Watch Manager Protection South

Position: Operational Wholetime Watch Manager B (Protection South)
Contract Type: Permanent
Salary: £50,034 per annum
Location: South Protection Service Delivery Area – Ascot Drive
Hours: Day Duty System (42 hours per week worked on a 9-day fortnight basis)
Department: 1 x vacancy in Protection South
Reports to: Station Manager Protection South
Closing date: Midnight on Sunday 18th October 2026

At Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, we’re more than an emergency service—we’re a team of over 900 dedicated people working together to make Derbyshire safer every day. Whether it’s responding to emergencies, preventing incidents before they happen, or supporting our frontline teams behind the scenes, every role here makes a real difference.

We’re proud to be one of the country’s top-performing fire and rescue services, recently rated ‘Good’ in 9 out of 11 areas by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). This recognition reflects the professionalism, progress, and dedication of our people. We continue to strive to be an outstanding Service and we know we have more to do.

We are seeking an ambitious and motivated Watch Manager to join our Fire Safety Team.
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced leader to develop a career in fire safety
while managing and leading a team of highly skilled Fire Safety Inspectors who help
keep our communities safe.

Whilst previous fire safety experience would be advantageous, it is not essential. We are
looking for an exceptional people leader with a passion for learning, development and
continuous improvement. The successful candidate will undertake a structured
apprenticeship programme, leading to nationally recognised fire safety qualifications
and supporting the development of specialist knowledge and competence within the
role.

This position offers a unique opportunity to combine operational leadership experience
with professional development in a specialist area of the Fire and Rescue Service.

As a Watch Manager within the Fire Safety Team, you will:

• Lead, motivate and develop a team of experienced Fire Safety Inspectors.
• Foster a high-performance culture focused on professionalism, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Manage team performance, wellbeing and development.
• Support the delivery of risk-based fire safety activities across the Service area.
• Ensure the team delivers high-quality inspections, audits and enforcement activities in line with relevant legislation and Service standards.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Undertake and successfully complete a Fire Safety apprenticeship programme, achieving the required professional qualifications and competence standards.
• Contribute to the strategic development of Fire Safety services and community risk reduction initiatives.

We are interested in hearing from candidates who can demonstrate:

A permanent appointment will only be offered to candidates who meet the following criteria:

• Be competent at Level 1 Incident Command.

• Evidence of aligning to the Code of Ethics and applying them in your role as a Supervisory Manager and across the Service.
• Operational Competence
• Operational Effectiveness
• Personal Impact
• Outstanding Leadership
• Service Delivery
• Organisational Effectiveness
• Provide examples of your successful performance when working at Supervisory Manager level.
• Evidence of personal development at Supervisory Manager level.
• Provide examples of successfully managing people at Supervisory Manager level.
• Competency in current role which includes completion of all development/training and currency in all core skills.
• Current local…