Trading Standards Technical Officer

About the job

Key information

About Us

The Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service operates across the areas of Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay and is one of the largest Trading Standards Services in the country.

We support businesses to help them be competitive and operate legally, and make sure that consumers are protected from unfair, unsafe and illegal trading practices.

What will I be doing?

We have an exciting opportunity to work across our Allocations and Operational Support teams. Our friendly teams are the front face for all communications coming into the service, and also co-ordinate vital support functions, such as licensing, administration and training coordination.

The role will include:

• Dealing with and allocating incoming enquiries received via letter, email and telephone. This includes contacting consumers and businesses to find out more information
• Reviewing and allocating cases from the Citizens Advice Consumer Centre, including conducting initial research on cases
• Logging intelligence reports on our intelligence database
• Processing various types of registrations from businesses and keeping our databases up to date
• Keeping our Sharepoint sites up to date
• Supporting investigations by assisting officers to prepare files for court
• Helping to manage our evidence stores
• Providing general support to Trading Standards Officers – with the opportunity of accompanying them on visits

Please note the below job description covers a wide range of duties that a Technical Officer may carry out, but the above list is more specific to this particular role day to day. The range of tasks that you will be expected to undertake will increase as you gain further knowledge and experience in the role.

What kind of experience or qualifications do I need?

You will be expected to be organised, work well as part of a team and use your initiative to resolve issues. You must be able to confidently work under pressure and meet deadlines. We are looking for someone who is approachable, flexible and able to learn quickly. You will need good communication skills, as you will often be the first contact that the public have with us.

You will be able to liaise confidently with managers, staff and partner organisations to obtain and share information and intelligence as needed. You will need to be able to manage competing priorities and be keen to gain knowledge and understanding of how Trading Standards operates.

Although training will be provided regarding our bespoke systems, you will need to be confident in using databases, as well as standard Microsoft Office 365 packages – including Teams, Word and Excel.

Supporting documents and information

We can offer you flexible/hybrid working to meet service need and the role can be performed within agreed flexible hours, with a combination of home and office working.

We have offices in Plymouth, Torbay, Newton Abbot, Exeter, Barnstaple, and Wellington. As we cover a large geographical area some travel is to be expected.

Find out more about us on our website 

Knowledge and experience of Trading Standards and local authority work is desirable but not essential. As a Service we are committed to ongoing training and development and it is more important that you are willing to commit to training to maintain/improve your competencies.

Interview Date: 11/06/2025

If you would like to discuss this opportunity further please contact Rachel Pecz on 01392 383009 or Richard Styles on 01392 382821.

Internal Applicants, please note: If you are an existing DCC employee, please use your iTrent Employee Self Service (ESS) details to log in and apply.

Apply on the Devon County Council website