Vessel Traffic Services Operator

Job summary

Are you someone who thrives in a problem-solving environment and would love a varied, dynamic and rewarding role?

Are you highly resilient with the ability to remain calm and professional in pressurised situations?

Do you hold a Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) Operator Qualification or have the willingness to work towards achieving this once in post?

If so, we'd love to hear from you!

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 Maritime and Coastguard Agency - Department for Transport Careers

Job description

Based at our Coastguard Operations Centre in Dover or Falmouth, we have a fantastic opportunity for a number of Vessel Traffic Services Operators (VTSO) to join our dynamic team providing a crucial VTS Traffic Information and Navigational Assistance Service in accordance with current national doctrine and the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) recommendations.

As a VTSO your day will include taking mandatory ship reports from vessels navigating within the service area, gathering key information in relation to cargo, passengers and vessel damage or defects to ensure they are compliant with both national and international maritime regulations and able to safely continue their passage.

This is a dynamic role in which you’ll be faced with a multitude of interesting and varied situations – from a compliant vessel just passing through to ships that have run aground, a passenger ferry dealing with a fire, loss of pollutant cargo overboard or even managing vessels safely around swimmers in the English Channel.

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

1. Delivery of a vessel traffic service as defined by IALA recommendations and guidelines to vessels navigating in the service area to ensure compliance with all local, national and international regulations
2. Working as part of a team to manage day-to-day operations to provide a high and effective standard of VTS service delivery
3. Planning, prioritising and managing work based on dynamic risk assessments, and ensuring resources are available for both forecast and actual demand
4. Balancing work against resource and recommending additional staff or assistance from other teams to provide suitable coverage
5. Implementing sound leadership, management and direction within a team, and ensuring safe working practices are maintained

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 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

Applicants are required to demonstrate a willingness to work towards and obtain a VTS C0103-1 qualification – (eligibility to enrol for this qualification requires English as a first language or an English Language certification to the equivalent of IELTS level 5.0)

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

• Be confident and proficient in the use of multiple IT systems
• Distinguishing among relevant and irrelevant information (e.g., assess the relative movement of fixed
  and moving objects);
• combining auditory and visual information;
• demonstrating spatial and situational awareness;
• demonstrating alertness and decisiveness when required;
• carrying out several tasks simultaneously (multi-tasking);
• carrying out routine work without losing situational awareness;
• prioritising and deciding what situations require immediate action;
• show initiative and make decisions whilst working within a framework of standards, regulations and
  structured procedures;
• working under conditions of stress;
• demonstrating effective participation as a member of a team; and
• demonstrating appropriate communication, literacy (written and oral) and numeracy skills.
• making decisions whilst working within standards, regulations and structured procedures.
• working within a busy, high-pressure environment
• communicating with a range of stakeholders, both verbally and in writing.

Additional Information

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

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.

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.

This role is not suitable for hybrid working and will require the successful candidate to work solely from their designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, from other offices/work locations/visiting stakeholders.

If your employment ceases within 24 months of completing your training course, you will be required to reimburse the MCA any associated training fees based on the length of your employment.

The role requires occasional travel to attend ongoing training courses, meetings and working groups which will involve some time away from home and the regular workplace.

This role is full-time only and you will be required to work a 12-hour shift pattern (both day and nightshifts) to allow HMCG to provide its 24 hour emergency service to the public, 365 days a year. On average the shift pattern equates to 37 duty hours per week over a 12-month period. As such, this position attracts a number of allowances to reflect the shift working and unsociable hours.

Appointment to this role is subject to meeting Health Standards, please see attached document.

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:

• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

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, Strengths 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

Stage 2: interview and assessments

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 (1250 word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:
• Experience of managing several tasks simultaneously, prioritising where necessary
• Experience of making decisions whilst working within standards, regulations and structured procedures
• Experience of working within a busy, high-pressure environment
• Experience of communicating with a range of stakeholders, both verbally and in writing
• Experience of utilising various Microsoft packages such as Word, Excel and Outlook

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The sift will take place 11th - 13th February 2026.

Stage 2: Interview

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

• Behaviours – Delivering at Pace and Communicating and Influencing
• Strengths

You will also be required to complete the following:

• An audio type and information gathering and arrangement test
• A maths test

Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place from 3rd March 2026.

This interview will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams/in person at one of our offices. 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.

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

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

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 cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please email DRGComms@dft.gov.uk for assistance.

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.

Pre-employment Checking

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

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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 : Keith Bennett
• Email : Keith.Bennett@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: Visit the Civil Service Commission website Here

Attachments

Role Profile Opens in new window (pdf, 504kB)Annex_C__20211015_MCA_Health_Standards_2021_HMCG Opens in new window (pdf, 723kB)