Director of Fisheries

LIKELY QUESTIONS

- Which Directorate are you applying for, and what specific experience makes you suited to lead Capture Fisheries, Fish Quality, Safety & Trade, or Fisheries Compliance & Enforcement?
- How would you develop and implement a Directorate strategic plan that supports the Kenya Fisheries Service mandate under the Fisheries Management and Development Act, Cap. 378?
- What are the most significant fisheries management challenges facing Kenya, and how would you prioritise them in your first 12 months?
- Describe your experience leading a technical team or multi-agency programme. How did you set priorities, allocate resources and measure performance?
- How would you balance sustainable resource management, food security, livelihoods, revenue generation and conservation interests in fisheries decision-making?
- How would you strengthen coordination between national government, county governments, Beach Management Units, industry, research institutions and development partners?
- What systems would you use to monitor Directorate performance, identify underperformance and ensure delivery against annual work plans?
- How would you advise the Director General on a sensitive regulatory, compliance, food safety or trade issue involving competing stakeholder interests?

BEHAVIOURAL QUESTIONS

- Tell us about a time you led a major technical or regulatory programme under significant resource constraints.
Model approach: Situation: Briefly describe the mandate, programme objectives and constraints. Task: State your accountability for delivery. Action: Explain how you prioritised high-impact activities, reassigned resources, engaged partners and tracked milestones. Result: Quantify delivery outcomes, efficiency gains, stakeholder impact and lessons applied to future planning.

- Describe a time you managed resistance to a policy, regulatory or operational change.
Model approach: Situation: Explain the change and why stakeholders or staff resisted it. Task: Define your responsibility for achieving implementation while maintaining trust. Action: Describe consultation, evidence-sharing, risk assessment, phased implementation and communication measures. Result: Show adoption outcomes, reduced conflict, compliance improvement or policy refinement.

- Give an example of when you had to make a difficult decision based on incomplete technical information.
Model approach: Situation: Set out the urgent decision, available evidence and risks of delay. Task: Explain your authority and the decision required. Action: Describe how you sought expert input, applied legislation and precautionary principles, documented assumptions and established review points. Result: State the outcome, how risks were managed and what you improved in subsequent decision-making.

- Tell us about a time you improved the performance of an underperforming team or staff member.
Model approach: Situation: Describe the performance gap without naming individuals. Task: State your responsibility as the leader. Action: Explain how you diagnosed causes, set clear expectations, provided coaching or training, introduced performance measures and followed up fairly. Result: Demonstrate measurable improvement, stronger accountability and any sustained team benefits.

SMART QUESTIONS TO ASK

- What are the most urgent strategic priorities for each of the three Directorates over the next 12 to 24 months?
- How does the Director General expect Directors to balance headquarters leadership with field-level engagement across landing sites, counties and fisheries value chains?
- What are the current performance indicators for the Directorate, and what outcomes would define success in the first year?
- How are responsibilities coordinated between Kenya Fisheries Service, county governments, Beach Management Units, enforcement agencies and other regulators?
- What are the main capability, budget, data or staffing constraints currently affecting the Directorate, and what support is available to address them?

RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR

- Unclear Directorate mandates, overlapping responsibilities or inconsistent reporting lines between headquarters, counties and other government agencies.
- No clear performance framework, budget authority, staffing plan or realistic resources to deliver the stated strategic mandate.
- Frequent references to political interference, high staff turnover, unresolved stakeholder conflict or pressure to compromise technical, legal or food safety standards.