Maritime Operations Officer - Bangor (Belfast)

You answer a 999 call, someone’s in trouble at sea and they need help – quickly.

You work with a close team of professionals to organise a response – coastguard, ambulance, police, fire.

You make the critical difference in one of the most important ways possible.

You are a Maritime Operations Officer.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) implements the government’s maritime safety policy in the United Kingdom and works to prevent the loss of life and occurrence of pollution on the coast and at sea. Our vision is to be a world-leading organisation, accelerating the transition to sustainable shipping with non-negotiable safety standards. We put our people, our customers, and our planet at the heart of everything we do.

We welcome applications from all communities, and we don’t discriminate against any identity. We’re interested to hear from you, regardless of your background.

You will be operating through the radios, phones, and other systems in one of our rescue coordination centres, so whilst you won’t be out at sea, that doesn’t make what you’re dealing with any less real. You alone will be the first point of call for people who need our help, everyone from someone who has spotted a mysterious something floating in the water through a ship in genuine distress; sometimes with life-changing consequences and everything in between.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the first point of call for all public contact
• Coordinate responses to both emergency and routine issues
• Work as part of a team to organise the response to emergencies, including working with other external agencies such as ambulance and police
• Ensure that you work to strict operating procedures
• Accurately record, update and maintain incident logs, records and databases.

For further information about the role, please see the attached Role Profile.

About You

This is an excellent opportunity to access a new career path, we don't ask for you to be an expert in this role and you should rest assured that we will provide you with all the training you need. What we particularly need from you are a number of core skills such as:

• Resilience - this can be a very difficult job, you will be involved in responses to incidents that don't always end well and this can include keeping people in serious distress calm and even incidents that end in fatalities. We don't expect that this will be a job for everyone and we support each other to cope with difficult situations, but it's important you understand what this job entails.
• Teamwork - you will often have to act alone and you individually will be the first and sometimes only person a member of the public may speak to, but you will work with a team to coordinate responses. It's essential that you're the kind of person who can work effectively with others when it really counts.
• Communication - you have to be a good communicator, you will be speaking to people who could be going through one of the most difficult experiences of their lives, they may be scared and panicked. You will have to keep them calm so as to be able to get the right information from them quickly and then effectively pass that on to others.

Additional Information

We are an emergency service and have to be able to respond 24/7/365, so you will have to work in a way that can be antisocial. Maritime Operations Officers are required to work 12-hour shift patterns (typically, 2 day shifts then 2 night shifts followed by 4 days off) to allow HMCG to provide its 24 hour emergency service to the public, 365 days a year. On average the shift pattern equates to 37 duty hours per week over a 12-month period. As such, this position attracts a number of allowances to reflect the shift working and unsociable hours.

You will be required to start in your role prior to the 28th August 2023 as your training will begin online on the 11th September 2023. You will then be required travel to our Coordination Centres in Fareham and Southampton frequently throughout your training (expenses will be paid).

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits. We offer generous annual leave, attractive pension options, flexible working, inclusive working environments and much more to support a healthy work/life balance.

Find out what it's like to work at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Job contact :

Name :
MCA HR
Email :
hr.resourcing@mcga.gov.uk

Recruitment team :

Email :
DFTrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk