Chief Fire Officer - Kerry County Council

Kerry County Council; Tralee Municipal District; Presencial; EUR 130.000 - 170.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

Kerry County Council seeks a Chief Fire Officer to lead the Fire and Rescue Service in County Kerry, based in Tralee. The role covers management and administration of Major Emergency Planning, Building Control, and related functions, with a mandate to ensure effective service delivery across protection, prevention and response.

The post requires strategic leadership, governance alignment with Fire Service Acts, and oversight of performance reporting and stakeholder coordination to maintain a

Responsabilidades

• Planning, directing, organizing, overseeing and managing: Fire Service Operations, Technical Fire Safety, Community Fire Safety, Building Control, Civil Defence and Major Emergency Management for Kerry County.
• Ensuring achievement of KPIs and service delivery targets.
• Strategic Planning and Change Management in an evolving environment and working with stakeholders to develop a comprehensive balanced strategy for prevention, protection, and response.

Descripción del empleo

Chief Fire Officer - Kerry County Council

The closing date for this vacancy is 19/11/2026, 15:00

Job summary

The mission of the Fire and Rescue Service is to protect and rescue persons and property from injury or damage by fire or another emergency. The service responds to emergencies other than fires, such as road traffic collisions, hazardous materials incidents, water rescues, flooding, and other major accidental hazards. The service also aspires to prevent emergencies happening in the first place through a range of fire prevention and technical fire safety work carried out within the County and through various community fire safety initiatives. Kerry Fire and Rescue Service operates ten front-line fire stations with a vehicle fleet of 48 vehicles. The Fire Service Headquarters is located at Balloonagh, Tralee.

Reporting to a nominated Director of Services, the Chief Fire Officer will manage and administer an efficient and effective Fire and Rescue Service in accordance with the Fire Service Acts and applicable associated legislation. They will hold responsibility for the management and administration of Major Emergency Planning and Building Control and will also have responsibility for strategic planning and the implementation of any associated change requirements throughout the Fire and Emergency Services. The Chief Fire Officer may also be assigned responsibility for the management of any other relevant function(s) at the discretion of the Chief Executive.

A full Job Summary/Description is available in the Information Booklet.

Main Duties of the Job

Planning, directing, organizing, overseeing and managing: Fire Service Operations, Technical Fire Safety, Community Fire Safety, Building Control, Civil Defence and Major Emergency Management for Kerry County.

Ensuring achievement of KPIs and service delivery targets. Preparing and delivering detailed and accurate management and performance reports as may be required by Senior Management and Central Government in a timely manner.

Strategic Planning and Change Management in an evolving environment and working with the various stakeholders of the Fire and Emergency Services Department to develop a comprehensive balanced strategy for prevention, protection, and response in relation to the built environment and the enhancement of a Culture of Compliance in the Community which will be informed by national guidance and statutory legislation to ensure a fit for purpose fire service.

A full list of main duties is available in the Information Booklet.

Information about the organisation

Kerry County Council is the Authority responsible for Local Government in County Kerry. The Council headquarters are located at Áras an Chontae, Rathass, Tralee County Kerry and there are five Municipal Districts [Municipal District of Tralee, Municipal District of Killarney, Municipal District of Listowel, Municipal District of Kenmare and Municipal District of Castleisland-Corca Dhuibhne]. Kerry County Council has 33 elected members and approximately 1500 staff.

County Kerry has a population of approximately 155,000 people in an area covering 4,700 square kilometres and 3 peninsulas. Kerry County Council is responsible for the delivery of the full range of local government services in the county. Kerry County Council seeks to enhance the county’s attraction as a place in which to invest, work, and live, and takes the lead role in shaping the strategic vision of the county. It provides a diverse, multi-layered and evolving range of services to both citizens and visitors to county Kerry across a large geographic area, which includes the provision of housing, climate action, planning, development, environmental, roads and traffic, leisure, culture, economic development, and community services.

Salary Scale effective from 1st June 2026:

Hours of attendance will be fixed from time to time but will amount to not less than 35 hours gross per week.

The annual leave allowance for the position of Chief Fire Officer is 30 days.

Selection Process Details

A ranking and or shortlisting exercise may be carried out on the basis of information supplied in your application form. The criteria for ranking and or shortlisting are based on the requirements of the post as outlined in the eligibility criteria and skills, competencies and/or knowledge section of this job specification. Therefore it is very important that you think about your experience in light of those requirements.

Failure to include information regarding these requirements may result in you not being called forward to the next stage of the selection process.

Local authorities are committed equal opportunities employers.

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