Main content

Skilled Trades

Repairing government structures. 
Travelling the world. 
Building on your skills.
It all matters.

Restoring the past, building the future; this is the extraordinary impact of our Skilled Trades team. They handle everything from fitting window ledges in historic embassies to installing lighting in new high commissions, and much more. Some work right here in the UK, while others see locations around the world as they shape them with their skills.

Not the career you wanted?

If this isn’t what you had in mind, answer a few questions and we’ll find where you fit.

Key roles in the area

  • Carpenter Builder Joiners
  • Electricians
  • Locksmiths
  • Metal Workers
  • Machine Tool Operators

What’s it like to be a Technical Installer with FCDO Services?

In this article, we sat down with one of our team to talk about incredible travel, fascinating challenges, pride in your role, and always being fully supported.

Close in shot of a CCTV camera installed in a building

When in the UK, the team are usually based at Hanslope Park, Milton Keynes.

Any tools you need will be provided by FCDO Services – and we make sure they’re well-cared for too.

Working overseas

Our Skilled Trades colleagues build, fit and renovate customer sites across the world. That means you’re likely to be travelling for up to 22 weeks of the year. The exception to that is our Machine Tool Operators and our Metal Workers, who tend to be based at our workshops in the UK. For other roles though, here’s how it works:

You could be travelling overseas for up to 22 weeks of the year, and you’ll be working in the UK the rest of the time. As a general rule, we try to make sure that your time spent overseas is as efficient as possible, grouping projects together where we can.

Our Machine Tool Operators and Metal Workers will be based permanently in Hanslope Park; our site near Milton Keynes. Our other teams will also be based there when they’re in the UK. To find out more about Hanslope Park, see Life at FCDO Services

We work in 168 countries, and you could well be travelling to any one of them. Your safety is our most important concern though: we’ll never send you anywhere you aren’t comfortable with.

We’ll organise both your travel and your accommodation while you’re overseas, and support you financially.

As much as possible, we’ll aim to spread out your trips so that you get breaks from overseas travel. It means you can balance your home life with your travel abroad, and it also gives you time to properly prepare for each project you take on.

As a general rule, it’s not practical for families to travel with the Skilled Trades team, since you’ll be overseas for regular short bursts. Having said that, if you do have a longer posting overseas – if you’ll be stationed abroad for two years, say – then we can support your family to move overseas with you, if the role allows for that. 

You’ll be able to stay in touch with your team throughout your time abroad, through our FCDO Services intranet, as well as having a manager who’ll check in on your progress. Plus, if you need someone’s advice on a project, there are always experts on call, no matter the time difference. You’ll also be able to take advantage of our overseas network activity: we offer all sorts of support to our colleagues both at home and abroad, whether it’s wellbeing events like yoga sessions, or chances to socialise with the teams stationed in your location.

Did you know?

Beginning in 2016, we’ve rolled out secure WiFi to over 4,000 staff at 61 posts worldwide.
Doing it has been no mean feat: our team laid an incredible 67km+ of cable.

What do I need to thrive here?

You’re ready to muck in with anything, even if it’s outside your usual skillset.

Unless you’re a Machine Tool Operator or Metal Worker, you’ll be keen to go anywhere.

You can talk to people from all kinds of backgrounds, and get on easily with people.

You work hard and stay motivated, even when you’re working alone overseas.

Hear from one of the team

The people are so important to your experience here, honestly. I travel a lot with my role, but if I was to think of my favourite places, it’s just as much about the people I’ve been with as the places themselves.

Current Technical Installer

Learning and development

Alongside the training of the wider FCDO Services team, there are some specific options in place to help our Skilled Trades team excel:
  • Support with accreditations, Construction Skills Certification cards, climbing qualifications, and any other training you need to deliver your role
  • Funded opportunities to retrain, e.g. as an overseas Technical Works Officer (Find out more about our TWOs here)

Find out about overall training and benefits at Life at FCDO Services

Tips for your application

1. Tell us what you’ve done

You might not be used to applying for a government role. In order to assess your skills, we need to know what you’ve done. So, don’t just say ‘I’ve been an electrician for ten years’ or ‘I worked as a builder for x company’. Tell us the specific skills you have, and the kinds of projects you’ve worked on.

2. Fill in every stage of the form

Unfortunately, we can’t accept a CV in place of our application steps, so please make sure you fill in every section, and again, be as thorough as you can about your experience – we don’t want your skills to slip through the net.

3. Get someone to proof-read

If you’re not used to this kind of application, that’s fine. We aren’t assessing you on whether it’s beautifully written; only on whether you can tell us clearly what you’ve done. So, get someone else to check your work if you need to and make sure it makes sense to them.

There are plenty of qualifications we’ll support you to aim for, like the HNC in Construction and the Built Environment.

Welcome to the virtual embassy

Ready to see the work you might do with Skilled Trades? Just enter the embassy and select the ‘Constructing the secure embassy’ guide to get started.

Grand looking embassy with Union Jack flag and solar panels on it's roof. Illustration.

Case study

Carpentry. Joinery. Installing utilities around the building. Even laying out a soft-play area for the kindergarten next-door. It’s all in a day’s work for our Skilled Trades team, as part of wider works on the British Embassy in Belgrade.

The Pobednik monument and fortress Kalemegdan in Belgrade, Serbia in a beautiful summer day.

Hear from one of the team

When you’re abroad, you could be refurbishing an office or fitting out a new secure area. You’re constantly using different tools and skills. Plus you’re seeing new countries; different places you’d never expect to go.

Carpenter Builder Joiner
Skilled Trades colleague. Illustration.

Apprenticeships

Interested in a career in Secure Property Design and Construction, but don’t have any experience? Check out our Technical Engineering Apprenticeship – where you could learn the skills to become one of our radio, CCTV and access control systems designers. Whatever your age, whatever your background, our in-house training and paid qualifications could be just what you need.

a female air conditioning technician with her supervisor on a roof top of an office block . They are performing routine servicing of the air conditioning units , and are wearing safety equipment .

Latest roles

Want to join FCDO Services but can’t see a live role to suit you? Sign up for job alerts or add your CV to our talent pool and we’ll be in touch when something comes up.

Health and Safety Manager

Hanslope Park
£40,755 Plus £1750 Location Allowance

Health and Safety Advisor

Hanslope Park
£28,392 Plus £1750 Location Allowance

Approved Electrician

Hanslope Park
£35,510 – plus £1750 location allowance and excellent benefits, including Civil Service pension

Sensitivity Reviewer

Hanslope Park
£54,340 Plus £1750 Location Allowance

Senior Carpenter Team Leader

Hanslope Park
£43,026 – £50,491 plus £1,750 allowance and excellent benefits, including Civil Service pension