Assistant Commissioner – London Fire Brigade

We are looking for the best people to lead the organisation to shape our services to provide London with a world class fire and rescue service, which is trusted to serve and protect London’s diverse communities.

The Role

Working with the London Fire Commissioner and Directors, Assistant Commissioners are key leaders in ensuring that the London Fire Brigade is trusted to serve and protect London. Assistant Commissioners deliver this by ensuring the Brigade is a dynamic, forward-looking organisation of fully engaged people at the centre of the communities we serve, adapting to the needs of London. You would be joining during an exciting time of transformation, where you would be responsible for the delivery of the London Fire Commissioner’s strategic aims of:

• Placing a premium on leadership skills and investing in leadership at all levels.
• Fostering and embedding a culture of togetherness so that every member of staff feels respected and valued regardless of their gender, sexuality, colour of skin, race or religion, and that everyone feels able to bring their whole self to work.
• Building on the Brigade’s improvement plans, deliver continuous improvement across its operational and support functions ensuring excellence and efficiency in everything it delivers.
• Developing the Brigade’s long-term strategy to become a forward-thinking and service led organisation, with communities at the heart of its delivery, prioritising the development, launch and delivery of its Community Risk Management Plan.

Your valuable skills and knowledge will be developed and challenged as you embark on helping us to drive change, innovation, and continuous improvement. Assistant Commissioners are responsible for planning, directing, and delivering the services provided by a department ensuring continual improvement in efficiency and performance and compliance with regulations and the law. You will play a full leadership role within the LFB as a member of the appropriate Directorate Management Team and Corporate Heads of Service Group. You will be a member of the Assistant Commissioner’s operational rota, available to undertake the duties and responsibilities of the Duty Assistant Commissioner and be mobilised to operational incidents to perform the strategic incident command function and/or represent the London Fire Brigade as its nominated ‘Gold’ Commander.

We want to ensure our services are:
• Modern and easy to access
• Designed to meet local and individual need
• Prioritised by levels of risk

Our organisation:
• Has a safe and professional culture
• Operates efficiently and effectively
• Works together and with other organisations to protect London

The Person

• An experienced operational fire officer competent and substantive at Deputy Assistant Commissioner or Area Manager level serving in a local authority service.
• A proven track record of successfully delivering change in a large and complex service in a safety critical environment.
• An ability to turn innovative concepts into a working reality.
• A proven track record of supporting diversity, equity and inclusion, driving cultural change within the fire service.
• The ability and sensitivity to work in a fast-paced multi-stakeholder environment and develop strategic partnerships to improve performance.
• The ability to develop and implement departmental strategy and long-term plans.

Are you ready to elevate your career to the next level and join us during this dynamic time of development?

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply, all applicants must:
1. Be a serving wholetime operational, substantive, and competent Deputy Assistant Commissioner/Area Manager in a UK local authority fire and rescue service.
2. Internal candidates, before submission of your application you will be required to undertake a professional development discussion for your line managers to support your application. Please factor this into your timeline.
3. Be Level 3 Incident Command qualified and in ticket.
4. Be free of any current formal disciplinary sanctions.
5. Applicants must hold a full UK driving licence.

Assessment Overview

Your application should include:

1. Your CV. Please include your current or most recent salary, and the name and contact details of two referees, one of whom must be your current line manager.

2. Your personal statement evidencing suitability to be considered for the role of Assistant Commissioner. Your statement should not exceed 1000 words.

Application closing date: 4 PM on 16 September 2024

Please ensure you give yourself enough time to complete and submit your application. Late or un-submitted applications cannot be accepted.

Please note any correspondence received from us will be via e-mail and sent to the address you provide on your application form.

Assessment process

The assessment process will comprise the following four stages with expected timeframes.

Stage 1: W/C 16 September 2024

Initial shortlisting based on your CV and supporting statement. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to stage 2.

Stage 2: 25th September 2024

Initial Sift Interview.

The interview will be based on the contents of your CV/supporting statement and allow you to expand on your relevant knowledge, skills, and experience at AC level. A minimum of 70% is required. These short-listing (Initial Sift) interviews will last no longer than 30 minutes.

Stage 3: 1st & 2nd October

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Exercise (DEI) and Stakeholder Panel

The DEI exercise will take the form of a case study which will be given on the day, the case study will include questions from the panel. Candidates will be required to achieve 75% or above. The exercise will last for 1 and a half hours.

The Stakeholder Panel will last for 1 hour.

Stage 4: 7th October 2024

Final Interview and Station Visit Exercise

Structured Interview questions will be based on the LFB values and will be relevant to the AC role to provide an opportunity to the candidate to describe their experience, knowledge, and skills. The interview will last up to 50 minutes

The station visit exercise will require you to meet with a real watch and present information provided, after which you will take questions from the watch in real time. This exercise will last up to 40 minutes.

If you are unable to attend the scheduled assessment dates provided, we may not be able to make alternative arrangements.

Additional Information

For more information, please download documents attached to this vacancy.

Salary range £125591.00 – 151174.00

We value the diversity of our employees, and aim to recruit a workforce which reflects our diverse communities across London. The London Fire Commissioner is an Equal Opportunities Employer and we positively welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals, irrespective of people’s age, disability, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances. We have guidance in place to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability.

Benefits of working for the London Fire Brigade

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays
• Family (including maternity) leave and emergency support leave
• Flexible working
• Free access to the Brigade gym
• Use of the Brigade’s Medical Adviser/physios/fitness advisers
• Free counselling
• Season ticket loans
• Join social networks including our Equality Support Groups
• Contributory pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Staff discount scheme
• Opportunity to access affordable accommodation

In line with the Enhanced DBS employment checks will be completed by successful candidates, which will include a enhanced record check. Successful candidate will be required to declare any convictions for offences which are not spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and any offer of employment is subject to the LFC receiving a criminal records disclosure which it considers satisfactory.

You will find information about the London Fire Brigade on our website, in particular the ‘About us’ page: http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/AboutUs.asp

To find out more information about our values, please visit https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/about-us/our-values/