Location
Poole, Dorset, England
Location description
Hybrid working available, with flexibility to discuss arrangements
Interview location
RNLI Support Centre - Poole
Interview date
30 Sep/1 Oct – please note in your application if you are not available on these dates
In line with our values and our commitment to supporting the development and progression of our people, this opportunity is currently only available to RNLI staff and volunteers. If we are unable to make an appointment through this process, we will consider opening the role to external applicants. #LI-DNI
We are looking for an experienced practitioner to lead our Safety Learning & Insight function and play a key role how the RNLI learns from experience, improves performance and keeps its people safe.
This is a high-impact leadership role at the centre of organisational learning, safety insight and continuous improvement. By listening to people, understanding ‘work as done’, analysing information and turning learning into action, the role will help strengthen safety performance across the RNLI. Leading the Safety Learning & Insight Team, it is responsible for the quality, effectiveness and development of the RNLI's approach to safety learning, insights and continuous improvement.
The role champions Human and Organisational Performance (HOP) principles and helps the RNLI better understand the realities of operational work. Through this, you'll support the identification of ‘organisational drift’ and help improve the systems, processes and behaviours that enable safe, effective and sustainable outcomes.
It ensures the provision of proactive safety intelligence reporting and contributes to the wider leadership and services delivered by the Safety Team. These include operational support, safety governance, assurance, performance metrics, training, policy development and risk management.
You'll lead and shape how the RNLI learns from safety occurrences, operational experience, emerging risks and external good practice. You'll oversee safety learning reviews, intelligence products, performance analysis, reporting and recommendation governance. You’ll be pivotal in ensuring findings arising from reviews, insights and reports enable meaningful organisational improvement.
Working across a complex and diverse operating environment, you'll quickly build strong relationships with senior leaders, staff and volunteers at all levels. You'll help ensure that safety-related decisions are informed by robust evidence, operational understanding and contemporary safety thinking.
Grounded in operational insight and human-centred safety principles, you'll influence organisational priorities, support effective governance and contribute to delivering the RNLI's One Crew, One Plan vision.
Please see the attached role profile for further details of the responsibilities and requirements of the role.
You'll be an experienced and capable leader with a strong background in organisational learning, insights & analysis, performance assurance, continuous improvement or a related discipline within a complex, high-tempo organisation. This may have been gained within emergency services, maritime, aviation, defence, healthcare, transport, manufacturing, energy or other safety-critical sectors.
You'll know that sustainable improvement comes from understanding how work is really done, building trusted relationships and combining evidence with operational insight. Comfortable working at pace with complexity and uncertainty, you'll be able to identify key themes, draw meaningful conclusions and translate findings into timely practical actions that improve organisational performance.
You'll also recognise the impact that incidents and adverse events can have on individuals and teams. You'll bring empathy, sound judgement and the ability to create psychologically safe environments where sharing and learning can take place. Most importantly, you'll be passionate about helping people succeed safely and confident applying HOP principles, human factors and just culture approaches to support continuous improvement.
- Experience leading organisational learning, performance assurance, intelligence or continuous improvement within a complex organisation.
- Strong knowledge of Human and Organisational Performance (HOP), human factors, Just culture and contemporary safety management principles.
- Experience leading or overseeing investigations, learning reviews, assurance activities or similar evidence-based improvement processes.
- A proven ability to gather, analyse and communicate information from multiple sources to identify risks, generate insight and influence decision-making.
- Experience producing high-quality reports, intelligence products and recommendations that drive measurable organisational improvement.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate complex issues into clear, concise and impactful messages for a wide range of audiences.
- Strong leadership skills, with experience developing capable, engaged and high-performing teams both within and beyond your direct sphere of influence.
- Ability to operate effectively in complex environments, balancing competing priorities while maintaining focus on outcomes and service delivery.
- A degree-level qualification in a relevant subject, or equivalent professional experience and/or professional accreditation.
This is an outstanding opportunity to help shape how one of the UK and Ireland's most trusted and recognisable organisations learns, adapts and improves.
You'll work alongside passionate volunteers and colleagues across the RNLI, using analysis, insight and human-centred leadership to strengthen organisational resilience, improve safety performance & support our purpose of saving lives at sea.
The RNLI is committed to safeguarding; protecting a person’s health, wellbeing, and human rights, enabling them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect. We expect all employees and volunteers to share this commitment and have a zero-tolerance approach. The suitability of all prospective employees and volunteers will be assessed during the recruitment process in line with this commitment. This will include relevant criminal record checks being carried out dependent on the eligibility of the role. (England & Wales; DBS check, Scotland; Disclosure Scotland PVG, Northern Ireland; Access NI, Republic of Ireland; Garda Vetting; International, International Child Protection Certificate process).
Our staff and volunteers have been saving lives at sea without prejudice for 200 years. We respect and value diversity of background, skills and perspectives within our teams, and consider it essential to help us deliver a world-class lifesaving service. We are an inclusive organisation and welcome applications from everyone. In addition to having the skills needed for the role, we also look for applicants who share our commitment to living our RNLI values (trustworthy, courageous, selfless, and dependable), and helping us work towards Our Vision: To save Every One.
