Principal Inspector of Marine Accidents

Job summary

Are you looking for a role where you can improve safety at sea and make a difference to lives?

Can you lead and give direction to a team with your knowledge and experience in the marine industry?

Do you have an altruistic sense?

If so, we would love to hear from you.

DfT is a high-profile department at the heart of UK government. We work with agencies and partners to support the transport network that helps businesses and gets people and goods travelling around the country. We plan and invest to make journeys better.

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 Department for Transport Central - Department for Transport Careers.

Job description

Based in Southampton, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is an independent organisation within the Department for Transport. The Branch is responsible for investigating accidents and incidents involving UK vessels anywhere in the world, and any vessels within UK territorial waters, with the aim of improving the safety of life at sea and the avoidance of accidents in future. The Branch is not responsible for apportioning blame or liability, nor does it enforce laws or carry out prosecutions.

The MAIB comprises 34 specialist and administrative staff. Inspectors are divided into four teams each headed by a Principal Inspector.

As a Principal Inspector of Marine Accidents, you will be responsible for supervising a multi-disciplinary team of inspectors carrying out investigations into marine accidents. You will also be a member of the senior management team, contributing to the formulation of policy and the development of the Branch.

Your responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Acting as duty co-ordinator and the Branch’s initial point of contact for out of hours accident notifications within a 4-week cycle; leading and managing a team of specialist accident investigators.
• Deploying to accident sites, at short notice during duty weeks, to manage the more demanding investigations; this could include travel worldwide.
• Directing the progress, conduct, and quality assurance of investigations, the development of recommendations, and overseeing production of the report.
• Dealing with individuals and organisations involved in marine accidents in what can often be stressful situations.
• Representing the Branch at industry fora.
• Contributing to MAIB's wider management strategies.

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.

Special Features of the Role

Your commitment to deploy will be managed through a duty system whereby 4 duty teams rotate through a weekly cycle. During your duty week you will need to be available to travel to accident sites at 2 hours’ notice. The following week (standby) you will be at 6 hours’ notice to fill in for or assist the duty team if it is deployed. For weeks 3 and 4 of the cycle you will be expected to be contactable and available to deploy unless otherwise agreed. Duty rosters are published well in advance to enable you to plan ahead, and flexibility is possible to accommodate important family events and other commitments.

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 thrive in this role, you will:

• Be expected to apply sound judgement under pressure and have both strong leadership and managerial skills.
• Be highly motivated, inquisitive and a critical thinker who is able to engage with new, unfamiliar or controversial concepts.
• Require considerable diplomatic skills, be comfortable engaging with people from all walks of life, and be empathetic when dealing with the victims, next-of-kin and others affected by marine accidents.
• Have the confidence and technical background to enable you to tackle accident investigations involving vessels of all types.
• Have the ability to be able to assess and analyse data from various sources, and able to recognise when external expertise is required to make progress.
• Have excellent verbal and written communication skills and have the critical skills necessary to quality assure the work of others.

Applicants must hold relevant commercial marine transport industry experience. This is taken to mean any of: experience in command or as the senior engineer afloat, or senior management in role ashore; industry experience as a naval architect; or experience as a marine accident investigator.

Additional Information

You will be required to undertake a Post Graduate Cert in Applied Marine Accident Investigation and Foundation e-learning module of the Contract Management Capability programme once in role, unless these accreditations are already held. Both qualifications are fully funded by the MAIB.

Important:

• Due to the nature of MAIB operations, you will be required to undertake physical activities and must be able to board vessels by pilot ladder and move around disrupted environments unaided.
• You will also be exposed to situations, information and material of a sensitive or traumatic nature and recordings that could be distressing.

We advise candidates to consider these requirements before applying. Please note also, that we will require successful candidates to undergo an internal health check assessment before starting in post. Candidates will be given more information on this assessment closer to the time by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch within Department for Transport. Please see the attached document for further information.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying. Full time roles consist of 37 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.

Regular travel to other offices will be required, which may include international travel and involve overnight stays.

The successful candidate will require Full UK Drivers License.

Visa Sponsorship

DfTc does not offer Visa Sponsorship for this role.

Licences

Full UK Drivers License.

Qualifications

o STCW 95 A-II/2 (Deck) Unlimited or;
o STCW Deck Officer (Fishing Vessel) Class 1 Certificate of Competency or
o STCW III/2 (Engineering) Unlimited or;
o Chartered Engineer status as a Naval Architect or;
o Chartered Human Factors practitioner

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Applying Expertise and Technology (Accident Investigation Competence).
• Written Communication - (Accident Investigation Competence)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £96,140, Department for Transport contributes £27,851 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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, Ability, Experience and Technical skills.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Online Tests

Stage 2: Sift of CV and Personal Statement

Stage 3: Interview

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

Stage 1: Online Tests

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

1. Ability

After submission of the first stage of your application (personal details), you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Verbal Test and a Civil Service Numerical Test. If you successfully pass the tests, you will be invited to complete the full application (please see ‘Stage 2: Sift’ below for further information).

Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended) to give yourself enough time to complete your full application (please see ‘Stage 2: Sift’ for further information). Both the online test and the full application must be completed by the closing date on the advert, otherwise your application will be rejected.

Guidance for the tests will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.

Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance 21st June - midday to 1pm and 28th June - 4pm to midnight. You will be unable to access tests during this period.

If you are in the middle of a test when the maintenance begins, your progress will be paused. You will be able to resume your test from where you left off via your application centre once the downtime has ended. Please note that you will not be able to launch any new tests while the system is offline.

Stage 2: 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 (750 wordcount). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:

• A professional background within the commercial marine transport industry.
• Project management skills with a proven ability to plan and prioritise to meet challenging timescales in a dynamic environment.
• Ability to assess and analyse data from various sources, and to recognise when external expertise is required to make progress.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the first criteria - A professional background within the commercial marine transport industry. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

The sift will take place week commencing 7th July 2026.

Stage 3: Interview

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

• Behaviours - Making Effective Decisions, Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together and Delivering at Pace
• Experience
• Technical - Applying Expertise and Technology (Accident Investigation Competence)
• Technical - Written Communication - (Accident Investigation Competence)

You will also be required to create and deliver a presentation and complete a written exercise. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place from the 16th July 2026.

This interview will be conducted in person at our Southampton office. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

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

For more information about how we hire, useful tips on submitting your application and interview guidance 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.

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 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.

Pre-employment Checking

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

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.

Due to the nature of MAIB operations, you will be required to undertake physical activities such as working in disrupted environments, confined spaces and boarding vessels by pilot or shoreside ladders. You will also be exposed to situations, information, and material that may be potentially traumatic.

We therefore advise candidates to consider these requirements before applying. Please note also, that we will require successful candidates to undergo an internal health check assessment before starting in post. Candidates will be given more information on this assessment closer to the time by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch within the Department for Transport.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter.

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist 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.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

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 : Jo Dormon
• Email : jo.dormon@maib.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: Visit the Civil Service Commission website Here

Attachments

Role Profile Opens in new window (pdf, 170kB)MAIB Medical Checks Opens in new window (pdf, 177kB)