Coastal Operations Area Commander at Maritime and Coastguard Agency in Dover, Newhaven

Job summary

Are you an inspiring leader with experience of managing operational teams in a response environment?

Would you describe yourself as self-motivated, organised and approachable?

Do you want to manage a dedicated, dynamic team of life savers - where your job REALLY matters?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) implement 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.

Safer lives. Safer Ships. Cleaner Seas.

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.

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

Read more in the Benefits section below!

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

Job description

We have an exciting opportunity to join our Coastal Operations group as a Coastal Operations Area Commander, where you will use your exceptional management skills to lead our team of dedicated Officers and Volunteers.

The Coastal Operations Area Commander will collaborate with a variety of stakeholders from Coastguard rescue staff and volunteers to other emergency services and partners within the resilience world, weighing up risks and making effective decisions to deploy and direct resources to meet operational response needs.

This is a unique and varied role which brings with it a great deal of autonomy. It is a physically challenging and rewarding role, where you will directly contribute to saving lives and really making a difference.

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

• Leading, participating or supporting assurance and investigation teams.
• Recruiting, managing, training, supporting, coaching and mentoring full time officers.
• Reporting to the Coastal Operations Divisional Commander, ensuring compliance with all governance requirements within their Area, including management of the Area budget.
• Leading, managing, and supervising volunteers within the Coastal Operational Area.
• Identifying, planning, resourcing and verifying the training need (Staff and Volunteers) within the Coastal Operational Area. Maintaining practitioner and instructor level skills in order to support, deliver and verify operations, training, and exercises.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

For further information on the role, please read the attached 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:

• An enthusiastic and motivated individual who has previous budget management experience and a background in managing operational teams in a response environment with the ability to engage and inspire a variety of Officers and Volunteers.
• You will be someone who enjoys a physical challenge whilst organising and taking the lead in situations to ensure your team achieves successful outcomes.
• Calm under pressure, you are resilient and able to see the bigger picture when making decisions and manage multiple workloads whilst coordinating teams to deliver effective Search and Rescue responses.
• Your confidence and passion for collaboration will enable you to build positive relationships - engaging with a variety of partners, from training providers to the general-public.
• You will come to us with experience of overseeing and delivering training and are keen to support others in their development as well as being eager to learn and develop your own knowledge and skills.
• Willing to undertake appropriate Coastguard technical training in mud, rope, water and search.

The successful candidate must hold or have willingness to gain a teaching or training qualification to level 3 or above, of the Regulated Qualifications Framework or equivalent once in post.

Additional Information

Please note that this is a uniformed role and uniform will be required to be worn at all times when on duty.

This role is subject to health standard requirements and fitness assessments. A reasonable level of fitness will be required to meet these requirements and standards.

Successful candidates will be expected to undertake a physical medical and mental health questionnaire for this role. Please see the attached document for further information. Microsoft Word - 20211015 MCA Annex C Health Standards 2021 HMCG / annex C

Operational Delivery Profession

Operational Delivery Profession (ODP) is the largest and most diverse professional community across the Civil Service. Many of us will have an association with several professional communities or specialisms, ODP applies to all public facing roles / or a role that is primarily aligned to supporting the work of those with public facing roles. All critical to the delivery of UK public services .

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 35 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 principal workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, visiting stakeholders and colleagues, or carrying out detached duty in another DfT or agency workplace. The chosen principal workplace will be the designated place of work and any remote or home working arrangement does not constitute a change to the designated place of work or contractual terms and conditions. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation. Applicants can request further information on how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see below for contact details).

Some travel to other offices will be required, which may involve overnight stays.

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 do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Licence sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Candidates should ensure they have the appropriate rights to work in the UK before application.

• Licences
• A full UK driving licence
• Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,900, Maritime and Coastguard Agency contributes

£13,297 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
• 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 and Experience.

How to apply:

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

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

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 (750-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:

Please note: the sift will be completed on a rolling basis whilst the campaign is still live, so you may receive your sift scores before the advert closing date.

The sift will take place week commencing 19/10/2026.

Stage 2: Interview

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

• Behaviours – (Making Effective Decisions, Leadership, Communicating and Influencing and Working Together)

You will also be required to create and deliver a presentation to assess the Behaviours Making Effective Decisions and Communicating and Influencing. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place week commencing 09/11/2026.

This interview will be conducted in person at our Dover office (MRCC Dover, Langdon Battery, Dover, Kent, CT15 5NA). 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.

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

Further information on the selection process

Feedback on your application can only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

We may also hold a 12 month reserve list for this role. You can read more about our reserve lists here .

During you