As part of a high performing team of Duty Officers for the London Situational Awareness Team (LSAT), you will monitor real-time events and information feeds, initiating and supporting the first response for the GLA to crises and events impacting London and London’s interests. You will provide 24/7 shift cover allowing an effective, efficient, consistent, quality service to key stakeholders (Mayor’s Office, GLA Corporate Management Team etc.). This is a unique opportunity to play a crucial role at the centre of London government.
The Duty Officer is the first point of contact for the GLA out of hours and able to support the activation crisis response arrangements and other mechanisms in response to developing incidents and urgent new issues. Senior officers across the GLA and partners will rely on your insight to help keep them informed and updated in a timely way, allowing them to make the right decisions at the right time. This work can be demanding and will require you to cooperate closely with a wide range of stakeholders and building trusting relationships.
A key requirement for this role is good judgement and the ability to identify, process, analyse and comprehend critical elements of information about what is happening and turn this information into high-quality reporting that will shape the GLA’s understanding of enduring issues or the response to a critical and major incident. You will be expected to make judgements on difficult/sensitive issues, with a keen awareness of any wider implications (political/media/etc). You should have excellent customer focus (with a range of internal and external customers/stakeholders), and the desire to deliver a lasting impact. Experience of policy, crisis management and/or intelligence analysis/operational work is desirable. Experience in the production of high quality written work and briefings is essential.
Overall, this job offers an excellent combination of initiative, service delivery and policy work covering the full range of London’s city operations. Working at the centre of city operations and you will gain a unique insight into the GLA’s crisis response framework, as well as the opportunity to acquire new skills.
The ideal candidate for the role will have experience of working a rotational shift cycle and demonstrate the flexibility to be able to adapt to changing requirements. Due to the demanding nature of the role, it qualifies for an unsociable hours allowance. All team members will rotate through day and night shifts in order to provide full coverage and allow training, development and broader engagement. The ability to operate collaboratively as part of a dynamic team but also to work independently as the sole Duty Officer is essential.
Post holders must be willing to undergo National Security Vetting to the level of SC. This process requires the post holder to have been resident in the UK for five years. Individuals will not be expected to hold existing National Security Vetting in order to apply for the posts.
This role will be based at Palestra, 197 Blackfriars Road SE1
Please note all applications for this vacancy must be submitted via our online recruitment system. We do not accept CVs alone for this role. Please upload a personal statement with a maximum of 1500 words to the ‘Additional Documents’ section of the form, ensuring you address the following technical requirements and competencies in your personal statement. Word or PDF format preferred and do not include any photographs or images.
Closing date: Wednesday 07 June 2023 at 23:59 GMT
The GLA Competency Framework Guidelines further detailing each competency and the different level indicators can be found here: GLA competency framework.
Principal Accountabilities
- Produce analytically robust, credible, timely and high-quality reports, both in response to taskings and pro-actively as events dictate.
- Ensure the accurate and timely flow of information between decision makers, the GLA Group and relevant government departments.
- Develop and maintain effective networks and relationships with internal and external stakeholders to achieve objectives in line with tasked priorities. Engage with internal customers daily to ensure currency of priorities and tolerances.
- Provide written and oral briefings, and specialist reports for senior staff and relevant stakeholders. Help in the identification and development of new reporting streams.
- Maintain an up to date awareness of relevant legislative and national policy changes applicable to the operational functions of the team.
- Conduct duties in accordance with asset, information, and protective security processes as per government policy and information originator’s requirements.
- Identify capabilities and methodologies that could increase the effectiveness of the team.
- Strive for continuous improvement in GLA’s crisis response capability through up-to-date doctrine, training and exercising and capturing and applying lessons learnt
- Realise the benefits of a flexible approach to work in undertaking the duties and responsibilities of this job, and participating in multi-disciplinary, cross-department and cross-organisational groups and project teams.
- Manage and maintain resources allocated in accordance with the Authority’s policies, Code of Ethics and Standards, relevant government policy and legislation.
Person Specification
- Experience of open source analysis, collection methodologies and the ability to formulate and deliver robust predictive or deductive assessments.
- Understanding of Information management principles and data assurance legislation and their application in the workplace.
- Evidence of providing advice, guidance to inform decision making in response to an incident.
- High level communication skills, with a successful track record of giving professional advice to decision makers as well as staff at all levels of an organization on complex and sensitive issues.
- Evidence of success in preparing and presenting clear and concise written reports and briefings on complex and sensitive issues within demanding timescales.
- Evidence of success in building and maintaining working relationships and partnerships across professional and operational boundaries within and beyond an organisation.
- Experience of successful working in a similar role within political or comparable high-profile or highly complex environment.
- Ability to work on a rotational shift pattern.
- Willingness to undergo the National Security Vetting processes to the level of Security Cleared.
Reasonable adjustment will be made to working arrangements to accommodate a person with a disability who otherwise would be prevented from undertaking the work. GLA staff are hybrid working up to 3 days a week in our offices and remotely depending on their role. As part of this, you will need to split your time between home working and coming into the office.
London's diversity is its biggest asset and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London's diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability.
We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic candidates and disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We want to represent the city we serve, which will help us become a more innovative and efficient organisation.
Our goal is to make our recruitment as inclusive as possible. We are a disability confident employer who guarantee an interview to any disabled candidate who meets all of the essential criteria.
We also use anonymising software that removes identifying information from CVs and cover letters to make the process fair.
Benefits
In addition to a good salary package, we offer an attractive range of benefits including 30 days’ annual leave, interest free season ticket loan, interest free bicycle loan, childcare voucher scheme and a career average pension scheme.
London’s diversity is its biggest asset and we strive to ensure our workforce reflects London’s diversity at all levels. We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith or disability.
We are committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We would welcome applications from candidates who are seeking part time work as these roles is open to job share.
More Support
If you have a disability which makes submitting an online application form difficult, please contact resourcingteam@london.gov.uk.
