The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has launched a new recruitment drive to find a chief executive officer for the Marine Management Organisation, and added £10,000 to the salary the successful applicant could net.
The MMO is responsible for regulating activities in the seas around England and Wales – including managing and monitoring a range of fishing-related rules, dealing with pollution emergencies, marine planning and licensing offshore wind farms. But it has been without a permanent chief executive officer since Tom McCormack started a period of sick leave in September 2023.
Michelle Willis, who was previously the MMO’s director of finance and resources and deputy chief executive officer, has served as interim CEO for the past two years. McCormack formally left the organisation, which is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by Defra, at the end of January 2024.
Defra ran a recruitment campaign for a permanent MMO chief exec in the summer of 2024, offering a salary banded at £120,000-£130,000 a year to the successful applicant. However, no appointment resulted.
A new drive began at the end of last month and adds a £10,000 uplift to the package on offer, which is now bracketed at £120,000-£140,000. The potential for non-consolidated performance-related pay of up to £17,500 a year is also referenced in Defra’s latest advertisement. That figure is unchanged from the previous recruitment round.
According to the department, the next MMO boss will be responsible for leading a workforce of around 500 and managing an annual budget of roughly £40m.
The advertisement states that Defra is looking for “an inspirational organisational leader” who is “committed to fostering a culture of excellence, inclusion and collaboration.
“With an ability to motivate colleagues at all levels and a strong track record of leading large operational delivery teams, you will be a strategic leader, inspiring confidence in others to deliver outcomes in a complex, regulatory and politically nuanced environment,” it says.
“You will bring the credibility to work effectively with ministers, the board, senior stakeholders and industry, working collaboratively to build trusted relationships across levels.
“You will have the agility to lead through transformation while building a high-performing, empowered organisation and you will demonstrate a clear appreciation of the respective roles of chief executive, chair and board in securing the organisation’s continued success.”
Among the essential criteria listed for candidates are “extensive senior leadership experience in a multidisciplinary organisation, with a strong record of delivering operational excellence” and the “personal resilience to operate in a high profile and highly scrutinised environment”.
The role is at SCS Pay Band 2. The successful applicant will be expected to work from the MMO’s Newcastle-Upon-Tyne headquarters for at least two days a week, with regular travel to London and the MMO’s costal locations also required.
Saxton Bampfylde is handling the MMO’s recruitment campaign.
Applications are open until midday on 22 October.