Specialist Capabilities: Testing and Exercising Officer

A Specialist Capabilities: Testing and Exercising Officer is required for a permanent position paying £36,529.65 per annum, plus £3,033.56 London allowance per annum. The successful candidate will benefit from a blended working approach with mixture of home and office working but will be expected to travel to other BTP locations on a regular basis.

BTP is the national police Force for the rail network throughout Great Britain, including London Underground, across which we ensure the safety and security of nearly 3 billion passenger journeys and over 100 million tons of freight every year. The world in which we work is fast-paced, operationally and commercially demanding, and constantly changing.

As the Testing and Exercising Officer within E Division’s Force Preparedness Team, you will promote the resilience of BTP by facilitating testing and exercising linking to the management of CT and Major Incidents at operational, tactical, and strategic level. You will design and develop exercise programmes from scratch or with our partners, exposing our officers and staff who are tested or ‘players’ to opportunities to develop their occupational competence and operational confidence. The post holder will deliver events across the UK and occasionally be expected to travel and stay at hotel accommodations.

As the Testing and Exercising Officer you will be required to:

• Design and develop testing and exercising packages which are reusable and scalable.
• Ensure responsibility for creating Project Initiation Documents, ensuring that BTP knows why and how it is testing and exercising across our functions.
• Design and develop internal and multi-agency exercise scenarios to validate plans, processes, and procedures in relation to the management of CT or Major Incidents.
• Frequently engage and build relationships with our partner agencies and will be accountable for the design and delivery of multi-agency exercises.
• Ensure that exercising aligns to the assessment of risk and training of emergency plans, by designing and developing cyclical schedules aligned with the assessment of national risks.
• Deliver exercising inputs in continuous professional development packages for all ranks and roles who manage Major or CT incidents.
• Identify opportunities for testing and exercising improvements based on experiences during the delivery of learning inputs and conduct analysis to ensure their applicability, ensuring they comply with debriefing needs.

Further information about this vacancy can be found in the attached job description and candidate pack.

The successful candidate will be required to evidence the following:

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant humanities subject or other Level 6 qualification in an area relating to Civil Contingencies, UK emergency management, risk management; or equivalent experience in a policing or emergency service.
• Recognised training qualification such as Level 3 Adult Education Award or equivalent experience in delivering training.
• Professional Qualification relating to Exercise Planning (including having attended courses run by the Emergency Planning College)
• Able to take a leading role in the design and delivery of tests and exercises; working to a deadline and to achieve key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Demonstrable knowledge of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP)
• Thorough current knowledge of emergency management doctrine and the role of testing and exercising within UK the emergency planning / Civil Contingencies profession.

Desirable Experience and Skills

• Having undertaken training in how to deliver and direct exercises (including attendance at courses run by the Emergency Planning College)
• Experience of working with digital methods of delivering exercises including Hydra or virtual reality.
• Understanding of history of the UK emergency services, and the role & responsibilities of our partner agencies.

In return for your experience, we can offer you:

• Salary of £36,529.65 per annum, plus £3,033.56 London allowance per annum
• Yearly base salary increments
• Working from home allowance available to purchase suitable equipment for blended & home working
• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Flexible working approach
• Family friendly policies including up to 26 weeks paid maternity and adoption leave
• Bespoke benefits platform and access to Blue Light Card
• Development opportunities including fully funded apprenticeships
• Employee assistance programme and dedicated wellbeing hub
• Pension scheme

BTP is an employer who cares about the impact we have on the environment and the wider challenges of climate change, and as such we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and achieving Net Zero Carbon (NZC) through offsetting by 2035. 

At BTP we are proud guardians of the railway and it is crucial that we represent the diverse communities we serve and protect. As ‘One BTP’ across the UK, we know that diversity, inclusion and belonging help us improve our decision making, foster creativity and drive innovation so all our people can thrive.

Our vacancies are open to everyone and all appointments are made based on merit. So that we can become more diverse we encourage applications from candidates from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds, women, people who have a disability, those who are neurodiverse and persons who identify as LGBTQI+. We use positive action to encourage potential candidates from underrepresented groups through targeted workshops or advice sessions.  If you have the skills, experience and values that here in BTP we pride ourselves on then we would welcome you to apply.

For more information on Positive Action please click here or email the team on PART-Recruitment@btp.police.uk

If you want to ask us any awkward or ‘obvious’ questions, if you are you unsure whether your personal circumstances are suitable for a career as a Police Constable but don’t know how to talk to us about it OR you have any questions about the application process, please email our friendly and helpful team where we will be happy to help you:  RecruitmentTeam@btp.police.uk. If your question related to equality or diversity then you can also contact our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team directly at: PART-Recruitment@btp.police.uk To reassure you, anything you ask us will be in the strictest confidence and will not form part of your application.

In order to apply, you must have the permanent right to live and work in the UK and have been resident in the UK for the previous 5 YEARS. You will be asked these and other questions to determine your eligibility to work for British Transport Police when you start your application and you must answer honestly.

BTP GPP Police Staff Pension Scheme is administered by Royal London and this is a group personal pension plan which is available to all police staff. It’s a defined contribution scheme, offering employees the flexibility to vary their pension contributions from 4.4% to 12% of their salary. For more information, visit the Royal London dedicated pension page or email us at Pension-Queries@btp.police.uk 

Please note if you are an existing member of Police Staff in the RPS your pension will not be affected.  

Internal candidates must have completed their probation for their current substantive posting and can only apply in tenure if Head of Department approval is emailed to Recruitmentteam@btp.police.uk prior to the vacancy closing. Internal candidates must confirm that they are not subject to formal action plans for sickness/complaints/discipline or poor performance and that all mandatory training courses have been attended and are in ticket/up to date. A minimum rating of 3 (performing) or a rating of U (no rating) must have been achieved on the last reporting year PDR.