Port Health Officer (AO7 - AO9)

East Suffolk Council, Suffolk Coastal Port Health Authority – Felixstowe Port IP11 4AZ £37,938 - £46,731 per annum (Career grade 7 - 8) plus 14% shift allowance 37 hours per week, rotational shift pattern including weekend working Permanent This advert is open to current East Suffolk Council staff only. It is an exciting time to be joining our Port Health Team as we transform our services in response to the UK’s departure from the European Union. We currently have exciting opportunities to join the East Suffolk Council's Port Health Team as a Port Health Officer. Our mission is the protection of public and animal health, carrying out a range of checks to ensure imported goods are safe for all of us in the UK. Find out more via our video of the team and what they do. To become part of our team, you will be passionate, keen to learn and thrive on working in a fast-paced environment. The role Your role will be to work with our existing Port Health Officers in carrying out various checks on imported products (including not of animal origin, fish and organic items) to ensure they are safe for distribution in the UK. You will also protect international health by monitoring health conditions on board ships in order to prevent disease. You will have the opportunity to work under your own initiative but also with others as part of our friendly team. What you need This is a career graded post, and the responsibilities of the role will be undertaken at a level appropriate to your qualifications, experience, and competence, as laid out in the job description. It will be essential to have either a degree or equivalent Level 6 qualification in Environmental Health, or a Higher Certificate in Food Control with 3 years’ experience in a food and safety field. *After the completion of initial training you will participate in a 7-day rotational shift pattern covering the hours of 6.30am – 10pm Monday - Friday and 6.30am – 2.30pm Saturday including weekend working which will at that point attract a 14% shift allowance on top of the base salary. For weekend working shifts you can choose to have rest days or be paid an overtime rate of time and a half. This post sits within a career progression framework that will recognise your qualifications, experience and competency as well as offering potential development opportunities. If successful candidates have not yet completed their CIEH portfolio and professional interview, then you will be appointed at Band 6 and progress to Band 7 on successful completion. For an informal discussion regarding this post, please contact Steve Dearsley, Operations Team Leader – steve.dearsley@scpha.gov.uk Why work for us? East Suffolk Council is a great place to work and there are lots of benefits our employees can access. To find out more about why we are so proud of East Suffolk Council, take a look at our video and hear why our employees think it is such a great place to work (YouTube). Here are some of the main benefits: Generous leave entitlement (equivalent to 25 days a year, increasing to 31 days after 5 years’ service, plus bank holidays) Local government pension scheme Flexible working arrangements Learning and development tailored to your role A wide variety of staff support networks including access to health and wellbeing initiatives and programmes. Discounts on mobile phones, computers, holiday and travel, fashion and clothing, health and beauty and many other products and services. Find more information about what we offer in our benefits brochure (pdf). Closing date: 11:30pm, 28 November 2025 Interview date: TBC How to apply Step 1 - Read the advert and the job description and person specification: Port Health Officer AO 7 - 9 Step 2 - Complete the Supporting Statement template (docx). Your statement needs to indicate how you meet each of the criteria contained within the Person Specification. Please use the template provided (other formats will not be accepted). Step 3 - Complete the online application and upload your statement. Please note, CVs are not accepted. For more information, check out the How to Apply section of our Career Site (URL).