Cover Officer - Specialist Operations Advanced

Job summary

Specialist Operations within the NCA includes Advanced Undercover Officers (UCOs) and dual role Cover Officers / Advanced UCOs. Both are deployed as undercover officers to collect intelligence and evidence, proactively and reactively in support of NCA objectives and operations in accordance with the Serious and Organised Crime Strategy. Those in the dual role G4 Cover Officer / Advanced UCO will supervise the deployment of UCOs when not deployed themselves. UCOs will also engage in operations utilising covert haulage, maritime and aviation resources.

For roles based in London, your contractual place of work will be Stratford. While the Stratford site is expected to become operational from November 2025 – March 2026, you will be required to carry out your contractual duties from Vauxhall or another reasonable location on a temporary basis during the interim period.

Please note that, as Stratford will be your contractual place of work, any subsequent move from a temporary location will not entitle you to payments for travel time or costs under the Relocation and Excess Travel Policy.

Job description

Undercover officers will:

• Deploy as an undercover officer in support of the NCA and domestic and international partners, authorised projects and operations.
• Enable the NCA and partners to maximise collection opportunities that are in line with the organisational intelligence and evidential requirements to support operations into complex serious and organised crime at both a national and international level.
• Participate in the debrief of deployments to ensure that a full, accurate and timely account is disseminated to operational officers.
• Maintain an in-depth knowledge of legislation, case law and practices appropriate to covert operations and perform the role of a UCO legally with honesty and integrity.
• Gather, maintain and record material from deployments to produce quality written and oral presentations of intelligence and evidence to support prosecutions, intelligence pictures or disruption as appropriate.
• Give evidence at court both in the UK and abroad in line with legislation and NCA policies.
• Undertake personal responsibility and accountability for the management and maintenance of operational assets and equipment and ensure training qualifications are in date and available for deployment.
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with internal & external UCOs in order to foster collaborative working and mentoring.
• Provide support to colleagues to maintain covert premises, administration and assets to the standard required by the law and relevant covert law enforcement policies and procedures.

Duties and Responsibilities

Deploy as an Undercover Officer

Deploy as an undercover officer in support of the NCA and domestic and international partners, authorised projects and operations.

Supervision

Supervise the deployment of undercover officers and assets in support of NCA projects and investigations.

Risk Management

Ensure that the risks attached to a deployment are thoroughly assessed, documented and that adequate control measures are in place to manage the risks.

Health & Safety

Monitor deployment activity to ensure that health, safety and welfare of officers are not jeopardised and that the activity is not at a level that poses an unacceptable or unmanageable risk.

Knowledge of relevant Legislation

Ensure UCOs do not go beyond the intended scope of authorised activity and that their activities are concurrent with the strategic and tactical objectives of the investigation.

Subject Matter Expert

Provide advice on legislation, policy, tactical options and evidential opportunities to assist in the planning and implementation of investigations / operations.

Working Together

Develop and maintain effective working relationships with both internal & external stakeholders in order to foster collaborative working.

Deployment in or supervising UCOs involved in investigating CSAE and CSAM

UCOs and Cover Officers may be expected to work directly or indirectly in tackling child sexual exploitation and abuse. This may involve exposure to child sexual abuse material.

On-Call duties

Cover Officers will be expected to form part of an on-call roster.

There will be a regular expectation of on call duties in line with a departmental rota. This will generally be a week of on call, covering overnight periods during the working week, and continued 48 hour cover over the weekend. The on call rota can change with operational requirements, but will typically necessitate one week in five or six.

Person specification

Advanced Undercover Officer

To have successfully completed a UK accredited Advanced Undercover Officer course

Cover Officer

To have successfully completed an accredited Cover Officer course or to pass an accredited course within 12 months

CPIA

Demonstrable knowledge of disclosure /exhibits procedures

Legislation and Procedure

In-depth knowledge of law enforcement investigations and criminal justice procedures including CPIA, PACE, RIPA, CCA and PII.

Risk Management

Experience of managing risk in an undercover environment

SOC work

Proven relevant experience of UCO working in serious and organised crime operations

Communication

Communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust.

Decision making (including Dynamic decision making)

Make decisions confidently in time critical situations and under pressure, even when details are unclear or if they prove to be unpopular

Problem Solving

Using logic and imagination to make sense of a situation and find an intelligent solution.

Please Note: Prior to commencing the role, you will need to successfully complete SC Enhanced clearance and then achieve both DV Enhanced and DV STRAP clearance within the first 12 months in post.

Qualifications

Candidates will need to have the following to be eligible to apply:

To have successfully completed a UK accredited Advanced Undercover Officer course.

Technical skills

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

• In-depth knowledge of law enforcement investigations and criminal justice procedures including CPIA, PACE, RIPA and PII.
• Experience of managing risk in an undercover environment
• Proven relevant experience of UCO working in serious and organised crime operations

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £49,392, National Crime Agency contributes £14,308 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

New entrants to the NCA receive 26 days annual leave, rising to 31 on completion of 5 years continuous service, plus 8 bank holidays.

If qualifying criteria is met new joiners from UK Police Forces or the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC) will have service with those employers taken into account for continuous service purposes for annual leave entitlement only, this will be up to a maximum of 31 days leave (including 1 privilege day).

Other benefits include:

• Flexible working, including flexi-time, compressed hours and job sharing (in line with business requirements)
• Family friendly policies, notably above the statutory minimum
• Learning and Development opportunities
• Interest free loans and advances, including season tickets, childcare and rental deposits
• Housing schemes - Key Worker status
• Discounts and Savings with a wide variety of services including Cycle to Work, Smart Tech schemes, dental insurance, gym discounts and savings on everyday spending, available through the Reward Gateway , Edenred and Blue Light Card schemes.
• Staff support groups/networks
• Sports and social activities, including membership to the Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC)

Further information is available on the NCA Website.

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 Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

How we will assess you

Your application will be assessed against the following:

Technical - this will be assessed by 250 word examples on:

• In-depth knowledge of law enforcement investigations and criminal justice procedures including CPIA, PACE, RIPA and PII.

• Experience of managing risk in an undercover environment

• Proven relevant experience of UCO working in serious and organised crime operations

A panel will assess how well your application demonstrates the requirements outlined above.

Longlist

In the event of a high number of applications, we may operate a longlist. Applicants will need to meet the minimum pass mark for the lead criteria.

- In-depth knowledge of law enforcement investigations and criminal justice procedures including CPIA, PACE, RIPA and PII. .

Candidates who do not meet the minimum pass mark for the lead criteria will not progress to having their other criteria assessed. Applications must meet the minimum criteria to be progressed to the assessment stage.

You will receive an acknowledgement once your application is submitted.

We aim to have sift completed and scores released within 10 working days of the closing date of the advert. For high volume campaigns this timeframe may be extended.

Scores will be provided but further feedback will not be available at this stage.

For guidance on the application process, visit:
NCA Applying and Onboarding

Assessment 1

The format of this assessment will be Interview which will be tested on the criteria listed in the Success Profiles at Assessment section.

Success Profiles at Assessment

Technical

• In-depth knowledge of law enforcement investigations and criminal justice procedures including CPIA, PACE, RIPA and PII.

• Experience of managing risk in an undercover environment

• Proven relevant experience of UCO working in serious and organised crime operations

Strengths

Strengths are tested at interview stage - the strengths tested are not shared before the interview.

Assessment Outcome

Outcomes will be communicated via the NCA recruitment portal.
If successful but no role is immediately available, you may be placed on a reserve list for 12 months.
Reserve lists can be used to fill similar role types across the Agency where the assessment criteria is considered a match by the recruitment team and the business area.

In the event of a tie at the assessment stage, available roles will be offered in merit order using the following order:

1. Lead criteria (behaviours/technical/experience)
2. If still tied, desirable criteria will be assessed (if advertised)
3. If still tied, application sift scores will be used

Feedback is provided only to those who attend an assessment.

You will be subject to vetting and pre-employment checks before appointment.

Once the vacancy closes, the advert will no longer be accessible. Please save a copy for your records.

We encourage all candidates to visit the NCA Careers Page for more information.

Full advert details for this vacancy can found on the advert on the NCA Recruitment Portal. Please follow the link to apply at advertisers' site.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : The Recruitment Team
• Email : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk
• Telephone : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk

Further information

If you believe your application has not been treated fairly, email: Central.Recruitment@nca.gov.uk (quoting the vacancy reference).
If unresolved, you may escalate your complaint to the Civil Service Commission.