Nautical Advisor
| Posting date: | 24 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £34,233 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 31 July 2025 |
| Location: | Southampton |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 418897/1 |
Summary
Have you got a good understanding of maritime regulations and knowledge of safe navigation?
Can you interpret data effectively and make robust recommendations in a timely manner?
If so, we’d love to hear from you!
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) implements the government’s maritime safety policy in the United Kingdom and works to prevent the loss of life and occurrence of pollution on the coast and at sea.
Safer lives. Safer Ships. Cleaner Seas.
Our vision is to be a world-leading organisation, accelerating the transition to sustainable shipping with non-negotiable safety standards. We put our people, our customers and our planet at the heart of everything we do.
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 MCA.
This role provides nautical advice within the Navigation Unit to support the team in meeting its responsibilities. It involves aiding Offshore Renewable Leads with UK carbon reduction goals and assisting the Marine Licensing Lead in fulfilling the MCA’s statutory and advisory duties. The position also supports work on SOLAS Policy, navigation safety, VTS audits, and PMSC Health Checks. Strong customer service and effective engagement with internal and external stakeholders are essential to the role.
Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:
- To review and assess applications for Nationally Significant Infrastructure projects including Offshore Renewable Energy Installations (OREIs) and supporting the provision of advice and guidance at all stages of the zonal assessment, planning process, pre-application, and post consent stages for all wind, wave and tidal developments. This should be carried out accordance with DfT Guidelines and MCA established procedures.
- To lead on establishing, implementing and managing the OREI hydrographic survey requirements and subsequent liaison with the UK Hydrographic office.
- To review and assess Development Consent Orders and Deemed Marine Licences are accurate for MCA's requirements and are fit for purpose, working with Department for Transport (DfT) legal as required.
- To continuously review and update MCA published guidance used by the Offshore Renewable industry, Marine Guidance Notes and Methodology for Assessing Navigational Risk in line with IMO's Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) requirements.
- To review and assess Marine Licence applications, in conjunction with the Marine Licensing Lead, to ensure responses are submitted within the 28 days timescales, and to provide advice and guidance to the devolved licensing authorities in the UK on marine licence applications and associated mitigation to reduce risks for safe navigation.
- To review and assess all Oil and Gas Consent to Locate and marine licence applications in conjunction with the Marine Licensing Lead within the required timescales.
- To review and assess Safety Zone applications for OREIs, and to provide a suggested response on such applications to the appropriate regulatory authority, and to help ensure consistent joined up advice across other regulators.
- To work across the Navigation Unit to ensure MCA is proactive in its responsibilities regarding safe navigation through the attendance at meetings, conferences, Planning Inspectorate hearings and other appropriate forums.
- To prepare papers for IMO and participate in a variety of meetings which will include meetings with including renewable developers, The Planning Inspectorate, The Crown Estate, Marine Management Organisation (MMO), Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly Government, other relevant Government agencies, Nautical Offshore Renewable Energy Liaison (NOREL), Fishing Liaison with Offshore Wind and Wet Renewable, PMSC and VTS related meetings.
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.
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