Castle Ferry Manager

The purpose of this role is to provide a safe, comfortable and enjoyable ferry service between West Park Slipway and Elizabeth Castle, to provide day-to-day supervision of the running of the Castle Ferry Service and to ensure maintenance of the Castle Ferry fleet.

You will ensure all staff hold required maritime and PSV certifications, oversee training, recruitment, performance and compliance and maintain strong relationships with Ports of Jersey, DVS and engineering contractors.

Key duties include vessel checks, safety procedures, licence renewals, rota management, incident reporting, budgeting support, stock and parts management, customer care, risk assessments and maintaining high VAQAS standards. The role involves weekend/Bank Holiday working and responding to occasional call‑outs.

What you will deliver

The Castle Ferry Team

The Castle Ferry Manager is a Skipper on the Castle Ferry. As such they must acquire and maintain the following certification:

• Seafarer – First Aid at Sea, Power Boat 2, Professional Practices and Responsibilities, Survival at Sea, Preseason training and exercises onboard the Ferry, Fire Safety Afloat, VHF Radio Operator, Local Knowledge test
• Coach licences to cover PSV element – Hazard perception required for provisional PSV licence, provisional PSV licence, personal criminal records police check, PSV practical lessons and test, DUKW licence on PSC badge, in-house Ferry Skipper syllabus and operational procedures.

The Castle Ferry Manager leads and manages the Castle Ferry Team comprising Skippers and Crew, ensuring that their team is appropriately qualified to carry out their duties. The Manager is responsible for recruiting into the team. They will arrange and/or deliver training, coaching and supervision of staff, including any specific requirements pertinent to that particular role

The Castle Ferry Manager will pro-actively monitor and manage the performance of the other members of the Castle Ferry Team and escalate any concerns to the Curation and Experience Director if required.

The Castle Ferry Manager works to a rota system, typically four days on two days off, that requires both weekend and Bank Holiday working during the main season. The majority of annualise hours are worked during the summer season.

The Castle Ferry Manager will prepare the list of daily tide movements/times, identifying when access to Elizabeth Castle is walkable/not walkable.

Ferry Maintenance, procedures and certification

The Castle Ferry Manager will develop and maintain effective relationships with appointed external maintenance contractors to proactively maintain the vehicles in good condition, are serviced regularly and tested appropriately in accordance with and Jersey Shipping Registrars Surveyor guidelines, and manage all day-to-day issues arising during the operation of the service. Periodically the Manager will take part in the tendering process for engineering services.

The Castle Ferry Manager will ensure all seasonal licences required for the service are renewed/received as they fall due and prior to the start of each season.

The Castle Ferry Manager will review and update all health & safety and Castle Ferry Operational Procedures in accordance with guidelines required by each of the relevant authorities.

The Castle Ferry Manager will log all of the spare parts for the Ferries owned by JH, and is responsible for sourcing and ordering parts in collaboration with the engineers.

The Castle Ferry Manager will assist the Director of Historic Properties and Environment with the preparation of the annual Castle Ferry budget

The Castle Ferry Manager will reconcile all invoices relating to the Castle Ferries and report and act upon any discrepancies and highlight any potential overspend to the Director of Historic Properties and Environment

The Castle Ferry Manager will strive to be efficient and ensure cost effectiveness in all the work that they do.

The Castle Ferry Manager will respond to ‘out of hours’ call outs as required.

Daily Operational Duties

The Castle Ferry Manager will ensure routine maintenance checks to each Vessel are undertaken and recorded in accordance with the schedules at the start of day to ensure that they meet mechanical and safety standards. They will escalate any concerns to the Director of Historic Properties and Environment as necessary.

The Castle Ferry Manager will carry out the requirements of the Castle Ferry Operational Procedures document.

The Castle Ferry Manager will maintain the Vessel in a clean and tidy manner, ensure it is adequately fuelled and there is fuel in stock, keep a log of all journeys as required in the Castle Ferry Operational Procedures document, carry out daily inspections.

The Castle Ferry Manager will report any serious incidents (of whatever nature) to the Curation and Experience Director immediately and complete all necessary documentation in accordance with defined procedures.  Escalate reporting as necessary, under the guidance/ advice of the Curation and Experience Director and Director of Historic Properties and Environment and, if required, to relevant external or statutory authority.

The Castle Ferry Manager will assist as necessary with the Organisations end of day/cashing up procedures at the Kiosk.

The Castle Ferry Manager will ensure adequate handovers of both written and verbal communication exist and are shared with colleagues when appropriate.

Health and safety

The Castle Ferry Manager will undertake regular Risk Assessments of all activities relating to the service, ensuring that all necessary exercises are carried out and recorded as required.

The Castle Ferry Manager will take reasonable care for their own safety and the safety of others, including the public, staff, volunteers and contractors, by complying with all health and safety legislation and other related procedures to manage and minimise risk in both daily operations and when using Jersey Heritage vehicles.

Stakeholders and external partners

The Castle Ferry Manager will liaise with all stakeholders as and when there may be an interruption to the Castle Ferry service.

The Castle Ferry Manager will liaise with Ports of Jersey and DVS to ensure that all Castle Ferries are appropriately tested, certified and licenced.

The Castle Ferry Manager will communicate regularly with Ports of Jersey and DVS to ensure all parties are kept up to date.

The Castle Ferry Manager will communicate regularly with appointed engineers to oversee the maintenance of the Castle Ferries.

Customer care

The Castle Ferry Skippers will work in tandem with the Crewmember on board to provide a warm welcome and a high standard of customer care to all visitors and users of the ferry, ensuring that priority is given to passenger safety and that all passengers view the safety briefing.

The Trust’s sites are Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Service (VAQAS) accredited and all staff are required to deliver a level of service that meets VAQAS standards.

The Castle Ferry Manager will manage and escalate any complaints from members of the public in line with Jersey Heritage defined procedures.

Teamwork

The Castle Ferry Manager works closely with the Visitor Services Team to ensure a smooth and efficient running of the service and to ensure the best possible visitor experience of their Castle visit.

General

When possible, the Castle Ferry Manager will attend departmental meetings with other members of the Curation and Experience team.

The Castle Ferry Manager will, on behalf of JH, administer the JH EC Slip Parking Policy.

The Castle Ferry Manager will adhere to all relevant internal policies and procedures.

The Castle Ferry Manager will take responsibility for their own personal development, in line with agreed annual performance objectives and professional CPD requirements.

The Castle Ferry Manager will undertake other related duties, as Jersey Heritage may reasonably require.

The Castle Ferry Manager will adhere to and promote the Museums Association’s Code of Ethics for Museums.

Other Information

PSV certifications desirable, but full training can be provided.

Interviews w/c 3 August.

Salary up to: £56,000.

Scope of the Role

Reports to: Curation & Experience Director

Location:  Elizabeth Castle

Working hours/Pattern:  1950 annualised hours

Line management: Ferry Skippers and crew