Compliance & Enforcement Officer in Newcastle upon Tyne

Can you apply technical expertise and regulatory judgement to support compliance activity and investigation? Do you thrive on building trusted relationships with industry, enforcement partners and policy teams to deliver clear compliance outcomes? If so, we would love to hear from you!

APHA is a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, because it helps us be more innovative and make better decisions. We are dedicated to being an inclusive employer, offering equitable opportunities for all individuals. Our goal is to build a diverse workforce, and we hope to attract applications from all backgrounds and underrepresented groups.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Compliance & Enforcement Officer to join APHA's Regulatory Affairs, Compliance and Enforcement (RACE) team. You will play a key part in facilitating the smooth movement of eligible agri-food retail goods from Great Britain (GB) to Northern Ireland. You will help ensure businesses comply with Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme (NIRMS) labelling, certification, and documentation requirements, enabling Northern Ireland consumers and businesses to access the same goods as the rest of the UK.

The role involves a wide range of work including, but not limited to, the following:

• Proactively engage with NIRMS registered GB Traders to build and maintain trusted, effective regulatory relationships that support compliance with the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
• Develop and manage mutually beneficial relationships with industry, enforcement partners, stakeholders and policy colleagues, ensuring a coordinated and outcome-focused approach to individual cases and wider non-compliance issues.
• Plan, coordinate and carry out site visits, inspections and post-movement compliance activity, ensuring business operations comply with NIRMS requirements, legislation and guidance.
• Contribute to investigations activity, including participation in case conferences, site visits and leading discussions on appropriate regulatory or enforcement action where APHA coordination is required.
• Identify and input into high-risk areas of non-compliance, supporting the development of plans, procedures and controls to prevent or mitigate risk.
• Draft and issue regulatory correspondence, clearly and concisely presenting complex compliance and enforcement issues to businesses and stakeholders.
• Provide technical expertise to support compliance activity, acting as a point of reference for business engagement and ensuring Subject Matter Experts (SME) are engaged where required.
• Review existing compliance and enforcement processes and guidance, identifying deficiencies and areas for improvement.
• Collaborate in the development of enforcement processes, training materials and guidance to support consistent and effective delivery.
• Support structured stakeholder engagement through segmentation, personas and user journeys to improve targeting and effectiveness of compliance activity.
• Engage with stakeholders based on their specific needs and deliver targeted and clear support to improve compliance with scheme rules.
• Work collaboratively with the Competent Authority to ensure compliance activity aligns with wider regulatory work, including post-movement checks and related assurance activity.

Note: Travel will be required to attend onsite visits and training courses. You must have a valid driving licence. Out of hours work may be required in the event of an incident, in line with overtime policies.

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.