INFORMATION BOOKLET AND APPLICATION DOCUMENTS
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
The Road Safety Authority intends to hold an Open competition for the position ofPrincipal Engineer
Closing Date: Thursday 4th June 2015
The Road Safety Authority is committed to a policy of equal opportunity.
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Contact: Aideen Cummins, Senior Consultant, Collins McNicholas Recruitment & HR Services group or
Telephone Number: 071-9142411
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Job Description 3
Location 3
Qualifications and Experience 6
Pay & Working Conditions 7
General Matters 10
How to apply 11
Closing Date 11
Selection Process 11
Security Clearance 12
Confidentiality 12
Candidates Obligations 13
Data Protection Acts 1988 & 2003 14
Principal Engineer
POST: / Principal EngineerThe Road Safety Authority is responsible for advising the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on Ireland’s overall policy in relation to vehicle standards.
The standard of construction of vehicles on our roads is a key safety issue. There is a robust legal obligation to regulate vehicle standards – arising from both the Road Traffic Acts and EC Regulatory Acts. Vehicle standards are continuously changing and improving based on safety, environmental and technological developments.
In the area of Vehicle Standards the RSA represents Ireland at EC and international level and is responsible for contributing to and implementing EC policy relating to the type approval and entry into service of new vehicles. The RSA is also responsible for proposing and implementing new road traffic legislation for vehicles in use on our roads.
The RSA has overall responsibility for vehicle testing standards delivered by the National Car Testing Service (NCTs) and the Commercial Vehicle Test Operators (CVRT).
Nature of Employment: / Permanent in accordance with the General Conditions of Employment with one year probation period.
Job Location: / RSA Headquarters, Moy Business Park, Primrose Hill, Ballina, Co Mayo or other such place designated as appropriate by the Authority.
It is envisaged that the position of Principal Engineer will involve domestic travel and some foreign travel.
When absent from home and headquarters on duty appropriate travelling expenses and subsistence allowances will be paid subject to the normal Civil/Public Service regulations.
Division/Department: / Vehicle Standards and Enforcement
Reporting to: / Director of Vehicle Standards and Enforcement
Job Summary/Purpose: / As Head of Vehicle Standards, the successful candidate will fill a key senior management position in the Standards and Enforcement Directorate of the RSA. He or she will lead a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, general managers and administrative staff to deliver on vehicle standards strategy and business objectives.
The Head of Vehicle Standards will be expected to bring Ireland’s vehicle standards regime right up to date and ensure that Ireland implements and effectively contributes to the development of best practice in vehicle standards for new vehicles. He or she will also ensure that the standards applicable to vehicles in use on our road including technical vehicle testing standards are up to date and appropriate. He or she will be expected to ensure that the RSA delivers optimum professional advice that is technically sound, promotes safer vehicles but also reflects broader policy considerations including the environment and cost benefits.
The Head of Vehicle Standards will be required to interact effectively with external stakeholders including Government Department, State agencies and RSA customers to ensure the delivery of the relevant strategies and objectives of Vehicle Standards
KEY ELEMENTS OF THE JOB / DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Head of Vehicle Standards will report to the Director of Standards and Enforcement and as a member of the Directorate’s Management Team will take on all policy and administrative responsibility for vehicle standards including technical vehicle testing standards.
The successful candidate will be required to:
(A) Ensure the provision of effective and timely professional advice relating to vehicle standards through leadership, co-ordination, management and supervision of the work of the staff assigned to the Vehicle Standards section.
(B) Formulate, implement and prioritise the delivery of Vehicle Standard’s strategy and business objectives on time and to a high standard having regard to road safety considerations and legislative obligations.
(C) ensure that
· Ireland and the RSA is represented and actively contributing at European and international level.
· Ireland’s national legislation is updated and implemented in compliance with EU requirements
· the RSA keeps abreast of new developments in relation to vehicle technologies and takes appropriate action
(D) ensure effective relationships with diverse stakeholders including :
· taking lead responsibility for on time delivery and implementation of new policies / legislative requirements through effective interaction with external stakeholders
· effective communication with stakeholders
· representing the RSA through engagement at a senior level with public sector bodies and stakeholders
(E) support other Directorates in vehicle related matters
The Head of Vehicle Standards will also be responsible for the general management of the Section including the performance and development of staff reporting to him or her and any budgetary matters.
This job description is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him / her from time to time by the CEO or Director and to contribute to the development of the post while in the role.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
1. Essential Requirements:
Candidates must on or before Thursday 4th June 2015:
· Hold a qualification at Level 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications in a Mechanical engineering discipline or a closely related field.
· Have at least five years (post qualification) experience in significant engineering work at a suitably senior responsible position
· Have a proven track record of achievement at a senior level that demonstrates the leadership, administrative and people management experience necessary to successfully lead a multi-disciplinary team to deliver on business outcomes.
· Have the ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines and to take a strategic approach in the delivery of key policy objectives, and the necessary vision and capacity for innovative thinking.
· Capacity to negotiate on sensitive and complex issues, internally and externally and to influence policy makers in Ireland and at EU level.
· Demonstrate a proven track record of skills in fostering a positive working relationship with colleagues and external stakeholders to ensure delivery of business outcomes.
· Have a strong organisational awareness including an awareness of the broader operating environment (or an ability to quickly acquire/develop such knowledge).
· Have sound judgement and excellent decision making, problem solving, analytical thinking and interpersonal/communication skills at a senior level in an organisation.
· Excellent ICT skills
Desirable Requirements:
· Chartered Membership of a recognised Professional body (e.g. Engineers Ireland)
· Management qualification/training or similar
Key competencies for effective performance at this level
Leadership and strategic direction
Judgement and Decision making
Management and Delivery of results
Building relationships and Communications
Drive and Commitment
PAY & WORKING CONDITIONS
Salary Scale: / The salary scale for this position is as follows:€78,327, €81,675, €85,199, €88,636, €91,623 - MAX, LSI 1 - €94,411, LSI 2 - €97,194
PPC (Personal Pension Contribution) Scale (for officers who are existing civil or public servants appointed on or after 6 April 1995 or who are new entrants to the civil or public service and who are making a compulsory personal pension contribution).
€74,597, €77,894, €81,153, €84,421, €87,258- Max LSI 1 - €89,906, LSI 2 - €92,550
Non PPC (Personal Pension Contribution) Scale (this scale will apply where the appointee is a civil or public servant recruited before 6th April 1995 and who is not required to make a compulsory personal pension contribution).
Long service increments may be payable after 3(LSI-1) and 6(LSI-2) years satisfactory service at the maximum of the scale.
Candidates should note that entry will be at the minimum of the scale and will not be subject to negotiation and the rate of remuneration may be adjusted from time to time in line with Government pay policy.
Annual Leave: / 30 days per annum
This leave is on the basis of a five-day week and is exclusive of the usual public holidays.
General: / Salary is paid fortnightly; the Authority operates a contributory pension scheme, group medical schemes, and income continuance plan.
Expenses: / The Authority does not pay expenses for the purpose of attending for interview or taking up employment.
Medical: / A candidate who is not already in permanent employment of the Authority will be required, prior to appointment, to pass a medical examination by a doctor nominated by the Authority. The Authority bears the cost of this examination.
Superannuation
and
Retirement: / The appointee will be offered public service pension terms and retirement age conditions in accordance with pension arrangements in the Road Safety Authority depending on the status of the successful appointee:
(a) In general, an individual who has no prior pensionable Public Service history in the 26 weeks prior to appointment will be a member of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme (Single Scheme) which commenced from 1 January 2013 (Section 10 of the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 refers);
(b) An individual who is on secondment will remain a member of the parent organisation’s pension scheme and the pensionable remuneration will be based on his/her substantive grade i.e. the grade at which the individual is employed in his/her parent organisation
(c) An individual who was a member of a “pre-existing public service pension scheme” as construed by the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 and who does not qualify for membership of the Single Scheme will be a member of the Road Safety Authority’s existing Staff Superannuation Scheme.
(d) Appointee’s status for superannuation purposes
At the time of being offered an appointment, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform if necessary, will, in the light of the appointee’s previous Public Service (and/or other) employment history, determine the appropriate pension terms and conditions to apply for the duration of the appointment. Appointees will be required to disclose their full public service history. Details of the appropriate superannuation provisions will be provided upon determination of appointee’s status. The following points should be noted:
Pension Accrual:
A 40-year limit on total service that can be counted towards pension where a person has been a member of more than one existing public service pension scheme will apply. This 40-year limit, which is provided for in the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and other Provisions) Act 2012 came into effect on 28 July 2012. This may have implications for any appointee who has acquired pension rights in a previous public service employment.
Pension Abatement
The Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme and Other Provisions) Act 2012 extended pension abatement so that a retiree’s public service pension is liable to abatement on re-entering public service employment, even where the new employment is in a different area of the public service. However, if the appointee was previously employed in the Civil Service and awarded a pension under voluntary early retirement arrangements (other than the Incentivised Scheme of Early Retirement (ISER) or the Health Service Executive VER/VRS which, as outlined below, render a person ineligible for the competition) the entitlement to payment of that pension will cease with effect from the date of reappointment. Special arrangements will, however, be made for the reckoning of previous service given by the appointee for the purpose of any future superannuation award for which the appointee may be eligible.
Department of Education and Skills Early Retirement Scheme for Teachers Circular 102/2007
The Department of Education and Skills introduced an Early Retirement Scheme for Teachers. It is a condition of the Early Retirement Scheme that with the exception of the situations set out in paragraphs 10.2 and 10.3 of the relevant circular, and with those exceptions only, if a teacher accepts early retirement under Strands 1, 2 or 3 of this scheme and is subsequently employed in any capacity in any area of the public sector, payment of pension to that person under the scheme will immediately cease. Pension payments will, however, be resumed on the cesser of such employment or on the person’s 60th birthday, whichever is the later, but on resumption, the pension will be based on the person’s actual reckonable service as a teacher (i.e. the added years previously granted will not be taken into account in the calculation of the pension payment).
Ill-Health Retirement
Please note that where an individual has retired from a Civil/Public Service body on the grounds of ill-health his/her pension from that employment may be subject to review in accordance with the rules of ill-health retirement within the pension scheme of that employment.
Incentivised Scheme for Early Retirement (ISER):
It is a condition of the Incentivised Scheme for Early Retirement (ISER) as set out in Department of Finance Circular 12/09 that retirees, under that Scheme, are debarred from applying for another position in the same employment or the same sector. Therefore, such retirees may not apply for this position.
Department of Health and Children Circular (7/2010):
The Department of Health Circular 7/2010 dated 1 November 2010 introduced a Targeted Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) Scheme and Voluntary Redundancy Schemes (VRS). It is a condition of the VER scheme that persons availing of the scheme will not be eligible for re-employment in the public health sector or in the wider public service or in a body wholly or mainly funded from public moneys. The same prohibition on re-employment applies under the VRS, except that the prohibition is for a period of 7 years, after which time any re-employment will require the approval of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. People who availed of either of these schemes are not eligible to compete in this competition.
Collective Agreement: Redundancy Payments to Public Servants
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform letter dated 28th June 2012 to Personnel Officers introduced, with effect from 1st June 2012, a Collective Agreement which had been reached between the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Public Services Committee of the ICTU in relation to ex-gratia Redundancy Payments to Public Servants. It is a condition of the Collective Agreement that persons availing of the agreement will not be eligible for re-employment in the public service by any public service body (as defined by the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Acts 2009 – 2011) for a period of 2 years from termination of the employment. Thereafter the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will be required prior to re-employment. People who availed of this scheme and who may be successful in this competition will have to prove their eligibility (expiry of period of non eligibility) and the Minister’s consent will have to be secured prior to employment by any public service body.
Declaration:
Applicants will be required to declare whether they have previously availed of a public service scheme of incentivised early retirement and/or the collective agreement outlined above. Applicants will also be required to declare any entitlements to a Public Service pension benefit (in payment or preserved) from any other Public Service employment and/or where they have received a payment-in-lieu in respect of service in any Public Service employment
GENERAL MATTERS