View Vacancy - Vice Consul & Deputy Head of Post (ESP24.414)
The British Government is an inclusive and diversity-friendly employer. We value difference, promote equality and challenge discrimination, enhancing our organisational capability. We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, colour, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, veteran status or other category protected by law. We promote family-friendly flexible working opportunities, where operational and security needs allow. The FCDO operates an agile workforce and to facilitate this, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time, as we may reasonably require.
Job Category: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Consular Roles)
Job Subcategory: Consular
Job Description (Roles and Responsibilities)
Who are we?
The British Consulates in Tenerife is part of a worldwide network, representing British consular interests overseas. Currently, we are looking for a Vice Consul and Deputy Head of Post to deliver the consular strategy in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. With over 412,000 British residents and more than 17.5 million British tourists annually, Spain is the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s busiest consular operation globally.
Main purpose of the job:
* To lead and motivate the Tenerife consular team in delivering first class consular assistance to resident and visiting British people.
* To manage the efficient running of the consulate in Tenerife.
* To build and maintain good working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
* To support the Consul & Consular Regional Operations Manager (CROM) to deliver against Spain-wide strategic objectives.
* Work alongside colleagues across all 8 Consulates in Spain to successfully introduce change projects, encourage innovation and best use of technology.
* Contribute to a positive working environment as part of the Spain Consular Team.
Roles and responsibilities:
Team Management:
* Line management of the Tenerife consular team;
* Lead the performance management cycle for the team and encourage Learning & Development best practice;
* Lead on the implementation of service improvements;
* Contribute to regional and national work streams and projects.
Assistance:
* Lead on local management of high profile and complex cases, briefing and escalating to the Consul/CROM, as well as other senior stakeholders, as appropriate;
* Deploy to provide support to vulnerable British people, following a serious incident or crisis situation, including conducting visits to hospitals, mortuaries, evacuation centres, etc.
External engagement/Prevention:
* Develop and nurture a strong network of mutually beneficial relationships with internal colleagues, local authorities, travel and tourist industry, local media, British community groups and NGOs, to support delivery of team objectives;
* Lobby host authorities and other stakeholders on local issues, as necessary;
* Lead on ensuring delivery of Tenerife prevention priorities;
* Represent the Consulate/Embassy at external events.
Crisis:
* Work with the CROM and other crisis leads to ensure effective crisis preparedness, as well as lead the frontline response in the event of a crisis situation in Tenerife;
* Work with emergency services to ensure efficient communication/information flow in the event of a crisis;
* Build and maintain crisis contacts for use on posts’ Crisis Management Plan.
Essential qualifications, skills and experience:
* Full professional proficiency in Spanish and English (written and spoken, minimum of C1 level for CEFR framework*);
* Team management or leadership experience;
* Proven experience in customer handling and/or public service;
* Some experience in liaising with authorities, and collaboratively working with a range of stakeholders;
* Resilience and resistance to trauma, ability to cope with the challenging nature of consular work; remain calm under pressure;
* Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work collaboratively with colleagues and stakeholders in Spain, Europe and the UK;
* Good IT skills (proficiency in Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel and Microsoft Teams), as well as an ability to adapt to new programmes/systems;
* Ability to work at pace and prioritise, managing an often-heavy workload, excellent organisational skills are essential.
Desirable qualifications, skills and experience:
* Experience leading projects and/or change management programmes;
* Consular experience, or experience working in a social work setting (or similar);
* Knowledge of Spanish government structures and processes;
* Full clean driving licence and ability to drive in Spain.
Required behaviours: Changing and Improving, Communicating and Influencing, Leadership, Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service
Grade: Executive Officer (EO)
Type of Position: Full-time, Permanent
Working hours per week: 37.5
Region: Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia
Country/Territory: Spain
Location (City): Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Type of Post: British Consulate
Number of vacancies: 1
Salary Currency: EUR
Type of Salary: yearly
Start Date: 13 January 2024
Other benefits and conditions of employment:
This is a full-time, permanent contract at EO-ES grade level, based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Normal working hours are 37.5 per week. The successful candidate is subject to a confirmation of a background check, security clearance and the successful completion of a probationary period.
The successful candidate will be enrolled in the Spanish Social Security Scheme and will therefore not be entitled to any gratuity from the Embassy based on gross annual salary. The Embassy is a Diplomatic Mission with tax exempt status and does not collect taxes for other States. Employees are fully responsible for payment of income tax at the legally required rate. Staff recruited locally by the British Embassy in Spain are subject to terms and conditions of service according to local Spanish employment law.
Visa/work permit requirements: Candidates must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Spain and be prepared to ensure that right remains throughout the scope of the contract.
Working patterns: Monday – Friday 08:00-16:00, with occasional need to work out of hours in the event of a serious incident or crisis situation. Currently we offer working from home 1 day per week, wherever operationally possible. Other flexible working arrangements are negotiable but would need to be agreed by your line manager on a case-by-case basis.
Learning & Development: We offer time and financial support for the successful candidate to take advantage of professional learning and development opportunities inside and outside of the organisation. All new hires undertake a workplace induction and there are a number of mandatory e-learning courses that must be completed in order to pass probation.
Additional information:
Please be advised that Consular positions at the FCDO entail dealing with casework in situations that may involve death, detention, rape, assault, post-mortems, prison visits and highly distressed customers. Candidates should therefore have a high level of resilience to trauma.
Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”. We advise you to allow enough time to complete and submit your full application, since only applications completed and submitted before the deadline will be considered. Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.
FCDO does not pay for travel-related expenses incurred in interviews (including Security Check) or accept any financial risk, including cancellation or reschedule costs. The FCDO will not meet the costs connected with relocation if offered a position.
*Please note for more information on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment levels please click on the following link CEFR. Please bear in mind in case you are invited for an interview your language skill is going to be assessed.
The Embassy is committed to employee development and wellbeing and has several initiatives in both areas that benefit staff.
Please be aware that you will only be able to apply to vacancies for Country Based Staff roles with the British Government through this official tal.net site (operated by Oleeo). Jobs may be advertised on third party websites, however our adverts will always link back to the official tal.net site. If you complete and send an application through any other site, we will not receive it.
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