Training & Competence Manager - Submarine Rescue

The Training & Competence Manager plays a key role in ensuring SERS has a highly skilled, competent, and operationally ready workforce.

Working closely with internal and external stakeholders across the business, you'll lead the delivery of training, competence assurance, and resource planning activities that support safe and effective operations globally.

This is an influential position that combines people leadership, capability development, and operational support, helping to drive continuous improvement and workforce readiness across all SERS services.

What you'll be doing

• Lead training, competence, and resource management activities across SERS, ensuring teams are equipped to deliver safe and effective operations.
• Own and develop the SERS training and competence framework, driving consistency and continuous improvement across global services and projects.
• Act as the subject matter expert for training and competence, maintaining standards, procedures, and best practices within the "operate safely" space.
• Oversee training delivery, competence assurance, and resource planning to ensure personnel remain capable, compliant, and operationally ready.
• Monitor workforce capability, identifying skills gaps, competence risks, and future requirements while implementing proactive solutions.
• Drive the development of a flexible and resilient workforce through cross-training initiatives and personnel development opportunities.
• Support mobilisation, exercises, and operational activities by ensuring training, competence, and readiness requirements are met.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across operational, engineering, and support functions to maintain compliance with safety, quality, and regulatory standards while enhancing workforce capability.

Proven experience managing and supervising diving, ROV, submersible, or similar underwater operations, with a strong understanding of hyperbaric operations, diving systems, or submarine rescue environments.

• Experience developing and managing training programmes, competence frameworks, or workforce capability within a safety-critical environment.
• Good working knowledge of offshore, maritime, and defence regulations, standards, certification requirements, and quality, health, safety, and environmental management systems.
• Strong leadership, influencing, and communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively across multidisciplinary teams and stakeholder groups.
• Excellent organisational and planning skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, support workforce planning, and perform effectively in dynamic operational environments.
• Relevant qualifications in diving, ROV, submersible, hyperbaric, or related operational disciplines, with the ability to obtain and maintain required medical certification and mandatory training.

Desireable

• Experience within submarine rescue operations or other specialist underwater systems.
• Experience gained within defence, military, offshore, maritime, or other highly regulated environments.
• Familiarity with marine and defence standards, including DEFSTAN or similar frameworks.
• Experience with hyperbaric chamber operations and associated systems.
• Experience supporting or delivering training, exercises, competence assurance, or capability development programmes.
• Experience working on customer-facing or commercially sensitive projects.
• Leadership or management qualifications, such as IOSH Managing Safely or equivalent.

James Fisher is a global engineering services company operating across Energy, Defence, and Maritime Transport.

With a strong heritage in maritime operations, we now deliver innovative solutions in challenging environments.

Our One James Fisher strategy is focused on building a unified, sustainable business within the Blue Economy, driving progress through technology, expertise, and collaboration., James Fisher Defence (JFD), part of the James Fisher Group, is a global leader in underwater capability, delivering cutting-edge diving, submarine rescue, and hyperbaric solutions to both commercial and defence markets.

Operating worldwide, JFD is the foremost provider of submarine rescue services and a trusted name in submarine escape training.

We're also at the forefront of hyperbaric rescue innovation and a leading supplier of advanced diving equipment and saturation systems across the industry.

• Explore more about JFD
• Early finish on Fridays
• Competitive salary and benefits package aligned with experience
• Clear pathways for career development and organisational visibility
• Inclusive and supportive culture that values individual contributions
• Meaningful work with impact across safety, innovation, and global operations
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