Head of ALB Sponsorship, Judicial and Legal Services Policy DirectorateMinistry of Justice

23469

Descriptions & requirements

Job description

Head of ALB Sponsorship

Grade 7

Judicial and Legal Services Policy Directorate

The Judicial and Legal Services Policy (JLSP) Directorate is recruiting permanently for a G7 Head of ALB sponsorship team.  This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.

Candidates are reminded that to be eligible for this campaign; you must still be employed as a civil servant at the point of accepting the role. If you resign or your FTA contract ends before you are made and accept an offer, you will become ineligible and you will be withdrawn from the process.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

102 Petty France, London

5 Wellington Place, Leeds

Occasional travel between the two locations may be required. We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds).

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

Full-time, part-time or the option to job share

Flexible working patterns

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Salary

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

The Joint Unit and Judicial Resourcing Unit

The Joint Unit and Judicial Resourcing Unit (JUJR) is a high-profile, friendly and supportive team that works to drive improvement in the way the courts and tribunals operate and to improve engagement with the judiciary and the arms-length bodies which we sponsor.

The roles in JUJR sit within the Judicial and Legal Services Policy Directorate (JLSPD) in MoJ’s Policy Group. JLSPD is responsible for managing the relationship between the department, the government and the judiciary and legal services profession.

The work of the Judicial Resourcing (JR) team is highly varied and regularly attracts the interest of Ministers and the senior judiciary.

The team currently takes on the following work:

Judicial Arms’ Length Bodies – Ensure effective sponsorship and oversight of the Judicial Appointments Commission and the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman. Ensure that their team supports the Deputy Directors in their role as sponsor of the Judicial Office.

Judicial Resourcing and Capacity – Plans to deliver a judicial workforce that supports wider court and tribunal reform and demand, working across the department and beyond to build in the impacts of emerging policy and developments for judicial resourcing plans. We work closely with judicial office, HMCTS and the Judicial Appointments Commission, to develop and iterate the annual and rolling three-year plans for future judicial recruitment. We collaborate across MoJ to develop policy or legislative options to increase capacity beyond recruitment.

Judicial Appointments Policy – We are responsible for providing advice to the Lord Chancellor for senior judicial appointments including the United Kingdom Supreme Court, and the authorisation of advice from Judicial Office to the Lord Chancellor relating to other judicial appointments and authorisations. We provide oversight to the team for developing the Lord Chancellor’s policies and delegated decisions that relate to judicial recruitment, retention and appointment.

G7 Head of ALB Sponsorship - the role

We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated individual to be the head of the ALB Sponsorship for the three ALBs which the team are responsible for; namely Judicial Office, the Judicial Appointments Commission and the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman. There will also be the opportunity to lead on cross-cutting projects across the Judicial Resourcing teams.

The role-holder will need to lead on managing relationships between MoJ and the ALBs including through ownership of the sponsorship frameworks. In particular, the review of the JAC’s framework will be an early project for the role-holder.

The role-holder should also help the ALBs to ensure that they have a useful forward look of upcoming issues, including a robust staffing plan, financial plans, and that corporate responsibilities are adequately set out. They will also cover wider governance arrangements, for example, leading the quarterly review meetings for each ALB, and overseeing annual report clearance, senior engagement and the Chair and Ombudsman appraisal processes.

The role-holder will then support ALBs to provide accountable, efficient and effective delivery and build constructive relationships with them, which allows for sufficient assurance and proportionate oversight.

The role will involve line management of a small team (exact make-up TBC). The work can be fast-paced and would suit someone who is comfortable being able to get up to speed on new issues quickly, driving progress themselves and comfortably balancing oversight of a number of different issues across each ALB. There will also be the opportunity to have ownership of FOIs across the team.

This role comes with a high degree of autonomy, and the post holder will need to be able to set direction, build strong relationships with senior officials in the ALBs.

The role will also involve delivering a variety of projects across the ALBs and developing and maintaining a strategic work programme, ensuring the team and the ALBs are operating effectively. As part of the divisional SMT, you will champion a positive team culture and wellbeing, role-modelling civil service values and be expected to make a positive contribution to the wider Directorate.

Skills and Experience

The role will suit an individual who is able to motivate and lead a team, is confident working with a variety of senior stakeholders, including ministers and chief executives of the ALBs.

Essential

Strong track record of team leadership, managing and leading in a flexible manner to get the best out of the team, ensuring effective, timely delivery.

Ability to set or support strategic direction in a fast-paced and complex policy environment across a wide range of stakeholders and organisations, both internal and external, including proven ability to manage upwards.

Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise effectively, and drive work forward autonomously.

Confident policy professional – experienced in using an appropriate evidence base, including data, to inform policy development and delivery, and with a strong attention to detail.

Excellent written and oral communication skills – ability to draft and present to a high standard.

Desirable

Ability to work independently in an ambiguous environment.

Knowledge of the court system and the judiciary.

Experience of working with finance business partners.

Additional Information

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.

The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your CV, statement of suitability and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Experience

You will be asked to provide a CV during the application process in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 500 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

Behaviours

During the application process you will be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviour – Managing a Quality Service

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK

Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

At interview you will be assessed against the behaviours listed above where you will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated them. In addition, you will also be asked strength-based questions.

Behaviours:

The following Behaviours will be tested at interview:

Managing a Quality Service

Delivering at pace

Leadership

Making effective decisions

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:

WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve?Or

STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take?  What were the Results of your actions?

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK

Strengths:

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this. Further information on Civil Service Strengths can be found via this link Success Profiles: Strengths - GOV.UK

Interviews are expected to take place in late November 2026.

Contact information

Please do get in touch with Kieran McNulty ([email protected]) if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team.