The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter terrorism, policing, fire, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.
The Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) is a multi-agency, military-civil organisation hosted by the Home Office that acts as 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. For more information visit GOV.UK.
The Assistant Director Strategic Engagement and Policy will drive forward JMSC’s strategic vision, playing a crucial role in engaging with our partners across the maritime security landscape to develop and contribute to policy, whilst building strong relationships. The role will also ensure effective delivery of our enabling functions, for the benefit of the whole of JMSC and its partner agencies.
This role sits at the heart of the UK’s only maritime security focussed organisation, at a time of escalating global maritime threats. You will have the opportunity to help shape the future direction of the centre whilst engaging with a wide range of stakeholders and leading a multi-disciplinary team.
This role oversees two teams who cover a broad range of JMSC’s enabling functions to deliver effective business support to the organisation, develop policy and maintain and develop stakeholder relationships.
Your key responsibilities will include:
* Strategic Policy Development: Working with and to the Deputy Director of Strategy and Policy, you will lead the development and implementation of strategic policy initiatives, ensuring alignment with government priorities and departmental objectives. This involves providing high-level advice to senior leadership on complex policy issues and their implications.
* Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration: Foster and manage relationships with key internal and external stakeholders in the maritime security landscape, including government departments, public sector bodies, and external partners, to ensure effective collaboration and alignment on policy agendas. You will have oversight of the development and delivery of a stakeholder engagement strategy and ensuring its alignment with our JMSC objectives and mandate.
* Leadership and Team Management: Lead, manage, and mentor a team of multi-disciplinary professionals, providing guidance, support, and development opportunities to ensure high-quality outputs and effective delivery of strategic goals.
* Policy Advocacy and Communication: Represent the department or government on policy matters, preparing briefings, reports, and presentations for senior officials, ministers, and external stakeholders. Ensure clear, concise, and effective communication of policy positions and strategies.
* Governance and Accountability: Lead on the organisation’s governance relationships, acting as the key point of contact for relationships with our sponsors. Oversee our reporting to the Joint Governance Board on strategic progress, risks, and performance, while proactively identifying and managing potential risks to ensure effective mitigation and accountability in decision-making processes.
The current building location for this role is Joint Maritime Security Centre.
You will be able to start in post with SC clearance, however you must successfully obtain Developed Vetting (DV) clearance once in post (if not already held). During the period where you hold SC clearance, you will only perform elements of the role which fall under SC clearance. If your DV clearance application is unsuccessful, you may enter Restructuring, Redeployment or Redundancy.
Working Pattern
You will be a member of the Senior Management Team and will be expected to participate in the duty ‘on-call’ rota, for which specific training will be provided. You will be on call for seven days every nine to twelve weeks (with some flexibility) and this will require being available on evenings and weekends. As part of your on-call duties, you may be required to attend the workplace at short notice.
Full Time and Part Time Working
This role is available on a full-time basis with the option of compressed hours working. This role is also suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 30 hours per week due to business requirements.
Training
You will complete role specific training as deemed necessary by Head JMSC: this may include (but is not limited to) a bespoke induction course and external qualifications including Multi Agency Gold Incident Command (MAGIC) and National Inter-agency Liaison Officer (NILO) training.
Travel
You may also be required to travel nationally - usually to London - approximately once per month. No overnight stays will be required.
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