Safety Learning Lead

About us

We have an exciting opportunity as a Safety Learning Lead to join our Safety and Independent Assurance department. The safety team leads the way in which the RNLI learns as an organisation and implements its safety lessons to ensure a safe, compliant, and sustainable environment for our volunteers and staff to operate within.

The team continue to develop a proactive and just approach to learning from incidents and events across the RNLI. Recognising the importance of human factors in improving safety performance, it’s our role to put learning and continual improvement at the heart of keeping our people safe – whether that’s while fundraising, educating members of the public, building lifeboats, lifeguarding a beach or saving lives at sea.

The RNLI is a charity that provides a 24-hour rescue service in the UK and Ireland. Volunteers make up 95% of our organisation; supported by expert staff, all working together to help communities at home and abroad save lives.

Your role

Be the driving force behind transformational safety learning at the RNLI.

As a Safety Learning Lead you will sit as a core member of the Safety Learning Team, reporting into the Safety Learning Manager.

You’ll play a pivotal role in shaping how we learn from safety-related occurrences and successes. By uncovering deep insights into our processes, people, equipment and systems, you’ll help create a safer environment for everyone—whether they’re at sea, onshore, or in our communities. Through engaging storytelling, collaborative problem-solving, and innovative thinking, you’ll lead the charge in embedding a culture of organisational learning that drives real change.

You’ll lead meaningful safety learning reviews, working closely with operational teams, volunteers, and partners to explore the bigger picture—beyond cause-and-effect. By identifying system vulnerabilities, understanding adaptive capacity, your work will directly impact how we operate and, most importantly, how we save lives. With the chance to deliver training, coach others, and foster a progressive approach to safety, this is your opportunity to inspire, influence, and make your mark on the future of safety learning.

Some of the benefits

• Salary £40,315 to £47,429 (dependent on experience) 
• Life assurance
• 26 days’ annual leave plus Bank Holidays
• Flexible working
• Outstanding pension scheme (contributions of up to 16% of basic salary)
• Health and dental cashplan

About you

To be considered for the role of Safety Learning Lead, you will need to demonstrate:

• Proven experience in safety management, incident investigation, or safety learning in a dynamic, high-risk environment.
• A strong understanding of safety culture and how learning from incidents can drive continuous improvement.
• Possess and apply emotional intelligence in sometimes sensitive and traumatic environments.
• Excellent communication, report writing and facilitation skills, with the ability to translate complex safety insights into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Ability to quickly establish rapport and build relationships with volunteers, operational managers, senior leaders, volunteers, and external partners to influence change.

Additional Information

This role will require short notice travel and deployment to RNLI locations with overnight stays.

This post requires a valid driving licence.

Safeguarding

The RNLI is committed to safeguarding; protecting a person’s health, wellbeing, and human rights, enabling them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect. We expect all employees and volunteers to share this commitment and have a zero-tolerance approach. The suitability of all prospective employees and volunteers will be assessed during the recruitment process in line with this commitment. This will include relevant criminal record checks being carried out dependent on the eligibility of the role. (England & Wales; DBS check, Scotland; Disclosure Scotland PVG, Northern Ireland; Access NI, Republic of Ireland; Garda Vetting; International, International Child Protection Certificate process).

Diversity at the RNLI

Our staff and volunteers have been saving lives at sea without prejudice for 200 years. We respect and value diversity of background, skills and perspectives within our teams, and consider it essential to help us deliver a world-class lifesaving service. We are an inclusive organisation and welcome applications from everyone. In addition to having the skills needed for the role, we also look for applicants who share our commitment to living our RNLI values (trustworthy, courageous, selfless, and dependable), and helping us work towards Our Vision: To save Every One.