Maritime Assurance Lead

Maritime Assurance Lead
Location: Location - Hybrid/Flexible (based at one of our Serco UK offices) – with regular travel across UK sites and occasional international travel as required.
Competitive salary plus benefits plus job need company car
37.5 hours per week- Monday- Friday

Serco is recruiting for a Maritime Assurance Lead to join our Inshore & Offshore Operations team, based at one of our UK offices.As Maritime Assurance Lead, your mission is to drive excellence across DMS NG C2 & C4 operations and service delivery.You’ll lead audits, manage risk, and embed best practices that set new benchmarks, ensuring operational integrity, compliance, and continuous improvement across a diverse and complex portfolio. In this pivotal role, you’ll collaborate with senior stakeholders, vessel crews, and technical teams to deliver assurance, influence decision-making, and champion a culture of operational excellence.

Main Accountabilities:

• Maritime assurance / Quality: Lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of maritime assurance / quality to ensure compliance with international regulations, industry standards (such as SOLAS, ISM Code, MARPOL), contractual obligations and best practices in maritime operations.

• Compliance & Risk Management: Monitor and audit operational activities to ensure compliance with maritime laws and regulations. Identify, assess, and mitigate operational risks, environmental impact, and vessel performance.

• Training & Development: Champion and support delivery of maritime assurance and company training programs for all maritime personnel, ensuring that they are up-to-date with industry regulations and required corporate training.

• Audit & Inspection: Coordinate and conduct internal and external audits of vessels and operations to ensure compliance with safety standards, risk management procedures, and regulatory requirements.

• Incident Investigation: Lead investigations into accidents or safety-related incidents, identifying root causes, recommending corrective actions, and ensuring implementation of recommendations to prevent recurrence.

• Reporting & Documentation: Maintain thorough documentation of audits, inspections, risk assessments, and corrective actions. Prepare and present detailed reports on assurance activities to senior leadership and regulatory bodies.

• Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with vessel crews, technical teams, external stakeholders (such as classification societies, flag state authorities), and regulatory agencies to drive continuous improvement in operational safety and assurance practices.

• Continuous Improvement: Stay updated on evolving maritime regulations, emerging risks, and technological advancements in the maritime sector. Recommend and implement continuous improvement initiatives to elevate operational safety and assurance standards.

• Ability to support and guid best assurance practice across MOD and commercial regulated (Explosives Management / Diving / Recompression Chambers) standards.

What you’ll need to do the role:

Required:

• In-depth knowledge of Maritime Safety Management Systems (SMS), risk management practices, and regulatory frameworks (IMO, SOLAS, MARPOL, ISM Code, ISPS, ISO).

• Minimum 3 years’ experience in maritime operations or safety management, with at least 1 year in a senior assurance or leadership role.

• Strong leadership and team management skills, with excellent communication and interpersonal abilities.

• Confident communicator, capable of delivering formal reports and presentations to clients and senior stakeholders.

• Ability to work under pressure, manage competing priorities, and maintain exceptional attention to detail.

• Proven experience in receiving audits, inspections, and incident investigations within a maritime setting.

Desirable:

• ISO 45001 Lead Auditor qualification.

• ISO 9001 Lead Auditor qualification.

• ISM Lead Auditor qualification.

• Experience and proven track record in MoD and commercial maritime relations, and defence regulations.

• A strong drive for delivering quality service, valuing positive customer feedback, and improving effectiveness.

• Proven experience in leading audits, inspections, and incident investigations in a maritime environment.

This role requires the successful candidate to obtain and maintain the appropriate Security Clearance. All applicants must be eligible to apply for clearance under national security guidelines.

What we offer: 

• Competitive salary plus job need company car

• Up to 6% contributory pension scheme

• Serco discounts which include cinema, merlin entertainment and online shopping discounts, and discounts on mobile phone plans and leisure centre memberships

• A range of benefits to support the health and wellbeing of you and your family such as Employee Assistance Programme, Health Cash Plans, free flu jabs and more

• A safe and supportive culture

• Interesting and enjoyable work

• A company passionate about diversity and inclusion

• Committed to professional and personal development with a wide range of training and coaching opportunities to expand your capabilities

To discover more about our careers in Defence, meet our team, and to find out more about what we offer, please follow this Link. We’re also a signatory of the UK Governments Women in Defence Charter, to find out more please click here.

Please click on the apply button to complete your application. Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens, we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment. 

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. As a proud Disability Confident Leader and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard, disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview. 

#defencejobs