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Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive
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- Employer:
- Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Location:
- Based in Reading, Berkshire
- Salary:
- Competitive Salary
- Closing Date :
- 12 Noon Thursday 8 January 2026
- Job Ref:
- GSe126948
Description
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) provides a vital public safety service for communities across Berkshire. We serve over 900,000 residents across diverse urban and rural settings, including major transport routes such as the M4 and key rail infrastructure. This demands the expertise of over 400 highly skilled and well-equipped firefighters and nearly 200 support teams to deliver on our vision.
There is much to be proud of at RBFRS. In its latest HMICFRS inspection, RBFRS was rated “Good” in eight of the eleven areas, reflecting strong performance in prevention, protection, and emergency response, as well as a positive and inclusive culture. Inspectors praised our commitment to community safety, effective collaboration, and investment in technology and workforce development. We are determined to build on this success and continually improve.
We are now seeking a new Chief Executive / Chief Fire Officer (CFO) who will bring a relentless focus on inspiring our people and driving innovation. These are challenging times for all Fire and Rescue Services nationally, and we have set clear expectations to ensure everyone in our team feels safe, supported, and included.
To succeed as our next CFO, you will be a trusted, inspirational role model, capable of delivering the very best climate and culture for all our people. We are ambitious and want to be at the forefront as a modern Fire and Rescue Service. Keeping our teams at the leading edge of best practice requires constant attention and planning. Transforming our back-office, leveraging technology, seeking collaboration, and developing our people and leaders to face an ever-changing world all require the relentless focus on leadership and innovation we seek.
With a strong operational leadership background, what also matters is that you share our ambition for what can be achieved. In short, you can inspire trust from our people, and you can deliver for our communities.
A full list of the Rewards and Benefits can be viewed here
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How to Apply
To be considered, candidates are asked to provide an up-to-date CV which shows your full career history, with any breaks explained, including details of all roles that are currently held. We recommend that this is no longer than two pages and is submitted in PDF format.
Please also provide a PDF document containing your responses to the following three questions (limited to 500 words per question):
- What changes do you see nationally across the fire and rescue sector that will impact on the next five years?
- Please provide evidence of a time when you have positively changed a workforce culture, and demonstrably improved diversity and inclusion.
- Please describe where you have been faced with a sensitive political issue, including challenges with partners. What did you find to be the most difficult aspect, and what would you do differently next time?
These must be received by 12 noon, Thursday 8 January 2026.
To accompany your application, and bring it to life, we would like you to record a short video (of no more than 2 minutes in length) using the following link only: https://myint.video/aXy~WBzbH~
In the video you should answer the following: Why are you applying to lead the Royal Berkshire FRS, and specifically, what skills and experience will you bring in order to do so effectively?
You will have the opportunity to practice recording a video and test your equipment using two practice questions. These recordings are not submitted and are for practice purposes only:
- Why would you like to work for us?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Once you’ve completed the practice questions and feel confident, click “I’m ready, proceed to start.” You will then move on to the actual question, where you can record x takes and submit the version you are most satisfied with.
If, having read all the available information, you would like a confidential discussion about the role, and your fit with it, please contact Duncan Collins at our recruitment partner, GatenbySanderson on duncan.collins@gatenbysanderson.com, or call 07586 705475