The Service & Team:
This is a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in growing and evolving a mixed-use port, balancing the needs of commercial shipping, marine businesses, and leisure users, while ensuring the highest standards of safety, compliance, and environmental stewardship.
The Role:
As Harbour Master, you will hold statutory responsibility for the safe operation, regulation, and control of the Port of Truro, ensuring full compliance with relevant legislation and harbour authority obligations.
Beyond this, the role places a strong focus on commercial awareness and port development. You will actively contribute to the economic success and sustainability of the harbour, identifying opportunities to enhance revenue, optimise assets, and support marine growth across commercial and leisure sectors.
You will:
- Plan, organise, and direct harbour operations, ensuring efficient and effective service delivery
- Take key independent decisions on navigational safety, port operations, and commercial priorities
- Drive port development initiatives, supporting increased utilisation and long-term growth
- Balance the needs of commercial shipping, marine operators, and leisure boating communities
- Oversee harbour administration and licensing, ensuring robust, modern, and customer-focused processes
Act as the Council’s Principal Boat Licensing Officer, leading on implementation, compliance, and review
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Working closely with the Maritime Manager, you will co-ordinate harbour activities while retaining flexibility to adapt to operational and commercial demands.
Leadership & Responsibility
This is the most senior Harbour Master position within the Maritime Section. You will:
- Provide direct leadership to a Senior Maritime Assistant
- Oversee the operational delivery of Seasonal Patrol Officers
- Ensure high standards of performance, development, and discipline within the team
- Deputise for the Maritime Manager as required, contributing at a strategic level
Working Pattern:
The post is based on a standard Monday to Friday working pattern. However, the role requires a flexible approach to working hours in order to meet the operational and service requirements of the organisation. This may include occasional evening, weekend, and unsocial hours working, as well as attendance outside normal working hours to support operational activities, including those influenced by tidal conditions and marine operations.
What you’ll need to succeed:
We are looking for a confident and capable maritime professional who brings:
✅ Strong commercial awareness with the ability to support and influence port growth and income generation
✅ Proven experience in harbour or port operations, ideally within a mixed commercial and leisure environment
✅ Sound knowledge of commercial shipping operations alongside leisure boating management
✅ The ability to make independent, high-stakes decisions in a regulated environment
✅ A clear understanding of marine legislation, safety standards, and harbour authority duties
✅ Excellent leadership skills, with experience managing teams and fostering high performance
You will be a forward-thinking leader who can balance compliance with innovation, and operational demands with long-term strategic development.
Please read the role profile for the full details of this role attached below in this advert
What you’ll get in return:
- Play a key role in shaping the future of an important Cornish port
- Work in a role that combines operational leadership with commercial influence
- Be part of a supportive and forward-looking Maritime team within Cornwall Council
- Enjoy the opportunity to work in one of the UK’s most distinctive and scenic coastal locations
Cornwall Council’s ambition is to be an employer of choice, a high performing Council and a learning organisation. We commit to providing a reward and benefits package to attract, motivate and reward our employees. We offer a range of flexible working options to our staff. This helps provide our employees with a greater work/life balance. Whilst still ensuring that service needs are met.
Our core employee rewards and benefits include:
- a competitive salary.
- a defined benefit pension scheme, based on your career average earnings. This includes the option for extra voluntary contributions
- a generous annual leave entitlement with the potential to purchase additional leave.
- a national award-winning employee health and wellbeing programme
- Employee benefits scheme giving employees access to a wide range of discounts to local and national goods and services
Additional Information:
Please note, we are unable to offer sponsorship or transfer of sponsorship for this role
We recommend saving a copy of this to refer to if you are invited to an interview.
If you are ready to bring your expertise, leadership, and commercial insight to the Port of Truro, we would welcome your application. For an informal discussion please contact Chris Jones, Maritime Manager or Katrina Tonkin, Business & Compliance Manager on 01872 324216.
Application Process
Please attach a supporting statement to your application, you can add your Education & Qualifications details manually using the application form timeline or you can upload your CV. Remember to demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points marked as ‘Application’ on the Role Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had.
Please note that applications cannot be edited after they have been submitted, please contact [email protected] if you have any queries or require assistance with your application.
Existing employees must apply using their Cornwall Council email address through the Opportunity Marketplace on Oracle.
