View Vacancy - JPN (Tokyo) - Post Security Manager, EO

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.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Operations and Corporate Services)
Security

Main Purpose of Job:

Corporate Services is the “engine room” of the Embassy, providing a broad range of essential services to support delivery of British Government objectives in Japan. We provide services to around 200 staff from 7 government departments (Partners Across Government - PAGs) in Japan and provide the lead for Corporate Services policies across both posts in the Japan Network (the Embassy in Tokyo and the Consulate-General in Osaka).

We are currently looking for a Security Manager to join our Corporate Services team. The selected candidate will report directly to the Head of Corporate Services, with work direction from the Post Security Officer within the senior management team. The Security Manager is responsible for managing security for the embassy offices, UK diplomatic staff and their families, country-based staff when at work, and all those on our premises.

The role includes ensuring that appropriate security measures are implemented at the British Embassy offices and that embassy buildings, assets, and information are protected. The security team ensure staff are receiving and following correct security advice and procedures and that staff working in the mission offices have the required security clearance to access buildings, information, and maintain access control.

The role requires an individual who is flexible across all of these areas and who can demonstrate high standards of professionalism and deliver a high-quality service. The jobholder will need to be willing to work flexibly to help others, take on different tasks where work pressures may be heavy, cover leave absences, attend to emergencies, assist in providing security at events and provide support during high level visits. This can involve occasional security related calls in the evenings and weekends.

Whilst the role is based in Tokyo, the jobholder will be part of a security team which covers all of our Japan Network and may therefore occasionally need to work remotely from our Osaka office on a range of security tasks.

The role is ideally suited to someone who:

  • Enjoys being part of a busy team but can work independently with little supervision and able to help cover for the head of department and others in their absence.
  • Has experience influencing behaviours and persuading others and is adept at building and maintaining good working relationships.
  • Is confident in working with the Japanese police and other emergency services both in developing our security arrangements and responding to incidents.
  • Is a good communicator and people-person, who takes pride in good service and enjoys working in a busy team.
  • Has some crisis or emergency management experience, or has managed a variety of security situations, working to keep people safe.

What the Jobholder will be Expected to Achieve:

  • Responsibility for the day-to-day management of security at post.
  • Provide thorough security briefings for new diplomatic staff and their spouses/partners, for country-based staff (CBS), and for official visitors in line with agreed timetables. Coordinate CBS security clearances during the recruitment phase and confirm clearances for visiting staff. Ensure staff and official visitors are adequately trained and have attended the required security training.
  • Manage and organise tasks required in the security team to support the overall objectives of the group including report gathering, information analysis, responding to incidents, access control measures, supporting officers in official visits and events, managing contractors, tracking progress, and maintaining good records.
  • Build and maintain strong relationships with the Japanese Police, other emergency services, and with security leads in other embassies in Tokyo. Use these relationships to gather regular and relevant information that will support our security preparedness, and ensure we have robust agreements with Japanese authorities on incident response and proactive mitigation of risks and threats.
  • Lead the response to any recommendations resulting from security audits, ensuring that remedial action is agreed and implemented within applicable timelines. Facilitate any security-related visits to Japan, suggesting and arranging meetings and briefings, and identifying the most impactful areas of focus for each visit.
  • Coordinate upgrades and repairs of security assets, working with our FM provider and other estates teams, in line with procurement policy and check security works before sign off. Review the KPIs for our guarding contract and meet directly with management teams of both the FM and guarding providers. Ensure SOPs are in place and regularly reviewed and oversee extra guarding or security requirements as needed.
  • Arrange and carry out various incident drills in line with FCDO protocols that will generally involve guarding contractors, and the wider mission as needed.
  • Assist in preparing for all events and VIP level official visits to Japan (and at times supporting the Osaka team) - and work together with the visits officer and other staff ensure all security protocols are in place to ensure the safety and security of the visit.
  • Coordinate the budget and finance duties for security work; raising requisitions, receipting, and invoicing security works and ensuring spreadsheets are kept updated on the security budget forecast and spend.
  • Report and record incidents and any breaches of security informing the ROSM/PSO as required at the earliest opportunity and ensure incident reporting to London is completed and escalated in a timely manner. Support the PSO in the management of the post security committee, collating agendas, taking minutes, and following up agreed actions. Help to maintain post security regulation documents and update assurance reports on the IT systems.
  • Conduct property assessments and security equipment checks at residences, offices, and marker hotels. Ensure any defects are addressed in compliance with security requirements. Organise any contractors outside the scope of our FM contract related to property security works or for urgent repairs.
  • Manage security related requests from staff and diplomatic families, ensuring that issues are addressed in line with agreed standards and deadlines, and communicating with staff and residential occupants where required.
  • Carry out security administration duties, including regular updates to the regional overseas security manager (ROSM) and attending meetings with other teams, internal record-keeping on security items, compiling and maintaining asset registers, assisting with the mission’s travel risk assessments.
  • Deliver professionally other tasks and new work as delegated by the ROSM and or Post Security Officer on an ad hoc basis, often outside the above areas, in order to support the work of the Embassy and Consulate-General.

Resources Managed (Staff and Expenditure):

  • Matrix management and work direction for two AO IT and Security Officers in Tokyo
  • Management of ad hoc budgets provided to fund security works at post
  • Enjoys being part of a busy team but can work independently with little supervision and able to help cover for the head of department and others in their absence
  • Has experience influencing behaviours and persuading others, and is adept at building and maintaining good working relationships
  • Is confident in working with the Japanese police and other emergency services both in developing our security arrangements and responding to incidents
  • Proficiency in Japanese and English (written and spoken, minimum of C2 level in one and high B2 level in the other on the CEFR framework*)
  • Is a good communicator and people-person, who takes pride in good service and enjoys working in a busy team
  • Has some crisis or emergency management experience
  • Has evidence of working at pace and managing multiple projects at the same time

Language Requirements:

This role requires written and spoken proficiency in both English and Japanese. Fluency (minimum of C2 level for CEFR framework*) in one language and business level (minimum of high B2) in the other.

* Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for Languages sets the following mastery or proficiency levels:

  • C2: Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express themself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.
  • B2: Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their field of specialisation. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.

For more information, please click on the following link CEFR. Please bear in mind in case you are invited for an interview your languages skills are going to be assessed.

Has managed a variety of security situations, working to keep people safe

Changing and Improving, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions, Seeing the Big Picture, Working Together
30 September 2024
Executive Officer (EO)
Full-time, Permanent
37.5
Asia Pacific
Japan
Tokyo
British Embassy
1
JPY
JPY 524,599 per month
monthly
1 December 2024
  • 1 month salary bonus equivalents payable in June and December
    (Note: Salary may be reduced due to tax status)
  • Commuting allowance of up to JPY35,000 per month (paid on an actual cost basis)
  • 25 days paid annual leave (calculated pro rata)
  • Health Insurance and Employee pension (kenko hoken/kosei nenkin)
  • Employment Insurance (koyou hoken)

Working Patterns:

Full time and office based. 37.5 hours per week.

The British Embassy Tokyo supports and promotes flexible working as a crucial part of our inclusive offering. This particular role allows for flexibility in start and end times, remote working one day per week, and the possibility of a job share arrangement, subject to agreement with management.

Applicants must possess or be able to secure a local work permit.

The FCDO also operates an agile workforce. To facilitate this, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time as we may reasonably require.

Learning and Development Opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):

The British Embassy offers comprehensive learning and development opportunities that will be fully available to the jobholder. We regularly run both work area specific training, as well as more general skills development in project management, finance, and leadership. Each year the job holder will be encouraged to use 5 development days to pursue job related and personal development goals.

A comprehensive training programme is available to be certified as an FCDO Post Security Officer, and optional training is available to be an IT Support Officer (ITSO) and allow you to work on official systems.

All staff are required to take a role in the embassy’s crisis preparation and response. Full training will be provided for this and regular opportunities will be available to test and develop your skills.

Please note that the deadline for applications is 23:55 on the day mentioned in the above field “Application deadline”.

Please be aware that the deadline for submitting applications is considered to be the time zone for the country where the vacancy has arisen.

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.

Note: All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the online application form completely including the employment and educational details, experience, professional skills and behaviour-based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the applications and incomplete form in any respect may not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.
 
Only shortlisted candidates for interview will be contacted. Interviewees will be assessed on the core behaviours/qualifications listed above. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified via the system in due time. Appointable candidates who were unsuccessful may be placed on a ‘reserve list’. If during the reserve period of 6 months the same or a largely similar role becomes available, that role may be offered to the second or subsequent candidate.

To ensure a successful application it is important that you explain how you demonstrate these behaviours, including through your experience. You are strongly advised to read the Success Profiles Civil Service Behaviours Framework, which provides detailed guidance on how the behaviours are defined.

Applicants are encouraged to use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format to prepare specific examples of when they have demonstrated these behaviours in their application. Using the STAR format to provide evidence of your skills and experience in your application and at interview helps to give a structure. You briefly describe the situation in which you showed the behaviour, and then explain your task in addressing the situation, what action you took and the result of this.

For inclusivity and diversity, please remove the following personal information when uploading your CV: name, address, email address, age, date of birth, gender and nationality. 

The start date mentioned in the job advert is a tentative start date and the successful candidate will be required to undergo security vetting procedures. Any offer of employment will be subject to the candidate achieving suitable clearances.

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.

This opportunity is closed to applications.