trafficking.

Learn more on the Border Force careers page.

Job description

Border Force Maritime Command (BFMC) is the UK’s only national maritime law enforcement body. Its fleet of five Cutters and six Coastal Patrol Vessels play an essential role in delivering the Government’s crime reduction and border protection objectives, alongside a range of wider maritime security goals. The current fleet is at or nearing the end of its design life and so funding was announced in Spending Review (SR) 21 to initiate a replacement programme.

The Maritime Capabilities Replacement Programme (MCRP) is a high profile, complex and demanding programme to deliver a new fleet of vessels securing the right capabilities which will remain fit for purpose over the vessels’ expected 20+ years lifespan, adapting to any future maritime security challenges and leading the UK’s law enforcement response. It involves engagement with cross government maritime, shipbuilding and border security stakeholders and strategies, vessel procurement and significant business change. 

We are looking for candidates who have exceptional leadership, relationship management and communication skills, who can pick up tasks and prioritise them at pace with excellent attention to detail in a fast paced and multi-disciplinary programme role.

This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a dynamic and engaging team that plays a critical role in maintaining and enhancing the security of the UK border whilst also supporting the UK Government’s Levelling Up agenda. As such, this role is particularly exciting and varied, suitable for someone who can pick up new content quickly and use their skills to deliver priority outcomes for the Maritime Capability Replacement Programme (MCRP).

The Maritime Capabilities Replacement Programme aims to procure replacement Border Force vessels likely consisting of a mix of Cutters and Coastal Patrol Vessels up to 55M in length.  The primary responsibility for this role is to act as the Senior Technical and Engineering lead for the programme providing advice and guidance, and making technical decisions within delegation, to and on behalf of the Programme Director and SRO. You will be a full member of the MCRP Senior Leadership Team and hold a pivotal role as the programme moves into the Delivery phase to ensure technically compliant vessels are delivered to Border Force.  You will also act as Programme Manager for the Ship Life Extension Programme (SLEP) which seeks to extend the life of the current Border Force vessels until the replacement vessels enter service. 

Please note: Not all work patterns can be supported within this role. The successful candidate should discuss work patterns with the vacancy holder ahead of accepting any offer.

Your base location is [Croydon, Sheffield & Glasgow] The cost of travel to commute to your base and the cost of accommodation if required, sits with you, as the employee.

Person specification

Specifics are subject to discussion with the successful candidate.

Responsibilities will include, but will not be limited to:

• As MCRP Chief Engineer, acting on behalf of the SRO as the Vessel Design Authority providing leadership and decision making on all technical matters and responsible for the engineering decisions made within the programme.
  
  
• Accountable for delivering an optimised Ship Life Extension Programme (SLEP) of upkeep/upgrade/update investment into the current Border Force fleet of Cutters and CPVs extending the operational life of the vessels until replacement vessels.
  
  
• Using specialist Maritime engineering programme management skills, responsible for managing the high level and detailed plan (including requirements) to ensure that the SLEP programme is co-ordinated with BFMC, maintaining the operational capability of the fleet whilst providing a SLEP schedule that delivers VFM, including securing the necessary Business Approvals to take forward the necessary investment.
  
  
• Act as lead for all Safety and Environmental Management activity including the effective design and operation of the Safety Management System, Safety Argument and Chair of the Platform Safety and Environmental Committee (PSEC).
  
  
• Act as the Support/Logistics Line of Development lead in MCRP, responsible for ensuring ILS requirements are delivered through the design and build contract and responsible for developing the MCRP support solution including design, approval and contracting activity.
  
  
• Potentially assist in other areas of the project i.e. Equipment Performance Data Analysis including roll out and exploitation of new systems such as ‘ShipSure’.

Essential Criteria

You are expected to Demonstrate and/or Experience of;

• Providing technical advice at a senior level and leading the delivery of successful engineering outcomes in multidisciplinary projects in the Maritime environment.
• Safety and environmental (and risk) management.
• Working with and, as necessary credibly challenging senior stakeholders within the programme business area including in Industry, and wider maritime sector.
• The ability to engage authoritatively across the range and usage of maritime products relevant to the programme.
• The ability to advise authoritatively on differing product priorities – for example ‘desirable’ and ‘minimum viable’ product levels.
• The ability to write user stories and determine acceptance criteria.
• Making effective decisions and setting a clear direction while working closely and collaboratively with Programme and other colleagues.
• Working in both programme and operational environments.

Desirable Criteria

• Relevant maritime background and experience e.g. has worked in Maritime Command and aboard Border Force vessels or other related maritime operationally focused services.
• Experience of working on large-scale public sector projects / programmes.
• An understanding of the work of Border Force and the wider Home Office or similar organisations.

Benefits

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• a CV detailing job history/qualifications/skills
• a statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 1000 words)
• provide evidence of the behaviour - Leadership (maximum 250 words)

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The statement of suitability should be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job description.

For guidance on how to construct your personal statement, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links – Statement

For guidance on how to construct your behaviour examples, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links –Behaviours

The sift will be held on the behaviour - Leadership and the statement of suitability (personal statement). 

The CV will not be scored.

The statement of suitability will be scored first for all candidates. Those candidates who achieve the minimum pass score for the statement of suitability, will progress to a further sift where the lead behaviour (Leadership) will be scored. These candidates will therefore receive a sift score for both elements. Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the statement of suitability will not have their lead behaviour scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for the statement of suitability.

However, if a large number of applications are received, the sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability (personal statement) only. 

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be a blended approach of strength-based questions and behaviour-based questions on all behaviours listed in the advert.

Strengths are the things that you do regularly, do well and that motivate you. To find out more about strength based questions click here

Sift and Interview dates

Sift is expected to take place week commencing 19th February 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 11th March 2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions these dates may change.

Interviews will be carried out via video. Candidates will be required to have access to:

• A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
• Good internet connection
• Microsoft Teams

Further Information

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.  A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Note For Candidates

When completing your application you will have the opportunity to select your preferred location. Candidates who are successful at Interview will be placed in order of merit per location and provisional job offers will be made in strict merit order per location preference. Provisional offers are made, as they are on condition that you successfully pass all pre-employment checks.

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying of examples/answers from internet sources. If any is detected the application will be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving internal candidates. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants. 

If you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, a contractor or contingent worker you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e. outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.

If you are considering applying for part time hours, please contact HORCCampaignTeamBorderForce@homeoffice.gov.uk to discuss your request as not all working patterns may be accommodated.

As well as successfully obtaining UKSV clearance and passing the right to work and pre-employment screening, anyone who applies to work for Border Force will also be subject to additional Border Force specific security checks to determine their suitability to work for the organisation.

Please see the Home Office Recruitment Privacy Information Notice (PIN). For more information on how your details may be shared for the purpose of additional security checks, the PIN has been published on the gov website - Border Force privacy information notice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estates capacity, by Spring 2024.  Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role or similar role become available within that period you may be offered this position. 

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to  bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Additional Security Checks: As well as successfully obtaining UKSV clearance and passing the right to work and pre-employment screening, anyone who applies to work for Border Force will also be subject to additional Border Force specific security checks, as part of the pre-employment process, to determine their suitability to work for the organisation.

Please see the Home Office Recruitment Privacy Information Notice (PIN) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruitment-privacy-information-notice for more information on how your details may be shared for the purpose of additional security checks.

Please see the Border Force Privacy Information Notice (PIN) on Border Force privacy information notice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information on how your details may be shared.

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

Feedback

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

Security

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.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

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.