The British Embassy Warsaw represents British political, economic and consular interests in Poland. We are seeking a dynamic and customer-oriented consular manager, Vice Consul to lead the Embassy’s Consular section.

The successful applicant will manage day to day consular operations across Poland, including through leadership of a small team. They will interact regularly with consular customers and families, and will need to build and maintain relationships with external stakeholders, including public, local, regional authorities to deliver consular assistance. Alongside day-to-day case work, they will deliver targeted prevention campaigns on consular priorities (currently International Parental Child Abduction). To do this they, will work closely will colleagues in London, as well as being a fully engaged member of the Central Europe and The Netherlands (CENL) consular sub-region and wider EuroAsia Network (EAN), which provides an important wider consular family between UK missions overseas.  As a head of section, the role will also require collaboration across other departments within the Embassy.

The Vice Consul will be line managed by the Minister-Counsellor based in Warsaw and receive day-to-day guidance from the Consular Regional Operations Manager (CROM) based in Bratislava.
The role heads a small, but busy team with a culture of continuous improvement. Both the British Embassy Warsaw and the wider consular team across CENL value a diverse range of skills and backgrounds. 
Consular work is a challenging and rewarding, in which you have a real impact on the experience of individuals at both the happiest and most difficult times in life. We look forward to working with someone who can bring leadership, empathy and energy to the role.  

Main responsibilities will include: 

• Management and development of the consular team (incl two consular officers) in Warsaw, providing effective leadership, support and guidance.  
 
• Support vulnerable British Nationals and their families, including leading on complex/high profile cases.  This might include support in the case of bereavement; providing assistance to destitute British people; supporting victims of crime and people who have been hospitalised; and assisting victims of rape & sexual assault, domestic violence, prisoners and people with mental health needs. Please note this could require visits in challenging environments; and some cases will attract media/parliamentary interest in the UK and Poland.
 
• Plan and deliver consular prevention initiatives and communication campaigns, working closely with the Polish authorities, colleagues in London and others in the Embassy as required. 
• Manage consular services such as issuing Emergency Travel Documents to British Nationals and officiating Citizenship Ceremonies for new British Nationals. 
 
• Lead on consular aspects of the whole of the Embassy’s response to a crisis or incident in Poland, such as crisis preparedness activities including liaising with authorities and updating the Crisis Management Plan with the Regional Crisis Advisor and Consular Regional Operations Manager. 
 
• Provide resilience and support on case-handling to colleagues across CENL and the EuroAsia Consular region; providing remote cover for other posts on an ad hoc basis, and possibly deploying to provide in-person services if agreed with the Consular Regional Operations Manager.
 
• Provide out of hours assistance to emergency consular cases as appropriate.

• Fluency in English and Polish, both written and spoken (minimum of C1 CEFR framework level language*).
• 3+ years of relevant work experience (to include working with the public and staff management skills).
• Strong interpersonal skills, excellent judgment and the ability to remain calm under pressure. This should include experience dealing with distressed individuals.
• A strong team player with previous management experience.
• Excellent communication skills; both written and oral.
• Proactive, adaptable and resilient, with the experience of managing a busy workload.
• Proficiency in MS Office 365 Applications.