Specialist Capabilities - Testing and Exercising Officer

British Transport Police; Liverpool; Hybrid; CAD 70,000 - 85,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave and holidays

Bank holidays

Family-friendly policies

Blue Light Card access

Rail season ticket loan

Pension scheme

Job summary

British Transport Police is seeking a part-time Specialist Capabilities - Testing and Exercising Officer to join the Force Preparedness Team. You will design and deliver programmes that validate plans and readiness for major incidents and counter-terrorism, coordinating with partners across the UK.

The role emphasizes developing scenarios, embedding national standards, and producing lessons learned to strengthen the Force’s resilience and operational capability.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering testing and exercising activities (tabletop and live exercises).
• Formal training qualification or equivalent experience in testing/exercising.
• Strong planning and organisational skills for large admin/design tasks.
• Confident communication, ability to present to large audiences.
• Knowledge of emergency management and exercise design principles.

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver testing and exercise programmes to validate response plans and procedures for counter-terrorism and major incidents.
• Develop innovative exercise scenarios and training activities to build readiness and improve programmes.
• Collaborate with internal teams and external partners to deliver multi-agency exercises and align with national standards.
• Evaluate exercise outcomes and maintain records to capture lessons learned and drive improvement.

Skills

Testing & exercising delivery

Training qualification

Planning & organisation

Communication skills

Emergency management knowledge

Independent/team work

Job description

Job Introduction

Salary: £41267.45 full-time equivalent (pro-rata £22,306.73 for 20 hours per week) per annum

Contract Type: Permanent

Location: This role can be based at any of our Pennines locations, including Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool.

Type of Working Arrangement: Blended approach of home and office-working is available

Hours: This is a part-time role (20 hours per week)

British Transport Police (BTP) is the national police force for the rail network throughout Great Britain. We are the ‘Guardians of the Railway,’ putting passenger safety at the heart of what we do. Our values are simply: We Care, We Do the Right Thing, We Strive to Be Better Every Day, We Are One BTP, and We Are Proud to Protect. Join us and help create an environment where we can all be our best every day.

The Opportunity

British Transport Police have an exciting opportunity for a Specialist Capabilities - Testing and Exercising Officer to join the Force Preparedness Team.

In this role, you will help ensure BTP is prepared to respond effectively to major incidents and counter-terrorism events. Working with colleagues and external partners, you will develop and deliver testing and exercising programmes that validate plans, procedures and operational readiness across the Force.

This is a rewarding opportunity to make a real impact on public safety by strengthening organisational resilience, developing capability and helping ensure BTP is ready to respond to complex and challenging incidents.

What You'll Be Doing

• Designing and delivering testing and exercise programmes to validate BTP's response plans, policies and procedures for counter-terrorism and major incidents.
• Developing innovative exercise scenarios and training activities that build operational readiness and ensure continuous improvement across the Force.
• Working with internal teams and external partners to deliver multi-agency exercises and embed national emergency response standards and best practice.
• Evaluating exercise outcomes and maintaining records to identify lessons learned, improve future programmes and strengthen organisational

What You'll Bring To The Team

• Experience in delivering testing and exercising, including different types of exercises such as tabletop and live exercises.
• A recognised training qualification or equivalent experience in delivering testing and exercising activities.
• Strong planning and organisational skills, with the ability to manage large administrative, design and development tasks.
• Confident communication skills, including the ability to present and communicate effectively to large audiences.
• Knowledge of emergency management and exercise design principles, including relevant guidance and best practice.
• Ability to work independently or as part of a small team, managing deadlines and delivering against key performance

Additional Information

The postholder will be expected to travel regularly to attend exercises and in-person meetings across the UK. This may include occasional evening and weekend work to support operational requirements and ensure effective delivery of our testing and exercising programmes.

Further information about this vacancy can be found in the attached job description.

What We Offer

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing to 30 days after 5 years.
• Family-friendly policies, including up to 26 weeks paid maternity and adoption leave.
• Bespoke benefits platform and Blue Light Card access.
• Salary sacrifice options for cycles, home technology, gym membership, and electric vehicles.
• Interest-free annual rail season ticket loan after 6 months.
• Access to the Transport Benevolent Fund for health, welfare, and financial support.
• Development opportunities, including fully funded apprenticeships.
• Excellent Pension scheme: We offer the BTP GPP Police Staff Pension Scheme, administered by Royal London. This group personal pension plan is available to all police staff and is a defined contribution scheme. It provides the flexibility to vary your pension contributions from 4.4% to 12% of your salary. For more information, visit the Royal London dedicated pension page or email us at [e-mail]. Note: If you are an existing member of Police Staff in the RPS, your pension will not be affected.

Inclusion & Diversity

We are committed to building a workforce where everyone feels they belong.

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and lived experiences. Diversity strengthens our teams, improves our services and helps us better represent and support the communities we serve.

We are proud to be an inclusive employer and strive to create a workplace that is fair, respectful and accessible to all. We actively work to challenge discrimination, remove barriers and ensure equity throughout our recruitment and employment practices.

If you need any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment or selection process, please let us know - we are happy to support you. Your talent, your potential, and your unique perspective matter here.

For more information on Inclusion or the Disability Confident Scheme, please click the links Inclusion & Diversity Disability Confident Scheme