Assistant Chief Fire Officer – Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is a high performing, innovative and progressive organisation that has high ambitions for the service that it provides to the communities and people of Cheshire.

Due to the impending retirement of the current postholder, the Fire Authority is inviting applications for the post of Assistant Chief Fire Officer.

The successful candidate will possess a detailed understanding of the issues relating to the Fire and Rescue Service at national and local levels, have strong political acuity and be an inspiring and outstanding leader. The Fire Authority will also be looking for an individual who is genuinely committed to staff engagement, diversity and inclusion and who will be able to influence others whilst ensuring the Service has strong leadership to shape and direct service provision and uphold the existing high standards of performance, and the positive culture currently in place. Candidates will also need to demonstrate resilience and excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to execute ambitious programmes of change.

Applications are invited from competent Area Managers and existing Brigade Managers who are in possession of a Level 4 Incident Command and a MAGIC qualification so they can participate in the Principal Officers on-call rota. The selection process will comprise of three stages, the first will entail a psychometric assessment, technical interview and stakeholder panel with members of staff, the second stage will be a command assessment and media assessment, and the third stage will be an interview and presentation with Members of the Fire Authority.

Full details are available in a Recruitment Pack below.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer – Recruitment Pack

Initial application will be via the submission of a CV accompanied by a supporting statement of up to 2,000 words outlining suitability for the role against the job description and person specification.

These should be emailed to recruitment@cheshirefire.gov.uk quoting job reference number 53/24/ACFO.

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Laura Flanagan on 01606 868810 or 07929 784791, in order to arrange a telephone call with Alex Waller, Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive.

Closing date: Monday 13 January at 17:00 hours

Selection process
The selection of the Assistant Chief Fire Officer will be undertaken by Members of Cheshire Fire Authority’s Brigade Managers Pay and Performance Committee. The process will also involve the Chief Fire Officer, members of the Senior Leadership Team, and independent HR and Media Consultants.