Ship Standards – Autonomy Advisor (Assurance)

Job summary

Do you have a background in autonomy and software assurance?

Are you confident at building relationships with stakeholders?

Would you like to input and help develop standards and frameworks to make a positive change to maritime safety and environmental protection?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

The Future Technical Standards Team sits within the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's (MCA) Directorate of UK Maritime Services (UKMS) and plays a vital role in developing and maintaining the UK's maritime safety and environmental regulations. Working across a diverse portfolio, the team is responsible for standards affecting all types of vessels, from small pleasure craft to large internationally trading ships. This is a technically challenging and rewarding role at the heart of maritime regulation, where you will help shape policy, develop regulatory requirements, and support the delivery of the UK's maritime objectives. You'll work closely with operational colleagues across the MCA, government departments, international maritime administrations, and industry stakeholders to address emerging issues and drive continuous improvement. If you are looking for an opportunity to apply your technical expertise in a collaborative environment while influencing the future of maritime safety and environmental protection, this role offers a unique platform to make a meaningful impact.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at MCA:

MCA roles: Maritime and Coastguard Agency - Department for Transport Careers

Job description

As a Ship Standards – Autonomy Advisor (Assurance), it will be your responsibility to support and, in some cases, take a proactive lead in managing and developing UK regulations, standards and guidance for ship safety and marine environment protection subject areas.

Working closely with the Assistant Director Ship Standards and senior colleagues, you will support UK Government objectives for a safe, sustainable, and commercially successful maritime sector. Drawing on your own expertise and collaborating with specialist colleagues, your work will contribute to ensuring high standards of maritime safety and environmental protection while enabling innovation across the sector.

This is an exciting opportunity for you to help drive policy development and make a real contribution in the shipping industry in ensuring safer lives, safer ships, and cleaner seas. This role provides a dynamic working environment, with regular engagement with stakeholders at all levels.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Supported by Senior Colleagues lead on a specific subject matter remit: autonomy (including AI) and software assurance, and software integrity.
• Work with others in the team and the Innovation Hub to manage Stakeholder Groups and represent MCA at such meetings as well as other meetings, working groups, project groups and external events as required in support of key responsibilities and the work of Stakeholder Groups.
• Supported by Senior Colleagues, lead on the drafting of instructions for Government lawyers to facilitate the timely implementation of regulations and draft codes and guidance to implement UK objectives for shipping safety. Coordinate the development of associated impact assessments in conjunction with Government economists.
• To partake in MCA and externally funded Research Projects as requested.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

Required experience:

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• Experience and technical knowledge of autonomy (including AI), software and assurance processes and developments, which may be obtained through education, research or practical experience.
• Candidates must be able to demonstrate a high standard of drafting ability to allow them to draft quality submissions and other documents.
• Demonstrable knowledge of and experience in use of Microsoft Office Word, Excel and emails.
• A passport valid for international travel is required.

Additional Information

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 23 hours per week.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

This role requires occasional UK and overseas travel which may involve overnight stays and working outside of normal hours, potentially at weekends.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that we will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa . Therefore, this role is not open to applications from those who require sponsorship – candidates must ensure they have the appropriate right to work in the UK before applying. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Analysis and use of evidence – Policy Framing (Level 2)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,663, Maritime and Coastguard Agency contributes

£10,331 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave).
• 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King’s birthday.
• Access to the staff discount portal.
• Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
• Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies (opens in a new window).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

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

How to apply:

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's skills, and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1000-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:

• Candidates must be able to demonstrate a high standard of drafting ability to allow them to draft quality submissions and other documents.
• Experience and technical knowledge of autonomy (including AI), software and assurance processes and developments, which may be obtained through education, research or practical experience.
• Demonstrable knowledge of and experience in use of Microsoft Office Word, Excel and emails.

The sift will take place week commencing 28/09/2026

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – (Seeing the Big Picture, Changing and Improving, Working Together, Making Effective Decisions and Delivering at Pace)
• Experience
• Technical – (Analysis and use of evidence – Policy Framing (Level 2)

The framework can be found here Policy Profession Standards

You will also be required to create and deliver a presentation to assess the Technical element listed above. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place week commencing 19/10/2026

This interview will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site (opens in a new window).

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change

Further information on the selection process

We will also hold a 12 -month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for. You can read more about our reserve lists here .

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Addition