View Vacancy - Consular Regional Operations Manager, Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DEU20.135)
Note: Due to COVID-19, you may experience some delay in the progress of this recruitment campaign. We are working hard to minimise any disruption. You may find more information in the Additional Information section below.
The British Missions in Germany are part of a world-wide network, representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is now looking to recruit a Regional Consular Operations Manager. The role is a regional one, and could be located in Berlin, Dusseldorf, or Munich.
The main purpose of the job is to lead, support and motivate consular staff in five mainly German speaking European Posts (Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Vienna and Berne). With five other CROMs, support the EuroAsia Consular Regional Director and Consular Management Board to deliver the 2020-23 consular strategy, including on prevention activity (including for the football 'Euro 2020' campaign) and crisis preparedness / response.
Roles and responsibilities:
- Providing leadership to, and high quality management of this consular network to deliver against the five pillars of the Consular strategy (Assistance, Prevention, Crisis, People and Network). Developing the five teams and working with the Consular Regional Director and five other CROMs in the EuroAsia region to ensure a consistent and high quality consular service to British Nationals in the region.
- Engaging people - line manage (most remotely) and support five Vice Consuls, providing support and ensuring duty of care. Leading by example on their induction, continuous professional development, learning and development, wellbeing, resilience and sharing of best-practice. Lead on annual team conferences. Provide guidance to teams on complex / high profile assistance cases, taking a leading role if necessary. Build and develop relationships with Deputy Heads of Mission in the network.
- Setting Direction - prioritising activities and business plans for the wider EuroAsia region and specifically for the five Posts. Lead on identifying and then delivering policy and service delivery improvements, including through customer feedback information and digital innovation. Use of Management information to analysis and then apportion resource. Lead on prevention campaigns including during the transition period for the remainder of 2020, to drive down consular demand, and outreach to key partnerships and programmes.
- Value for Money - ensuring effective use of staff and budget resources with innovative use of the network, Malaga call-handling centre and Global Response Centre to cope with spikes in activity and staff absences. Use of Management information and Casebook data to justify and tailor this activity. Ensure quality assurance remains high with CROM checklists and Post audits.
- Crisis / Resilience - working collaboratively with seniors at Posts (Ambassadors and Deputy Ambassadors) and the Regional Crisis Adviser (based in Budapest) to ensure all Posts have a whole-of-mission approach & are well prepared for crisis.
The role involves considerable autonomy and regional travel.
- Fluent written and spoken English and German (minimum level required C2 under the CEFRL*);
- Degree in any relevant subject, plus 3 to 5 years of work experience in a customer care role working in a government organisation and/or in service/tourist industry such as: Tourism, Hospitality and Airlines;
- Experience of team leadership and management, especially experience managing multiple teams remotely;
- Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work collaboratively with colleagues throughout Europe and the UK;
- Confident and experienced communicator in person. An active listener;
- Attention to detail, strong analytical perspective and problem solving skills;
- Ability to work at pace and prioritise;
- Experience of consular and/or crisis work;
- Experience of team networking and travel / tourism / public service type work, legal knowledge;
This is a full-time position of five working days 37.5 hours per week, for a contract period of two years.
The successful candidate will be subject to professional background check and security clearance.
Staff recruited locally by the British Missions in Germany are subject to Terms and Conditions of Service according to local German employment law.
The successful applicant will be encouraged to be actively involved in the corporate life of the Embassy/Consulate-General, contributing to the wider objectives of the British Government’s Germany network and supporting the Embassy’s/Consulate-General's positive working environment.
Candidates must currently hold the independent right to live and work in Germany and be prepared to ensure that right remains throughout the scope of the contract. Additional requirements may become necessary after 31st December 2020.
Additional Information (due to Covid 19):
You may experiment some delay in the progress of this recruitment campaign and we are working hard to minimise any disruption
Interviews will be done remotely if the existing situation determines this to be the right course of action
Starting date may be delayed depending on circumstances at the time and it will be agreed with the selected candidate.
Please be advised that Consular positions at the FCO 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.
FCO does not pay for travel related expense incurred in interviews (including Security Check) or accept any financial risk, including cancelation or reschedule costs. The FCO will not meet the costs connected with relocation if offered a position.
* Please note Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment indicates Level C2 as Mastery or proficiency Level which comprehends that a person can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; can summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; can express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations. 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.
This opportunity is closed to applications.
