Job Title: Portfolio and Benefits Officer
Contract: 6-month Fixed Term Contract
Working Hours: 11 hours per week (Mon & Tues)
Salary: £38,220 to £40,777 FTE per annum (£11,363-£12,123 pro rata)
Location: Kelvedon Park
Closing Date: 2nd August 2026
This role is a fixed-term opportunity. If the role is extended (or made permanent), the extension or permanent position may be offered to the successful applicant ahead of any further recruitment process.
We are open to discuss working arrangements including flexibility over hours and location, however the expectation is that, as a hybrid role your work will be balanced between home and Service facilities (minimum 50% of your time).
The Role
Our friendly and supportive Portfolio Management Office (PMO) is looking for a highly organised Portfolio and Benefits Officer to support in the successful delivery of the Service’s Portfolio of Change. This role offers flexible and hybrid working arrangements and provides opportunity to contribute to meaningful work that supports our mission of making Essex safer together. You will play an important role in supporting service improvement and delivering positive outcomes for the communities we serve.
What You Will Be Working On
As Portfolio and Benefits Officer, you’ll help ensure our projects are governed effectively, benefits are realised and stakeholders have information needed to drive successful change.
Coordinating board activity, including agendas, papers, actions and follow-up records
Maintaining accurate governance records, trackers, dashboards and project documentation
Tracking risks, issues, decisions, actions, benefit realisation, project health and lessons learned, ensuring projects have the best chance of success
Preparing reports, summaries and insights to support portfolio oversight and informed decision-making
Completing assurance activity against agreed governance processes
Contributing to continuous improvement by identifying trends, gaps and opportunities to improve ways of working
Supporting benefits management by helping to identify, track and report project benefits and efficiencies
What Are We Looking For?
We’re looking for someone who is organised, proactive and enjoys working with information, processes and people.
You will have:
Experience in an administrative role with evidence of scheduling and supporting meetings, maintaining & presenting project, programme, or functional information Experience of managing changing priorities and situations
Excellent attention to detail and the ability to manage deadlines
Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills including the ability to produce and share information
If you are an internal candidate, you must have discussed your application with your line manager and confirmed with them there are no outstanding issues of conduct or performance. This will be verified prior to shortlisting.
How to apply
Internal candidates in either the LRS development or resource pool –
If you meet the essential criteria listed above, you should express an interest for the role by uploading a statement confirming your LRS status before clicking Apply in the Recruitment Portal.
All other candidates
You will be required to submit a CV detailing a minimum of five years employment and / or education history, along with a supporting statement of no more than 750 words that demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria detailed in the Person Specification.
You may submit this either as a word document, pdf, or an mp3 (voice note) or mp4 (video), however the word count of your supporting statement should not exceed 750 words no matter which format you choose to present your application.
You may attach separate documents (such as qualifications) should you wish. Your CV and additional documents will be referred to in shortlisting to confirm eligibility (e.g., your current role and any existing qualifications).
Assessment and selection:
The assessment and selection approach will be:
Stage 1
Application
Stage 2
Shortlisting (assessment of your supporting statement will be made against the essential criteria) on 3rd August 2026
Stage 3
Role specific panel interview and in-tray assessment on 13th August’26
Interviews will be assessed against positive indicators taken from the Code of Ethics and the NFCC Leadership Framework.
You can find the NFCC Leadership Framework here: NFCC_Leadership_Framework_Final.pdf (nationalfirechiefs.org.uk)
And guidance around the Code of Ethics here: Core Code of Ethics England Guidance May 21 V0.pdf (ukfrs.com)
Should you wish to have an informal discussion with regards to the role, please contact Glaucia on 01376 576815 or Glaucia.pantelli@essex-fire.gov.uk
Our Culture and Benefits
Here at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service we are committed to prioritising and promoting the wellbeing of our employees.
You can find out more about our benefits at https://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/recruitment/benefits
Important Information for Firefighter Pension Scheme Pensioners
If you are currently in receipt of a pension from the Firefighter Pension Scheme, please note that taking up this role may affect your pension. Under pension abatement rules, if your earnings in this role, when combined with your pension, exceed your pre-retirement salary (adjusted for inflation), your pension may be reduced.
For further guidance, please contact our Pensions team on 01376 576799 or email mailbox.pensions@essex-fire.gov.uk.
Safeguarding
Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.
It is our policy to require all applicants for employment to disclose if you are currently being investigated by any regulatory body or have any decisions or sanctions pending or in progress in respect of your suitability to work for the Service.
You agree to inform the Service within 24 hours if you are subsequently investigated by any agency or organisation in relation to concerns about your behaviour towards children, young people or vulnerable adults.
The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the appointment for which you are applying.
This role will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Disability Confident
We are an equal opportunity, Disability Confident, employer who welcomes applications from everyone and values diversity in our workplace. A commitment to promoting diversity and developing a work environment where all staff are treated with dignity and respect is central to our recruitment process and all applications will be considered solely on merit.
As part of our offer to support all our candidates to perform to the best of their abilities during our recruitment and selection processes and we would like to let you know about a couple of support options you can access, should you wish to, including our employee forums, who are keen and willing to support all of our potential colleagues.
Our employee forums and partners include:
Asian Fire Services Association (AFSA), BEING (our LGBTQ+ employee support network), Christian Fellowship, Ethnic Minority Forum, Men’s Forum, and our Women’s Forum. In addition, we also have a female firefighters operational group.
Further to the above, the Service has a Digital Accessibility Inclusion Group (DAIG) that supports all colleagues to improve their digital skills and provides additional support and guidance to colleagues with neurodivergent strengths and struggles as a result of dyslexia, ADHD, Autism, dyspraxia etc. We want everyone to thrive at work, and so we encourage and enable people to access digital tools to help them perform at your best. The DAIG is a group of colleagues from across the Service that unite to support others as a result of their lived experience and desire to make a difference. They support people with a range of visible and invisible disabilities to identify and access digital workplace adjustments and solutions and may be able to assist with your application too.
Should you wish to discuss support, or access further information, from one of these groups, please contact Equality.Diversity@essex-fire.gov.uk
You are also able to raise any queries or requests for support, including any adjustments you may require, at any stage of the process by email to recruitment@essex-fire.gov.uk
You can find out more about Essex County Fire & Rescue Service via www.essex-fire.gov.uk and about our vacancies and application processes via www.essex-fire.gov.uk/join-essex-fire