Overseas Programme Manager and Audit Team Member

Job summary

Do you have a demonstrable knowledge and experience of project and strategy management?

Have you got experience of preparing, writing and clearing of senior level briefings?

Can you use your superb interpersonal skills to build effective relationships?

If so, we are looking for an Overseas Programme Manager and Audit Team Member to join us at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and we'd love to hear from you!

This is a fantastic opportunity as you will have exposure to a wide range of high profile senior stakeholders enabling you to build strong, trusted working relationships.

The MCA implements 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.

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 roles: MCA Homepage , Civil Service Careers

Job description

The role sits within Maritime Governance & Regulatory Compliance (MGRC) and supports the UK Member State's overall compliance with its international maritime obligations and the International Maritime Organization's Instruments Implementation Code (III Code) through the development and delivery of MCA's projects supporting HMG's UK/ Overseas Territories (OTs) Strategy and HMG’s National Security Strategy.

You will work closely in a small, dynamic team where you will be responsible for developing and delivering a programme of activities across the OTs, including the Crown Dependencies (CDs) and other countries (where appropriate), to drive forward effective cultural change towards maritime safety and pollution prevention, and build positive sustainable capacity and capability for continual compliance with international obligations and respond quickly and effectively to maritime incidents.

You will also have line management responsibility for 2 HEO’s.

Your responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Supporting the Overseas Strategic Policy Manager to develop a programme of activities to support the OTs/CDs in achieving full compliance with their international maritime obligations. Use information and evidence from proxy audits, gap analyses, monitoring visits, capability reviews and reporting templates to inform the activity plan.
• Facilitating, leading and managing the mobilisation and delivery of multiple projects, identifying suitable resources and contractors, and implement robust audit and procurement compliance to deliver maximum value for money and the best use of financial resources.
• Leading activities with responsibility for contract management. Organising and managing a number of forums/workshops, developing agendas which actively encourages participation from all delegates. Managing, in coordination with HM Coastguard project leads, activities to develop effective response to search and rescue and pollution response incidents.
• Taking responsibility for the annual development of the programme's budget proposals (circa £2-5m), applying in-depth knowledge of Government financial requirements and working closely with each department’s financial teams to accurately forecast, profile and effectively managing available funds.
• In conjunction with the Head of External Monitoring and Assurance (MGRC) and UK III Code auditors, assisting with the delivery of III Code proxy audits of the UK and Red Ensign Group.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills set out in the Civil Service Line Management Standards.

For further information about the role and responsibilities, please see 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:

1. You will have strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to interact confidently and professionally with stakeholders.
2. You enjoy influencing others, encouraging them to make the right decisions in line with the business and departmental requirements.
3. You will have a diplomatic and tactful approach.
4. As a confident communicator, you have excellent engagement skills which enables you to build lasting, trusting relationships with colleagues and stakeholders from all levels.
5. You will be highly adaptable and flexible, adjusting to the requirements of the role and time zones when liaising with colleagues in the OTs. You will have good self-awareness and the ability to improvise when needed to achieve the required outcome.
6. You will have excellent IT skills and a demonstrable knowledge in the use of Microsoft packages, in particular Microsoft Excel.

The successful candidate must be willing to work towards completing the following qualification, if not already held:

• ISM/ISO 9001 Lead Auditor qualification or equivalent auditing experience/qualifications.

Additional information

This role will be based in the Southampton HQ.

The role may require foreign travel, frequent travel to meetings at FCO, DfT and other Government departments. There may be the need to visit other locations that could require overnight stays. The role holder would therefore be required to hold a current passport.

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 30 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.

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

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,241, Maritime and Coastguard Agency contributes £12,816 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 and Experience.

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 and written assessment

Stage 1: Sift

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

• 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:

1. A demonstrable knowledge and experience of project management and strategy management.
2. Proven diplomacy and negotiating skills at senior level.
3. Be able to identify commonalities, horizon scan and carry out logical deduction of potential solutions.
4. Experience of preparing, writing and clearing of senior level briefings.

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

Stage 4: Interview and written assessment

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

• Behaviours – Seeing the big picture, Changing and improving, Leadership, Making effective decisions, Working together.
• Experience – Report writing preparation, writing and clearing senior level briefings.

You will also be required to carry out a written exercise to assess the Behaviour Communicating and Influencing. 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 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.

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 “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert or the information on our website, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit theHow We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All external applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Threats or acts of violence
• Illegal activity or substance misuse
• Sexually explicit material
• Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public. Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle - it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture. If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

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.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).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 : Elise Carlo
• Email : elise.carlo@mcga.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact Government Recruitment Services via email: dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Click here (https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/) to visit Civil Service Commission

Attachments

Role Profile Opens in new window (pdf, 239kB)