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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

About the JAC

The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is an independent public body, established in 2006, to select judges in the courts and tribunals, and non-legal tribunal members. The JAC is responsible for designing, planning and running recruitment campaigns to select judicial office holders up to and including the High Court.

We have a statutory duty to select solely on merit, while keeping our selection processes open to the widest range of applicants. This means continually evaluating and improving our processes to ensure they are fair and open, and that they are identifying the very best candidates for judicial office.

The work is high-profile, varied and challenging. We launch a new campaign for judicial posts every 1 to 2 weeks. These range from high-volume campaigns at entry level, attracting upward of 2,000 applicants, to small campaigns for the most senior judicial roles, attracting a handful of highly-qualified people. In a fast-paced environment, you will oversee our operational delivery managers to design and plan these campaigns, manage risks and ensure effective delivery. You can find out more information from our website judicialappointments.gov.uk

The Role

We are now looking for a Senior Programme Manager. This role is suitable for an experienced programme manager, applicants should have at least two years’ experience of programme work in either the public or private sector.

Candidates previously successful in applying for these roles have had considerable experience in the delivery of a programme of multiple projects (either within the civil service, in the wider public sector such as schools’ administration, or in the private sector such as large retail store management etc). You will be familiar with financial and human resource forecasting, using data analysis to project future delivery constraints, timeline design and monitoring a programme of projects to ensure complex, deadline-driven delivery on time and to budget.

Main responsibilities

Your primary responsibility will be monitoring and controlling a large programme of 30-40 selection exercise projects each year. These projects deliver judicial appointments in courts and/or tribunals, including high profile roles such as Deputy High Court Judge, Circuit Judge and District Judge etc. You will also challenge existing processes (in a continuous improvement culture) to improve efficiency, capturing and analysing data and making recommendations to Senior Leaders for the programme of future selection exercise projects.

You will:

• Support the Head of Digital Delivery and Programme Office; allocating exercises to selection exercise teams; providing advice and assistance to colleagues and delivery partners; ensuring budgets are devised for all selection exercises; maintaining oversight of reserve lists created and collating statistics for the annual report and other reports as required.
• Develop a future programme of selection exercises that best reflects the business needs of HMCTS and the judiciary, taking into account the resources available to the JAC and its delivery partners to ensure feasibility of successful delivery. Liaise with HMCTS concerning new, emerging and/or changing priorities and consider potential impact of change.
• Manage our programme office and lead a small team (2 staff) to deliver programme forecasting and control, which includes effective risk mitigation, quality assurance, and a high standard of stakeholder handling and budgetary control;
• Develop and manage effective working relationships with a range of project managers within the JAC and our business partners in the courts and judiciary;
• Act as a leader across the Operations Team, working proactively with colleagues to problem-solve issues, developing a strategic awareness of the organisation’s priorities and how that feeds into operational work, and identifying opportunities for improvement to delivery.

For enquiries about the roles please contact matthew.howley@judicialappointments.gov.uk who will book a 121 chat via Microsoft Teams or another video conferencing app.

Behaviours

You will need to demonstrate the following behaviours for this role:

• Delivering at Pace
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing

In addition to these behaviours, your experience will be assessed at the application and interview stages.

You should have experience in the following areas; this list is not exhaustive:

• Good relationship management of stakeholders at senior levels (equivalent to Director and above within the civil service, Chief Executive and Board Chair in other sectors).
• Excellent attention to detail in planning, programming and monitoring of projects.
• A good understanding of how programme management, operational delivery, quality assurance, governance and policy are co-dependent functions in a delivery organisation.
• The ability to quickly research and assimilate information to provide advice to colleagues is critical.  

Part Time or Job Share option

This role is demanding, we would consider a part time or job share application that ensured business needs were met (at least 30 hours per week).

Remote working

Currently all our staff are working remotely from home.

Once government restrictions due to Covid-19 end, the role will involve either being based in London with regular working from home, or some travel to London if you do not live within commuting distance of our office in Westminster. If you require further information on this, please contact matthew.howley@judicialappointments.gov.uk

Application process

You need to provide:

• Your CV
• A statement of suitability detailing the relevant skills and experience you have (500 words max).
• Written evidence of the 3 core behaviours for this role (Delivering at Pace, Changing and Improving, Communicating and Influencing).

The closing date is midnight on Friday 11th December 2020.

If you have any queries about this role, please contact:

matthew.howley@judicialappointments.gov.uk

Sift

Applications will be sifted based on the CV and only one behaviour, Communicating and Influencing.

Interview

Interviews will take place in early January. Interviews will be via MSTeams or another video conferencing app.

At interview you will be asked about three behaviours (Delivering at Pace, Changing and Improving, Leading and Communicating), your CV and statement of suitability, and three strengths: Resilient, Adaptable, Responsible. You can find out more about strengths here.

Applicants invited for interview will be expected to undertake an assessment on the day of the interview. This will involve a written assessment that you will also be asked to summarise orally to the panel. More details will be provided if you are invited to interview. As well as appointing one candidate we may place other candidates on a 12-month reserve list for future vacancies.