Joint Fusion Cell Liaison Officer
The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, fire, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.
Border Force is a law enforcement arm of the Home Office. We are responsible for handling the UK border control by implementing immigration and customs regulations and working with the wider Home Office on counter terrorism, organised crime, modern slavery and trafficking.Learn more on the Border Force careers page.
Preventing small boat crossings of the Channel remains a top priority for the Home Office. All levers and capabilities across HMG are being drawn upon to reduce the number of people successfully crossing from France and to humanely and efficiently manage those that are intercepted and brought to the UK.
A key part of the department’s response is driven by the Small Boats Operational Command (SBOC), an operational directorate within Border Force. SBOC delivers this through implementing world-leading surveillance technology on air, land and sea, developing operational initiatives with France and other near-neighbour partners, and by providing capabilities and resources to support the interception and initial processing of people arriving by small boat in the UK.
SBOC International Operations is recruiting a liaison officer, to support the existing Grade 7 embedded within the Organised Immigration Crime Joint Fusion Cell (JFC), supporting SBOC’s objective to facilitate and enable effective cross-agency working and maximise opportunities for intelligence reporting which results in reduced small boats crossings.
This is an exciting new position which offers the job holder the opportunity to shape the role and its outputs, while representing SBOC within the wider small boats intelligence community.
It is a key objective of SBOC to support the JFC’s aims i.e. to fuse, understand and exploit system held information and intelligence to identify emerging trends, risks, new operational leads through proactive pursue and alternative disruptions across all agencies as well as deliver threat assessments and analysis; the JFC being the single source of small boats reporting for the UK.It is vital that SBOC supports and influences the success of the JFC project, and you will play a crucial role in making this happen.
The evolving nature of the small boats and clandestine threat means that the remit of the team will evolve with it, as we seek to disrupt activity further upstream and adapt to any potential displacement to other modes; you should be equally ready to adapt and evolve our ways of working accordingly.
The liaison officer will support the existing G7 SBOC embed to contribute impactfully to the project build, provide support to operational work strands, and drive SBOC taskings and campaigns.
You will be working with a highly motivated and passionate group of people in an exciting and fast-paced environment. For the right candidate, the role provides plenty of opportunity to make your mark, personally influencing outcomes in a high priority area attracting significant interest from ministers.
This is a stretching role. You will need to be able to operate flexibly and in an environment of initial ambiguity while the role is established, moving between supporting the JFC project build and operational functions, and driving priority areas as they evolve.
You will work closely not only with JFC colleagues, but also with both Landside and International Operations SBOC teams, Home Office Intelligence, National Crime Agency (NCA), and other government departments.
The role provides the opportunity to work closely with partners across government, build stakeholder engagement skills and demonstrate leadership in a unique, high-profile position, contributing to the success of HMG’s efforts to reduce small boats crossings and wider organised immigration crime.
The current building locations for this role are Central London and Greater Manchester
Please note that Central London location will be moving to East London in 2025.
Working pattern
This role is suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 30 hours per week.
Key responsibilities- Working to the G7 SBOC JFC embed, deliver high quality strategic and operational support to the cell, deputising where necessary.
- Represent SBOC professionally and effectively in the Joint Fusion Cell and the wider small boats intelligence community.
- Develop and maintain a network of high-quality stakeholder relationships with key partners to help SBOC support the success of the JFC.
- Draft high-quality reports, briefings and other written communications for a range of stakeholders.
- Contribute to strategic advice for senior managers and Ministers on engagement with the JFC, offering insight and reporting that improves decision-making on SBOC International priorities.
- Build awareness of cross-government levers and capabilities to disrupt organised immigration crime activity.
- Contribute impactfully to the project build, provide high-quality support to operational work strands, and drive SBOC taskings and campaigns.
It is not envisaged that the candidate will have line management responsibilities at this time, but this may change in the future.
You will be able to start in post with SC clearance, however you must successfully obtain DV clearance once in post (if not already held). During the period where you hold SC clearance, you will only perform elements of the role which fall under SC clearance.If your DV clearance application is unsuccessful, you would be moved into a role which only requires SC clearance. This may not be within the same business area and you will not have a choice on which role you would be moved to.