Area Manager Service Delivery – West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service

At West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service you can do just that. This is an ideal time to join us if you are looking for an exciting challenge and an opportunity to make a real and positive contribution to the Service and the public we serve.

Salary: Area Manager B development £65,690 – competent £72,054 plus 20% Flexi Duty Allowance and 14% Area Manager Allowance.

Contract: Permanent.

Hours: 42 hours per week and participate in the Area Manager rota, providing on-call Level 3 and 4 Strategic Incident Command services.

Location: Your primary office location will be County Hall in Chichester, and you will also have the flexibility to work from other stations throughout West Sussex. Additionally, there will be opportunities for you to work remotely from home, as deemed appropriate for your work responsibilities.

Interviews: During 2nd to the 13th of September 2024.

As the Area Manager for Service Delivery, you will be responsible for managing a budget of over 20 million pounds. Your role will involve ensuring the smooth day-to-day operation of the service response.

You will collaborate with the Service Executive Board to ensure an effective, efficient, and sustainable Fire & Rescue Service aligns with our vision, values, objectives, and obligations.

You will make a valuable contribution to addressing challenges within the Directorate by improving key services according to Member priorities while working within financial constraints.

You will provide strong leadership to promote inclusion, diversity, and high performance across the Service and its partners. Your responsibilities will include leading a department to effectively manage resources and reduce risk while developing Service strategy, policies, and processes.

You will also be expected to maintain the operational competence and physical fitness required of an Area Manager.

Community Risk Management Plan

Living in West Sussex

West Sussex is the sunniest county in the United Kingdom. It is a beautiful and diverse county which covers both stunning coastlines and the South Downs National Park. The county encompasses hills, charming villages, historic castles, harbours, farmland, and market towns and is a popular location to live and work for people of all ages.

What we need from you:

Key Skills:

• Lead, involve and motivate others, with the ability to establish and sustain productive relationships based on trust, respect and credibility.
• Strong partnership working skills with the ability to develop and manage highly effective relationships and co-ordinate a range of partners and stakeholders, both internally and externally, to successfully deliver objectives.
• Highly effective written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate complex messages in a straight-forward way to a variety of audiences.
• Ability to think strategically and apply analytical reasoning to complex problems.
• Ability to recognise where change is needed, to challenge existing practices, identify and deliver solutions to improve organisational effectiveness.
• Ability to forward plan over a number of years, continuously developing and reviewing the effectiveness of service, whilst still delivering the current service.
• Business focused with the ability to develop a compelling business case to influence and persuade others.

Qualifications:

Essential at time of application

• Substantive and competent Group Manager who has demonstrated competence against the requirements of the NJC Group Manager role map.
• Incident Command Level 3/Advanced
• Level 5 qualification in leadership and management or equivalent level of experience demonstrated
• Current full UK driving licence

Desirable

• Incident Command Level 4/Strategic (if you do not hold this qualification, you will be expected to attain it within 3 months of appointment)
• Emergency Response Driver (if you do not hold this qualification, you will be expected to attain it within 3 months of appointment)
• Attendance on the Fire Service College Executive Leadership Programme or equivalent
• Level 7 qualification in leadership and management
• NEBOSH Certificate or equivalent

Experience:

• Managing and leading a business function or service with a number of integrated teams.
• Management of complex operational incidents.
• Providing strategic advice and support to resolve operational incidents where there has been multi agency engagement.
• Developing policies and approaches to business which achieve organisational objectives.
• Shaping and supporting initiatives in a political environment.
• Effectively managing a budget and contributing to decision making on spending.
• Leading and delivering significant change and business improvement initiatives.
• An understanding of and commitment to equality principles and practices and their implementation across an entire organisation, including how to maximise their benefit in the management and delivery of services.

What we offer you?

In addition to working within a great team and a competitive salary you will have access to:

• 35 days annual leave + bank holidays with the ability to buy additional leave annually.
• A very generous pension scheme.
• Varied flexible working options.
• Training and development opportunities.
• Employee assistance scheme.
• A range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers with the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform.
• Discounted membership at selected local sports and fitness centres.
• A range of commuting and business travel discount and initiatives.

How to apply?

Together, we will make West Sussex a safer place and leave an everlasting impact on our community. To apply click ‘Apply Now,’ please submit your CV and attach a written statement, maximum 1750 words answering the below questions:

• Productivity and efficiency are key areas of focus recently within the sector. How will you support and implement required changes to help West Sussex FRS achieve its aim of ensuring best use of resources?
• People and culture in the Fire and Rescue Service has been put under a spotlight. How would you lead Service Delivery, to ensure successful CRMP delivery alongside a fair and inclusive environment?
• Describe a time when you introduced a significant innovation or improvement to your service.

If you would like to have an informal conversation about the role please contact Gary Ball, Assistant Chief Fire Officer at gary.ball@westsussex.gov.uk or Sabrina Nemorin-Noel, Head of Organisational Assurance ＆ Governance at sabrina.nemorin-noel@westsussex.gov.uk.

If you are struggling to apply, please contact ella.hopkins-smith@westsussex.gov.uk. 

Please ensure you have saved the role profile below as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download it again.

What happens next?

Once the role has closed, our shortlisting panel will review applications. After the review of applications, those who have demonstrated that they meet the key skills will be invited to the next step. Depending on the number of applications, this may involve a telephone conversation focused on discussing some of the key skills in the attached job description.  

After the review of telephone conversations, those who have strongly demonstrated the key skills will be invited to participate in our final interview process. This process will include a main panel interview with competency and values-based questions, a stakeholder panel interview where you will have discussions on how you would work with external and internal stakeholders, and an incident command assessment. 

This post is subject to a security check and satisfactory references. There is also a requirement to complete a full medical and fitness test. 

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.