HR Recruitment Advisor – Strategic Projects at Maritime and Coastguard Agency in Southampton

Job summary

Can you provide clear recruitment advice and guidance to hiring managers?

Do you enjoy supporting recruitment campaigns from vacancy creation through to onboarding?

Have you juggled multiple campaigns simultaneously, whilst maintaining a high-quality service?

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is seeking a HR Recruitment Advisor – Strategic Projects to join our busy recruitment team. This is an exciting opportunity to support recruitment activity across the Agency, advising hiring managers and helping to deliver compliant, effective and candidate-focused campaigns. You will play a key role in supporting vacancies from initial planning through to advertising, assessment, pre-employment checks and onboarding. Working closely with colleagues across HR, Communications and the wider business, you will help ensure the MCA attracts the talent it needs while maintaining high standards of governance, service delivery and customer care.

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 and 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: Maritime and Coastguard Agency - Department for Transport Careers

Job description

As a HR Recruitment Advisor – Strategic Projects, you will provide guidance and administrative support to hiring managers, helping them run effective, compliant recruitment campaigns. You will manage campaign activity, support assessment and advertising approaches, contribute to recruitment governance and use data and best practice to improve service delivery across the MCA.

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

• Acting as a key point of contact for hiring managers, providing recruitment advice and campaign support.
• Supporting vacancy creation, advertising, assessment design, pre-employment checks and onboarding activity.
• Ensuring recruitment activity is consistent, compliant and aligned to MCA, DfT and Civil Service requirements.
• Creating, reviewing and supporting recruitment governance processes, using HR data to inform decisions.
• Building effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including DfT’s Recruitment Hub.
• Working with Communications colleagues to support recruitment marketing and social media activity.
• Proactively sourcing candidates for specific roles using available recruitment tools and platforms.
• Supporting recruitment training and attendance at job fairs or educational institutes where required.

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

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

• Demonstrable experience of working in a fast-paced environment, providing advice and delivering a high-quality service in a recruitment, talent acquisition or equivalent environment.
• Experience in guiding and advising internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills and well organised with the ability to effectively manage shifting priorities.

Additional Information

This post is offered on a Fixed Term Appointment (FTA) basis to complete a finite piece of work, however this may be extended or made permanent.

Permanent Civil Servants will be appointed on an inward loan and subject to the terms of the agreed inward loan. You must have your home departments approval to return to them at the end of the loan before you apply. Internal candidates will return to their previous post at the end of the loan period, which will need to be agreed with your line manager in advance. If your home department cannot agree to release you on loan, there is the opportunity for you to move across to the department on a fixed term appointment. In this instance the Department for Transport would become your home department and if there is no role available for you at the end of this appointment, you would be subject to the redeployment and redundancy process.

If you're employed by a non-departmental public body (NDPB) by moving jobs this will involve a change of employer and you may break the statutory rules on continuity of employment.

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 32 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 th e 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. Ther e may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

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 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:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,027, Maritime and Coastguard Agency contributes

£9,278 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 MCA (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 and Experience.

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 (500-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following: • Working in a recruitment or talent acquisition environment
• Experience guiding internal and/or external stakeholders

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead Success Profile element, Experience – working in a recruitment or talent acquisition environment. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

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 22/10/2026

Stage 2: Interview

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

• Behaviours: • Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Experience – Experience working in a recruitment environment

The interviews will take place 30/10/2026 and 02/11/2026

This interview will be conducted in person at our Southampton office (Spring Place, 105 Commercial Road, Southampton, SO15 1EG). 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 .

Appointments for this position will be made in order of merit. If you are successful in the selection process but there are no further available posts for the advertised role, you may be contacted to discuss an offer for a lower graded role (with similar experience and responsibility requirements).

If you are unsuccessful in the selection process, your application may be considered for a lower graded position if your demonstrated skills and experience meet the requirements of the alternative position. Candidates will be considered in order of merit.

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