Policing Standards Manager – Specialist Operations

This is a designated homeworking role with travel across the UK to College sites, police forces and partner organisations.

Applications for this role are restricted to existing officers of a UK police force or UK policing organisation.

About us:

Our mission is: Leadership, Standards, Performance. This guides our work with individuals, forces, and policing partners towards our vision. We exist to support police officers, police staff and volunteers to deliver the best service to the public. Only through high quality leadership, consistent standards and continual performance improvement can everyone in policing reach their full potential. Our mission guides our work with individual, forces and partners towards our vision.

Although we are a relatively small organisation, our work has a big reach. We are uniquely placed to work both with national policing organisations and local forces to support frontline officers, staff and volunteers in their day-to-day roles.

We offer a supportive and inclusive environment for people to thrive. Our extensive flexible-working policy, employee wellbeing support, family friendly policies, employers’ network for equality and inclusion membership (ENEI silver award winners), and status as a disability confident leader means everyone can bring their whole self to work.

Additional Information:

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

Due to our status as Public Servants, we are not eligible to participate in the Civil Service transfer process. Therefore, while successful candidates can transfer in on their existing terms and conditions, any subsequent transfer out of the College to the Civil Service cannot be guaranteed on existing terms and conditions, and new starter/modernised terms may apply.

The College embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we comply with the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and apply the minimum selection criteria at sift stage of the recruitment process.

Our vetting

If you are successful at interview, you will be required to undertake pre-employment security checks. You will be sent a security questionnaire which must be accessed within 24 hours.

Please note, these checks can take up to 10 weeks. You will only be offered a start date after the checks have been completed. If the outcome of these checks is not satisfactory, your recommendation for employment will be withdrawn.

The College of Policing is seeking an exceptional policing leader to join us as Policing Standards Manager (PSM) – Specialist Operations.

This is a unique opportunity to operate at the heart of national policing, leading the development, implementation and assurance of standards across some of the most complex, high-risk and publicly scrutinised areas of policing. The postholder provides leadership across a broad specialist operations portfolio and works directly with Chief Officers, NPCC leads, government departments and operational practitioners to drive improvement, consistency and professionalism across policing.

Working directly to the Head of Uniformed Policing, the successful candidate will play a key role in shaping national standards, driving continuous improvement and supporting forces across England and Wales to deliver effective and consistent policing outcomes. The role is responsible for providing strategic leadership and subject matter expertise across Specialist Operations, ensuring that national guidance, training, curriculum and learning products remain current, evidence based and aligned to operational requirements. Working closely with policing partners, stakeholders and practitioners, the postholder will lead the development of innovative approaches, share emerging learning and promote best practice across the service.

The successful candidate will lead a team of specialists, fostering collaboration, professional development and high performance whilst maintaining strong relationships with forces, national policing leads and external partners. Through engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, they will provide expert advice and support on complex issues, contributing to the development of policy, standards and operational capability at a national level. This is a challenging and rewarding role, offering the opportunity to influence policing practice, improve public safety and work alongside dedicated professionals committed to delivering excellence. Travel and occasional overnight stays will form part of the role.

You will provide strategic leadership and vision across these portfolios, ensuring national standards remain relevant, evidence-based and aligned to emerging operational demand. The role carries responsibility for leading a substantial multidisciplinary team and supporting a number of national programmes that attract significant public, media and political interest.

Why this role matters

Every day, police officers and staff across England and Wales rely on national standards, guidance and training products developed through the College. The decisions made within this role directly influence how policing responds to public disorder, firearms incidents, officer safety, first aid, fitness standards, specialist capabilities and emerging operational threats.

You will work with senior leaders across policing to develop practical solutions to complex operational challenges, ensuring forces have access to consistent national standards, evidence-based products and professional advice that enables public confidence, officer safety and operational effectiveness.

What you'll be doing

You will:

• Lead and inspire high-performing teams of subject matter experts, police officers and specialist staff.
• Provide strategic leadership across the Specialist Operations portfolio.
• Build influential relationships with NPCC leads, Chief Officers, Home Office officials, HMICFRS and national policing stakeholders.
• Represent the College at strategic, tactical and operational forums across policing.
• Lead national programmes, policy development and implementation activity.
• Oversee the development of standards, Authorised Professional Practice (APP), curriculum and training products.
• Support forces through implementation, assurance, improvement and change activity.
• Identify emerging risks, legislative changes and operational trends and ensure policing is equipped to respond.
• Deliver evidence-based solutions to complex national policing challenges.
• Ensure effective governance, risk management and performance oversight across all specialist operations activity

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 and Experience.

Applications for this role are restricted to existing officers of a UK police force or UK policing organisation.

Vacancy reference: 7242

Anticipated interview dates: 16th and 17th September 2026

This role is available as a 2-year secondment opportunity to:

• serving police officers substantive in the rank of Superintendent, or those officers suitably qualified for temporary promotion in the rank of Chief Inspector. All applicants must have the support of their Chief Officer which must be of NPCC rank, i.e., CC, ACC or DCC and this must accompany an application.

Central service conditions may apply.

Please ensure you return the attached secondment approval form either as an attachment when submitting your application or via email to recruitment@college.police.uk.

For further information on applying for a secondment please visit the “Secondments into the College” page.

Internal College applicants who are at risk of redundancy or in need of redeployment and pass the recruitment process, will be given priority over other applicants.

An initial sift based on the Additional Question: ‘Applications for this role are restricted to existing officers of a UK police force or UK policing organisation. Please state your current Police Force / Organisation and please confirm if you are substantive Superintendent or applying on temporary promotion’ may be held if a large number of applications are received. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

How to apply and contact information:

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, and as Public Servants we follow the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

We embrace diversity and promote equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

For further information visit our ‘Work for us’ page.

What it's like working at the College of Policing

If you would like to discuss the role in more detail, please contact Andy Sidebotham (Andy.Sidebotham@college.police.uk), Head of Uniformed Policing.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

We believe that a diverse workforce brings many benefits to the organisation including diversity of thought and improvements to the way we work internally and with partners and communities. We strive to be fully inclusive but we know there is more to do. We genuinely encourage people from all backgrounds and underrepresented groups to apply for this role.

We want to continually improve our recruitment processes and to remove any barriers to equal opportunities that could disadvantage those from particular backgrounds. In order for us to have the information to do this, we ask you to please complete the diversity section of the online application process. We use a “blind” shortlisting process and we hope that by using this method we will be able to promote greater diversity in our workforce and remove any subconscious decisions based on biases.

The College is committed to support the Greening Government Commitment and reducing our Environmental impact. We have a dynamic Environmental Management Plan in place which encompasses various objectives, including our pledge to reduce business travel. To support our green agenda we have, in phase one, installed Electric Vehicle Charging Points at our sites in Ryton (12 points) and Harperley Hall (4 points). We encourage employees to become an Environment Champion to help with promoting and delivering our Environmental Management Plan. Our One Step Greener approach encourages all College staff to make small changes to create a better future for everyone.

Please note that in order to work for the College of Policing you must have the Right to Work in the UK with indefinite leave to remain. In addition, you will also be required to provide an address history in the UK for the preceding 5 years.

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