Department: People, Culture and Leadership Hub (PCL) Hub
Contract type:12 month Fixed Term Contract or secondment
Salary Level: Circa £46,453 per annum
Location:Home Based (UK wide travel as required)
Reports To:Programme Manager
The fire and rescue sector is undergoing a major transformation in how it defines, develops and assures professional competence. This role sits at the heart of that change.
We are looking for a highly organised and motivated Competence Co‑ordinator to support delivery of the NFCC Competence Reform Programme—helping ensure that people across the sector have the right knowledge, skills and behaviours to keep communities safe.
About this role
Working closely with the NFCC Competence Programme Manager, you will play a critical role in coordinating and supporting the development of national competence frameworks, tools and guidance.
You will collaborate with NFCC Hubs, fire and rescue services, and subject matter experts to translate the NFCC Model of Competence into practical, consistent and high‑quality outputs that can be used across the sector.
This is a varied and hands‑on role combining programme coordination, stakeholder engagement and content development.
Key Responsibilities
Programme coordination & governance
- Support planning and delivery of the Competence Reform Programme
- Maintain programme documentation (plans, trackers, risk logs, action logs)
- Coordinate meetings, agendas, minutes and follow‑up actions
- Prepare reports and updates for boards, committees and governance groups
Competence framework development
- Support NFCC Hubs to design, test and refine competence frameworks
- Coordinate subject matter expert input and feedback processes
- Ensure frameworks align with the NFCC Model of Competence
- Maintain version control, development records and publication readiness
Training tools & guidance
- Contribute to the development of:
- Training materials
- Learning resources
- Implementation guidance
- Templates and toolkits
- Translate technical content into clear, practical guidance
- Support creation of slide decks, FAQs and facilitator notes
Stakeholder engagement & implementation
- Support engagement with fire and rescue services and national stakeholders
- Maintain accurate records of consultation and feedback
- Assist with communications, briefings and presentations
- Support implementation and adoption of competence frameworks
About you
You are a highly organised and collaborative individual with strong communication skills and experience supporting structured programmes or content development projects.
Essential experience
- Developing frameworks, guidance, training materials or similar products
- Working with subject matter experts to produce clear written outputs
- Managing documentation such as plans, trackers, logs or reports
- Supporting meetings, governance processes and stakeholder engagement
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Excellent organisational and IT skills (Microsoft Office and collaboration tools)
Desirable experience
- Learning & development, HR, organisational development or workforce planning
- Competence frameworks or professional standards development
- Programme or project delivery in complex environments
- Experience in the fire and rescue sector or other public/emergency services
- Knowledge of UK fire sector governance or national standards
Qualifications (desirable)
- CIPD Level 3 / 5 or equivalent experience
- Project or programme management qualification (e.g. PRINCE2, AgilePM)
What you’ll bring
- Attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities
- Confidence working with a wide range of stakeholders
- Analytical thinking and ability to synthesise complex information
- A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion
- A proactive, collaborative and improvement‑focused mindset
If this sounds like the kind of opportunity that you would be interested in; please have a look at the Job Description and apply.
How to apply:
Please complete the application form via the ‘apply now’ button below. CV’s will NOT be accepted for this position.
Closing Date: 22nd July 2026
Interviews & Exercise:Week commencing 24 August 2026 (via Microsoft Teams)
NFCC is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults and will require a DBS check to be completed prior to commencing in post.
NFCC is committed to being an inclusive employer. We comply with the Equality Act 2010, and we believe that everyone deserves to work in safe environments that are free from bullying, harassment and discrimination, abuse, and harm, where they feel supported, welcome, and able to thrive.
NFCC acknowledges the duty of care to safeguard, protect and promote the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and is committed to ensuring safeguarding practice reflects statutory responsibilities, government guidance and complies with best practice, all staff are expected to share this commitment.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
NFCC is an independent membership association and the professional voice of UK fire and rescue services.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
About the roles
Last year we launched our most ambitious strategy yet - Change Happens Now. To deliver on its promise, we have identified a phased and prioritised pipeline of cross-cutting strategic programmes that will move us closer to a future where, by 2050, everyone diagnosed with breast cancer lives - and is supported to live well.
We’re now looking for 2 Strategic Programme Leads to help deliver our strategy. You’ll work in our Strategy, Planning & Innovation (SPI) team, which is responsible for strategic change programmes, planning, innovation and involvement.
Both posts share the same job description and grade and will work flexibly across SPI’s full portfolio. However, each role has a distinct focus area and differs in contract type:
- Role 1 - Health Systems and Improvement – Permanent: This role focus is in health systems and improvement, which will include leading place-based programmes, stewarding UK-wide health-improvement standards, and building the external relationships needed to deliver system-level change.
- Role 2 - Engagement at Scale – 2 year fixed term. This role focus is in ‘engagement at scale’ programmes, in its first year, it will include programme leadership of our universal offer, an organisation-wide programme aimed at delivering an accessible support offer for everyone affected by breast cancer. It will also include providing strategic partnership for other large-scale programmes, such as healthcare professional engagement initiatives and behaviour change.
While each role has a primary focus area, we expect both post-holders to be flexible and adaptable. Priorities change, and you'll need to be equally comfortable working across specialisms, seeing the focus areas as a starting point which will evolve with organisational priorities.
About you
Whilst both roles are the same, given the specialisms, for role 1, we're particularly interested in candidates with experience of external connectivity across the UK health system landscape and a working knowledge of NHS structures, integrated care systems, clinical pathways and health inequalities. For role 2, we're particularly interested in candidates with experience of scaled engagement work, such as leading public engagement, support or community programmes.
For both roles, you’ll be able to get into the detail when it matters, including the design and sequencing of the programme itself. On some programmes you'll be the strategic lead, owning the work from start to finish and being the trusted strategic advisor to expert leaders. On others you'll partner an expert team, bringing the wider organisation in behind their delivery and working through the barriers that hold progress back.
You'll be confident leading, designing and running pilots and prototypes, with clear measures of success and an evidence-led approach to learning and improvement, ensuring you keep lived experience of breast cancer at the heart of your work. You'll be comfortable with ambiguity, making progress at pace without losing rigour, and you'll bring an innovation mindset, creating the conditions, methods and permission for teams to test, scale and embed new ways of working.
Most importantly, you'll be able to be flexible in your workload, and motivated by the chance to lead change in an organisation that wants to be brave, determined and ambitious - one that backs innovation, challenges the status quo when it needs to, and is willing to commit to the big, multi-year work that real impact requires.
Job description and benefits
The job descriptions and our attractive benefits are available for you to download.
Primary location of role and hybrid working
These roles can be based in our London, Sheffield or Cardiff offices. Our hybrid working model allows you to work up to 3 days per week at home.
The salary range is:
£49,000 to £53,000 per annum if Cardiff or Sheffield based
£53,000 to £57,000 per annum if London based
How to apply
We hope you choose to apply for this role. To support your application, you’ll be asked to submit your anonymised CV and a supporting statement online.
As there are 2 roles, you can either submit your application for 1 or both roles. To do this, please confirm in your application the role you’re applying for: Role 1, Role 2 or Both.
To help with your application, please refer to the essential criteria on the person specification of the job description/s and clearly provide as much information as you can with examples, to demonstrate how and where you meet the criteria.
Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
We’re committed to promoting equity, valuing diversity and creating an inclusive environment – for everyone who works for us, works with us, supports us and who
we support.
Closing date Thursday 30 July 2026 at 11:59pm
We reserve the right to close this advert early. Therefore, to avoid disappointment please submit your application as soon as possible, if you’re interested in this opportunity.
Interview date: Friday 14 August and Monday 17 August 2026
