View Vacancy – Consular Officer, Gran Canaria, Spain(ESP25.003)

An overview:

The British Embassy in Spain is part of a global network representing British political, economic and consular interests overseas and is now recruiting for a Consular Officer position in Gran Canaria. 
With over 412,000 British residents and 17.5 million British tourists annually, Spain is the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s busiest consular operation globally. You, our selected candidate will be based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and will support consular service delivery to vulnerable British nationals primarily for Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and La Graciosa. 
As part of the Spain consular team, working out of 8 consulates nationally , you will work at a national level providing input into national plans and providing remote support and resilience to other consulates in Spain.
Full induction and training will be provided to the successful candidate.

The role entails:

• Delivering first class consular assistance to vulnerable British nationals, with a high volume of often complex casework including hospitalisations, deaths, detentions and cases of rape or sexual assault. Examples of the support required may include:                
  Visiting patients and providing support to emotional families in cases of serious hospitalisation.
• Providing empathetic advice and support to bereaved families, including in cases of murder, suicide or violent/accidental deaths, accompanying to the funeral director/mortuary as required.
• Providing advice to detainees and visiting prisoners.
• Accompanying victims of sexual assault to court, hospital or in their contact with the police.
  Liaise with local Spanish stakeholders, such as funeral directors, police, courts and social services, as well as local authorities and charities providing support and assistance to British nationals.                        
• Supporting the delivery of the Spain prevention strategy. Activities may include engaging with a variety of local stakeholders and assisting in the evaluation of prevention activity at post.
• Supporting delivery of projects/change programme’s.  Activities may include collation and analysis of information, deadlines, reporting on progress and working with team members across Spain.
• Assisting in the preparation/response to possible crisis situations involving large numbers of UK nationals, such as forest fires, flooding, large scale accidents, security incidents etc.
• Providing office support, including isuing of Emergency Travel Documents for UK nationals, dealing with customer enquiries, general adminstration and organising events/meetings as needed.
• Delivering as the Deputy IT support officer (DITSO) for Gran Canaria.  Cover for IT support officer (ITSO), help with resolving issues and implementation of new systems.

Our ideal candidate will have:

• Excellent communication and customer service skills, including a proven ability to support customers in traumatic or difficult circumstances.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work collaboratively and flexibly with colleagues in Spain, Wider Europe Network and the UK.
• The ability to liaise with external stakeholders and manage a range of external relationships.
• Attention to detail, strong analytical perspective and problem solving skills.
• The ability to work at pace and prioritise, managing an often heavy workload; excellent organisational skills.
• Proficiency in both English and Spanish (a minimum of C1 level as per the CEFR).
• Good IT skills (use of Outlook, Microsoft suite, Word and Excel essential).
• The key qualities of flexibility, empathy and resilience.
• To be based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.