Maritime Security Compliance Inspector

Can you deliver high-quality results with minimal supervision, staying organised and effective when working to demanding deadlines?

Have you successfully built relationships with stakeholders, using your communication and influencing skills to achieve positive outcomes?

Are you comfortable working in a fast-paced environment where priorities can change quickly and competing demands need careful management?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Join a dedicated team responsible for supporting UK ports to protect people, assets, information, and operations. Working collaboratively with colleagues and partners, the team provides expert advice, assurance, and support to maintain high standards of security and compliance. This is a varied and rewarding environment where no two days are the same, offering opportunities to contribute to important operational activities while helping ensure the UK ports remain safe, secure, and resilient.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at DfTc.

Protect the UK's maritime transport network and help keep the public safe. As a Maritime Security Compliance Inspector, you will play a vital role in monitoring and assessing compliance with maritime security regulations across the UK. Working within the Department for Transport's Maritime Security Division, you will contribute to the Government's counter-terrorism strategy, partnering with industry, law enforcement and government colleagues to help protect port facilities, transport workers and the travelling public while maintaining confidence in the UK's maritime sector.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Undertake close observations, inspections, audits and tests across the UK as part of a risk-based programme of compliance activity to assess industry compliance with security requirements.
• In the event of less than full compliance with the guidance, seek swift and sustainable rectification..
• Ensure accurate, succinct and focussed information about findings of compliance activity are entered onto the relevant database.
• Liaise with industry representatives on site visits to conduct compliance activities in an effective, professional and consistent manner.
• Lead some inspections with colleagues; participate in others with colleagues and attend others in a singleton capacity.
• Support policy colleagues to deliver key areas of work; this could include drafting reports, providing briefing, attending meetings.
• Support the Department’s response in the event of a critical incident, in particular involving maritime security. This could include a range of activities such as working in response cells, updating SitReps, engaging with cross Government and external partners. The response may involve out of hours working.

Flexible resourcing

Colleagues are expected to work with a degree of flexibility, meaning responsibilities may change to support priority delivery.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

How to apply:

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's qualifications, skills, and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1000-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following: Building strong and productive relationships with senior colleagues and stakeholders.
• Securing inputs from others across a range of stakeholders, who are often managing conflicting demands.
• Working in a security environment preferably in an operational role.
• Responding to security incidents with the ability to flex to changing circumstances.

The sift will take place from 28th September 2026.

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – Making Effective Decisions, Seeing the Big Picture and Communicating and Influencing
• Strengths
• Experience

The interviews will take place week commencing 19th October 2026.

This interview will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site (opens in a new window).

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change

Further information on the selection process

We will also hold a 12-month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert or the information on our website, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Pre Employment checking

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All external applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Threats or acts of violence
• Illegal activity or substance misuse
• Sexually explicit material
• Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public. Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle - it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture. If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

Feedback

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