View Vacancy - NZ (Wellington) - Part-Time Consular Officer, AO

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.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Consular Roles)
Consular

Main purpose of job:

As a member of the Consular Team in Wellington, you will provide high quality consular services to British nationals visiting or residing throughout New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga in line with our public guide: Support for British nationals abroad.  

You will report directly to the Consular Manager New Zealand co-located at the British High Commission in Wellington, who will support you to deliver consular work and lead on more complex matters requiring escalation. You may also support consular service delivery in other parts of Oceania, where consular work can be complex due to differences in local contexts.  

Consular officers have the opportunity to make a direct difference to people’s lives in challenging circumstances. The job includes dealing with sensitive issues and may involve responding to crises and stressful events. The successful candidate will be working in a fast-paced and complex environment where the ability to work under pressure and with difficult subject matter is vital. 

Those shortlisted can expect to be interviewed during the week of 26 May. 

Roles and responsibilities:

Consular assistance service delivery 

  • Sensitively deliver accurate advice, information and case management services to British nationals and their families (mostly remotely via telephone or email) on a range of issues such as imprisonment and detention; financial hardship and destitution; hospitalisation; supporting bereaved families; missing persons; mental health needs; child custody and other sensitive issues.
  • Provide occasional face-to-face support, including visiting British nationals in prison or hospital.
  • Respond to customer correspondence in a timely and efficient manner.
  • Manage our Emergency Travel Document (ETD) service by printing ETDs, maintaining our collection appointment booking system, occasionally facilitating interviews, and escalating any complex issues to our ETD Centre.
  • Organise citizenship ceremonies, and occasionally other consular stakeholder or public-facing events.
  • Maintain accurate and concise case records on consular case management systems. 

Partnerships, communication and prevention  

  • Assist the team to develop and maintain relationships with local authorities, including government agencies and non-government organisations to support case management.
  • Work collaboratively with internal teams, including colleagues and senior leaders in New Zealand, Oceania, UK-based teams and the FCDO overseas network.
  • Participate in team planning and execution of consular prevention and stakeholder engagement activities.
  • Monitor changes in local procedures and practices, ensuring that all information and guidance given to British nationals reflects changes and is up to date, e.g. service provider lists, travel advice, web content 

 Crisis 

  • As part of our whole-of-mission approach to crisis, participate in consular crisis preparation and response in the event of a crisis affecting British nationals.  Although rare, crisis work may involve working beyond your normal remit and outside your contracted hours. 

The formal job description may be subject to amendment in the future.

Resources managed (staff and expenditure):

No staff management.  There will be funding available for travel and events.

Specific considerations for consular roles: 

Consular work can involve difficult conversations with distressed individuals. Emotional intelligence and personal resilience are essential. You will be well supported by your line manager, your team and colleagues globally. You will have access to quarterly wellbeing sessions with a wellbeing supervisor, employee assistance program and other wellbeing support resources. 

The successful applicant will be expected to maintain absolute consular confidentiality and impartiality, keeping in line with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Consular Strategy, consular guidance and Customer Charter, business targets and local procedures. 

The British High Commission in Wellington represents the UK government providing consular services to British nationals in New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. In addition to consular work, policy, political and trade and investment activities are undertaken from this location. 

  • Strong customer service delivery, including sound expectation management skills. 
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, including communicating with empathy when working with distressed people.
  • Strong teamwork skills, including working collaboratively and supporting others in a small team environment.
  • Strong self-awareness with a high degree of emotional intelligence and personal resilience
  • Confident user of Microsoft Office software.
  • Prior experience working in a consular or similar professional frontline customer service delivery environment. 
  • Prior experience working with vulnerable client groups.
  • Good understanding of local systems and support organisations.
Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions, Managing a Quality Service, Working Together
11 May 2025
Administrative Officer (AO)
Part-Time
18
Asia Pacific
New Zealand
Wellington
British High Commission
1
NZD
$39,496 (18 hours per week)
monthly
30 June 2025

Working patterns:

Flexible, to be completed between Monday – Friday, 08:45 – 17:00. The successful candidate will be encouraged to develop a pattern of working that works best for you and the wider team. The BHC supports flexible working, including some working from home. There will be a requirement for occasional and limited out-of-hours work around major events and visits.

Appointment is subject to a 90-day trial period pursuant to section 67A of the Employment Relations Act 2000 and gaining and maintaining Posts security clearance requirements.

Learning and development opportunities (and any specific training courses to be completed):

You will be joining an enthusiastic and supportive team that takes continuous learning and development seriously and that values a diverse range of skills and backgrounds. When you start the role, you’ll be supported to become familiar with consular policy, as well as the structures of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the operations of the UK in New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga Networks. 

Mandatory courses:

In your first year, you will be required to complete the following courses: 

  • Online FCDO learning modules relating to processing Emergency Travel Documents, consular case management and crisis management. 
  • Consular Fundamentals Course (delivered virtually). 
  • Developing Consular Expertise (face-to-face in the UK). 

When you are settled in the role, you will be supported to seek out further opportunities (both formal and informal) to deepen your expertise of consular work, and to develop wider skills tailored to your personal interests and development needs. 

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.