About the job Summary

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.

Are you an experienced editor with excellent communication skills both verbally and in writing?

Do you have good attention to detail and have experience working with style guides?

Would you relish the opportunity to work with marine accident investigators to ensure that often complex topics get translated into digestible and understandable text?

If so, this is an exciting opportunity as our Technical Editor within the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) and we’d love to hear from you.

Job description

Based in Southampton, the MAIB is an independent organisation within the Department for Transport. The Branch is responsible for investigating accidents and incidents involving UK vessels anywhere in the world, and any vessels within UK territorial waters, with the aim of improving the safety of life at sea and the avoidance of accidents in future.

The MAIB comprises 41 specialist and administrative staff and is seeking a talented individual to take on the role of its Technical Editor. Working in a small publications team of six full and part time staff, the successful applicant will be able to confidently communicate at all levels with internal and external stakeholders, both verbally and in written format.
 

Responsibilities

Following a period of in-house training, your duties will include:

• Editing MAIB investigation reports, and other published material, within set timescales and to the highest standard;
• Maintaining the MAIB’s writing style guide and ensuring it is used consistently by colleagues;
• Editing internal documents, including reorganising content and identifying grammatical and contextual errors where necessary;
• Liaising with the inspectorate on sometimes technical or sensitive material;
• Working with the publication team to ensure a good overall service is maintained;
• Working to short deadlines and fast turnaround times;
• Reporting to the Publications Manager and assisting her with updating templates and maintaining internal guidelines.

About you

This role is perfect for a detail-oriented person who will thrive in a fast-paced and ever changing work environment. You should be able to balance competing demands and deliver to challenging timescales. You will also need to be a good team player with excellent English language and communication skills.

You will be passionate about learning new technical concepts and have excellent writing, editing, proofreading and page composition skills. You will be well organised with the ability to work effectively both from your own initiative and as part of a team.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits. We offer generous annual leave, attractive pension options, flexible working, inclusive working environments and much more to support a healthy work/life balance.

Find out more about what it's like working at the Department for Transport.

Things you need to know Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

We are closely monitoring the situation regarding the coronavirus, and will be following central Government advice as it is issued. There is therefore a risk that recruitment to this post may be subject to change at short notice. In addition, where appropriate, you may be invited to attend a video interview.

Please continue to follow the application process as normal and ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way.

The Civil Service Nationality Rules has been updated following the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. The new rules will come into effect on 1st January 2021. We urge people from the EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland to be familiar with the updated Nationality rules prior to applying for this role.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

How to apply:

When considering your experience, please tailor your CV/Personal Statement to provide evidence of when you have:

• Worked effectively as part of a team to deliver time-sensitive and highly readable documents;
• Worked with authors/contributors to resolve issues or restructure content, and what software you used to assist with this;
• Used your writing, editing, proofreading and page composition skills to deliver a successful project.

The sift is due to take place 04/05/21.

Interviews/assessments are likely to be held between 24/05/21 and 28/05/21.

This interview could be conducted via a video interview, details of which will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment could include:

• an interview and written exercise

You’re encouraged to become familiar with the role profile, as you may be assessed against any of the criteria recorded within.

The Department for Transport alongside other Government Departments recruit using Success Profiles. This means for each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

For further information on Success Profiles visit our Careers website.

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

Further Information

To learn more about applying for a role within the Department for Transport, visit the Application Process page of our Careers website.

Before submitting your application, we encourage you to visit our Things You Need to Know page for further information about applying for a role within the Department for Transport and the Civil Service.

Throughout this job advert there are links to the DfT Careers website, which provides you further information to support your application. Should you be unable to access the information on our website, please email [email protected] for assistance.

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

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with (or eligible for) status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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.

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.

Apply and further information

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 :   Susanne Laidlaw Email :   [email protected]   Recruitment team : Email :   [email protected]