About the job

Job summary

The Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) is the UK government’s centre of excellence for maritime security. Its mission is to increase awareness and understanding of maritime security threats and enable cross-government coordination to deliver a whole-system response to mitigate them.

JMSC is a multi-agency, fused military-civil organisation with staff drawn from a host of agencies including Border Force, the Royal Navy, Counter Terrorism Policing, National Crime Agency, HM Revenue and Customs, Home Office Intelligence, the Maritime Management Organisation and HM Coast Guard. It’s responsible for ensuring the UK maintains its understanding of the maritime domain and develops the cross-government coordination frameworks to respond to threats to security, law and order, trade and commerce, and the marine environment.

JMSC offers government departments and agencies a central point of UK maritime expertise and understanding to assist policy and decision making. The JMSC works internationally - with states and with key international organisations - to support information sharing, relationship development and capacity building efforts.

The key elements of JMSC are:

• The National Maritime Information Centre (NMIC), which since 2010 has provided a mechanism for the UK’s civilian and military maritime and law enforcement focused organisations to fuse intelligence, data and capabilities. This maximises operational impact at home and abroad.
• Joint Maritime Security Centre Operations, which utilises cutting edge technology to provide 24/7 monitoring of UK waters. It can swiftly identify maritime security incidents and enable the effective coordination of the UK’s aerial and at-sea assets to respond – ensuring the safety and security of all those who use our seas.
• The new JMSC Assessment capability, which will produce global strategic maritime security assessments to inform UK government and other stakeholders of threats within or emanating from the maritime domain. This also provides support to the UK sanctions regimes.
• These functions are supported by the JMSC Strategy team, which includes workforce planning, programme management, financial planning and controls, and policy development.

Job description

The Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) Operations team is the operational delivery team of the JSMC delivering maritime domain awareness and understanding and providing support to maritime operations.

The Operations Support Officer will report to and take direction from the JMSC Lead Planner and is likely to also be tasked by the Assistant and Deputy Directors of Operations, to deliver practical support to the JMSC Operations pillar in line with JMSC strategic and operational priorities.

The focus of the role is to ensure that operations (Ops) activity is tracked in an effective way, and to facilitate the smooth functioning of the team through monitoring training, clearances, secure media, information support, and travel and transport advice.

Working Patterns:

Please note that not all work patterns can be supported within this role. You are encouraged to contact the vacancy holder as soon as a provisional offer of employment is made (if not earlier) to explore whether your preferred working pattern can be accommodated. The types of flexible working that may be supported are part-time working and compressed hours.  

Person specification

Responsibilities will include but will not be limited to:

• Understanding, articulating, and helping drive forward the JMSC Operations Team ways of working and, in turn, supporting wider business to deliver the JMSC Mandate.
• Providing strong support to the Assistant and Deputy Directors of Operations, ensuring that the Operational Team is functioning and tracking its work effectively.
• Proactively taking responsibility for engaging, delivering outcomes and resolving issues.
• Providing succinct, timely and accurate updates to the Assistant and Deputy Directors of Operations about operations performance levels.
• Maintaining an overview of issues affecting wider JMSC activity.
• Acting as the Operations Pillar Information Manager lead, liaising with JMSC Data protection Act 2018 lead to ensure coherence across the JMSC and Operations Pillar compliance with ways of working.
• Travel and accommodation bookings for JMSC Ops staff for work visits (not to include exercise bookings). This includes arranging medical, insurance, and visa requirements.
• Monitoring the Ops pillar mailboxes, logging enquiries and Request for Information and allocating to the appropriate area within JMSC for response and tracking progress on these.
• Dealing with requests for new document libraries and permission groups in our corporate information management system based on a SharePoint platform.
• Building good working relationships with Local Information Managers (LIMs) across the Home Office.
• Updating Ops Information Asset Registers when notified of any changes.
• Maintaining the Ops Tracker and production of performance and operational activity reports. Where necessary reporting risks to performance and tracking of key tasks and routine reporting (such as programme board updates and monthly returns).
• General support duties to the Ops Team (including visit and diary co-ordination).
• Under guidance of Ops Pillar leadership, producing Ops updates and contributions to JMSC performance reporting.

Essential criteria

Candidates are expected to demonstrate and/or have experience of the following:

• The professional behaviours and personal integrity associated with working alongside law enforcement organisations. This means acting ethically and with integrity, being able to take difficult decisions when they are needed, always doing the right thing, being impartial and honest.
• Proven interpersonal and communication skills, both written and oral.
• The ability to deal with changing situations and to act calmly under pressure.
• Able to follow laid down process but to use initiative where appropriate.
• Knowledge of information management processes.
• Computer literate and good knowledge of Microsoft applications, specifically Microsoft Excel

Desirable criteria

• Experience of using Microsoft Project.
• Experience of information management within Central Government.

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/skills
• a statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 750 words)
• provide evidence of the lead behaviour Managing a Quality Service (250 words maximum)

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 Managing a Quality Service 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 (Managing a Quality Service) 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.

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

The behaviours and strengths being assessed have been ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores. Please note that the order in which behaviours are listed in the advert does not necessarily reflect the order of importance.

Sift and Interview dates

Sift is expected to take place week commencing 05 February 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 26 February 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

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.

Are these Reserved Posts for UK Nationals only?

UK nationals who hold dual nationality are able to apply for this reserved post. If a UK passport is not being presented, then candidates will need to provide alternative evidence of UK nationality in line with the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

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 to determine their suitability to work for the organisation.

Part-time hours

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.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

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

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.