Careers

Every role in East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service exists to help make communities safer. 

We have a wide range of roles within the Service - from firefighters, crew and watch managers to finance, HR and procurement experts.

All of our staff are passionate about serving our communities and, ultimately, helping create safer people and safer places. If you are also passionate about making East Sussex and Brighton and Hove safer place to live, work and visit, consider joining our family by taking a closer look at our current vacancies.

You can find a list of current vacancies and details of how to apply on this page.  

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Careers Booklet

We have a careers booklet that you may find useful

• Careers Booklet

Interviews

We have a short online course which you may find useful

• Preparing to be Interviewed 

Current Vacancies

Find out more about our wholetime firefighter recruitment, retained (on-call) firefighter recruitment or being a volunteer by clicking the sections above.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination. We, therefore, welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Human Resources & Organisational Development Vacancies

East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (ESFRS) works within a large and diverse area on the south coast of England, covering rural locations as well as a busy city centre and urban seaside towns. With 27 locations across the County, we are committed to keeping our communities safer and we need exceptional people to help us do that.

 Our HR and OD Department is at the forefront of driving change within the organisation, and requires proactive and experienced individuals to support and deliver various activities within the team.  We are now recruiting for :

Inclusion & Diversity Lead – Fixed Term Contract (1 year plus) or Secondment– 37 hpw – Job Family 4 (£31,524 per annum)

Inclusion and diversity is at the heart of everything we do, as we strive to support our workforce and the communities we serve. We are seeking a passionate and enthusiastic individual to join our team on an interim basis. The postholder will be responsible for delivery of a range of inclusion activities and delivery of our inclusion action plan. The successful candidate will have experience of delivery inclusion and diversity initiatives, be comfortable supporting a wide range of initiatives and have a flexible approach to work.

For further details on any of these roles, please refer to the Job Description below. Completed application forms should be returned by email to recruitment@esfrs.org.

These roles are all based at Service Headquarters, Lewes and on a full time basis unless indicated otherwise, however, flexible working options will be considered.

 Job Description

Application Form

Closing Date:  5pm Friday 4 December 2020

Interview dates: to be confirmed

Please note that recruitment processes may be withdrawn or varied at short notice due to the Services’ Organisational Change policy

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination.  We therefore welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Finance Manager

Permanent, Full- Time (37 hours per week)
Based at Shared Headquarters, Lewes

£52,845 per annum

We are passionate about making the communities of East Sussex and Brighton & Hove safer places to live, work and visit.  We have an ambitious programme of transformation and investment to help us achieve that commitment.

We need an exceptional finance professional who can lead the transformation of our finance function, ensuring that it is customer focussed, proactive and innovative. You will play a key role in helping the Service improve its efficiency and effectiveness.  It’s an exciting time for us and you will have the opportunity to influence the Service that we become.

As Finance Manager, you’ll lead a small in house team and work closely with our partners at East Sussex County Council / Orbis to provide the best possible finance support to teams across the Service. It means advising on budgets, providing financial forecasts, supporting projects and thinking carefully about how resources are distributed and used to deliver the prevention, protection and response services that will make our communities safer. You will play a key role in driving though efficiencies, identifying new income streams and ensuring we deliver value from our investment in the business. You will lead the introduction of a business partnering approach, the upskilling of the finance team and budget managers and the introduction of a new finance system. You will also lead on risk management and insurance working closely with the other members of the Fire and Rescue Indemnity Company (FRIC) which provides our insurance cover.  Professional, motivated, caring and passionate about your work, you’ll be ready for the challenge and able to deputise for the Fire Authority’s Treasurer.

This role calls for an experienced finance manager with tried and tested skills. CCAB qualified, you’ll have in-depth knowledge of management accounting, planning, budgeting, forecasting, final accounts and performance management. Experience of risk and insurance would also be beneficial.  You’ve also advised at senior levels, worked successfully with partners and brought in change initiatives. Articulate, resilient and politically smart, you can draw on excellent commercial and business acumen and innate determination.

Please refer to the Job Description for further details about the role which will be available along with the application form on the ESFRS website (www.ESFRS.org).  Please send completed application forms by email to recruitment@esfrs.org by the closing date.

Job Description

Application Form

Closing Date:  07.00 Monday 4 January 2021

Assessment & Interview Date:  W/c 18 January 2021

Station Manager Promotions/ Transfer Pool Process

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service is committed to keeping our communities safer, and we need exceptional people to help us do that. Our Service is undergoing a significant period of change designed to improve efficiently, further empower managers and allow us to better support the communities we serve.

We will shortly, therefore, be seeking applications for our Station Manager pool. Those wishing to obtain a substantive or temporary promotion across any duty system in operation within ESFRS (except East Sussex Fire Control which will be advertised separately if/when appropriate), will only be able to do so through participation in this forthcoming process. This includes those who wish to transfer at the same substantive rank.

To be eligible to apply for the Station Manager pool, you will be able to demonstrate that you are either a substantive Station Manager or a substantive and competent Watch Manager (Grey Book) against the CFOA 7 criteria.

The Level 2 Initial Test of Command Potential (IToCP) provides ESFRS with a means of selecting assertive, effective and safe incident commanders at all levels across the Service, and therefore forms an integral part of the Station Manager Pool process.  All prospective Station Manager Candidates will be required to undertake an ESFRS IToCP if they cannot demonstrate certified at Level 2 Incident Command through a Skills for Justice accredited course/requalification.

With this in mind, any candidates who intend to pursue a Station Manager role within East Sussex through this next process- due to commence in the new year- and who do not already hold the Level 2 qualification through Skills for Justice are now being asked to book on to the next IToCPs which will be happening in December/January.  Full details for the recruitment process will be released in early 2021.

External colleagues- please only book onto the IToCP if you are intending to apply for a promotion/transfer to Station Manager in this process.  Once you have booked on, you must email recruitment@esfrs.org so we can register your details.

 The IToCP consists of two parts, with successful completion of part 1 being the gateway to part 2:

• Part 1 - Command knowledge technical test
• Part 2 - Simulated Level 2 Command exercise

Part 1 will take place on the 9^th, 10^th and 11^th December 2020 at Service Training Centre, Maresfield. With a syllabus covering the following areas:-

National Guidance Documents:

• National Operational Guidance: Incident Command
• National Operational Guidance: Breathing Apparatus
• National Operational Guidance: Fires in tall buildings
• National Operational Guidance: Environmental Protection
• National Operational Guidance: Hazardous Substances

East Sussex Fire and Rescue related documents:

• The Incident Command System OPS(P)18_01
• Breathing Apparatus Procedures OPS(P)03_01 to OPS(P)03_10 inclusive
• Fire Residential High Rise TOG(PF)F03_10_V2
• Hazardous Materials TOG(PF)H00_01_V3
• Environmental Protection TOG(PF)G06_00

All the above documents are available to internal candidates on the ESFRS Intranet.  External Candidates please email IncidentCommandTrainingTeam@esfrs.org to obtain electronic copies of these documents.

Bookings are to be made via Eventbrite using the following link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/l2-itocp-written-assessment-tickets-123466308051

PASSWORD: Level 2 IToCP

Part 2 will take place at STC for those successful in Part 1 on 7 and 8 January 2021 to observe the candidates non-technical skills and potential to command at that level.

Following the outcome of Part 1, bookings will be made available via Eventbrite.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about the IToCPs please contact the Incident Command Training and Assessment Team (IncidentCommandTrainingTeam@esfrs.org).  For questions about the recruitment process, please email recruitment@esfrs.org.