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 April 2006, to select judges in the courts and tribunals, and non-legal tribunal members. The JAC selects judicial candidates through fair and open competition, encouraging a wide range of quality candidates to apply for the posts that it advertises.
The JAC is responsible for designing, planning and running recruitment campaigns to select judicial office holders up to and including High Court Judges. We have a statutory duty to select solely on merit, while keeping our selection processes open to the widest range of applicants. We are committed to attracting applicants from as wide a field as possible and work closely with a range of organisations to promote vacancies to eligible candidates. We launch a new campaign for judicial posts every one to two weeks.
These range from high volume campaigns for ‘entry level’ posts, attracting upward of 2,000 applicants, to small campaigns for senior roles, attracting a handful of highly qualified people.
Though located at Clive House, Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ, JAC staff are currently working remotely, at home, unless there are clear business or personal reasons for attending the office. While we expect this may continue for a few more months, it will be necessary for the successful postholders to work at the JAC location regularly once colleagues return to the office.
We offer a range of benefits including an attractive annual leave allowance, flexible working and choice of pension schemes. We actively encourage all staff to undertake learning and development as part of their personal objectives. More is on our website: http://judicialappointments.gov.uk
Role
We are looking for a Senior Stakeholder Engagement and Diversity Manager (SEO) to join the Diversity and Engagement team within the Strategy and Policy division. This is a key role in a vital public body that delivers complex and constitutionally sensitive work at pace. You will support the Commission to select new judges of the highest quality, from a wide range of backgrounds by:
coordinating effective engagement with the full range of JAC stakeholders
working directly with our partner organisations to develop a strong and diverse candidate pool,
ensuring that selection processes are fair and free from bias, and
monitoring and providing insight into the progress of target groups who are currently underrepresented among the judiciary.
Main responsibilities
This role works with colleagues across the Diversity and Engagement (D&E) Team to support the creation of a judiciary that better reflects the society it serves. The role is exciting and varied and the successful candidate will work with senior members of the JAC including the Commission Board members as well as our key external partners and stakeholders in the legal sector. Reporting to the Head of Diversity and Engagement, your responsibilities will include:
Work with communications colleagues and stakeholders to support the development and delivery of a programme of outreach, ensuring that activity is appropriately targeted, effective and attracts a broad range of high-quality candidates
Oversee liaison with external stakeholders to arrange JAC attendance at outreach events, draft content for outreach briefings, prepare materials for use at outreach events and deliver presentations where appropriate
Work with partners in the legal professions and Judicial Office to support a coordinated approach to candidate development programmes and other diversity initiatives, and with JAC colleagues to develop new resources for potential candidates to familiarise themselves with the selection process • Provide secretariat and policy support – including drafting policy papers - to the Judicial Diversity Forum (JDF), chaired by the JAC Chairman Lord Kakkar and attended by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice.
Work, in conjunction with the policy team, to quality assure selection exercise materials for all selection exercises by ensuring that they are fair and accessible to candidates from all backgrounds
Work with the Head of Diversity and Engagement to develop and implement policies and approaches to promote diversity within the judiciary, taking a lead on specific projects. Work with the HR team to promote equality and diversity for JAC staff.
Oversee analysis on the progression of target groups through the selection process, utilising information from outreach, dry runs of test materials, complaints and candidate surveys, where appropriate
Sharing best practice and other information about judicial appointments with stakeholders such as the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) and international jurisdictions, working alongside judicial statisticians
Line Management of one member of staff
Recruitment process details
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the recruitment process:
You should have experience in the following areas.
Experience of engaging and communicating confidently with senior staff, building constructive relationships with a variety of internal and external partners and other stakeholders
Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to target communications to a range of audiences
Strong attention to detail
Working knowledge of equality legislation and a commitment to the JAC’s principles aimed at promoting equality and diversity
Strong IT skills, especially MS Word, MS Teams and Excel and the ability to quickly develop the skills to work with new IT solutions.
Knowledge of the legal sector and the diversity issues affecting the judiciary and legal professions
Experience of stakeholder engagement or diversity policy in a public sector organisation
Experience of diversity monitoring data collection and analysis
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 4 core behaviours for this role (Changing and Improving, Collaborating and Partnering, Communicating and Influencing and Seeing the Bigger Picture)
The closing date is Friday 12th March 2021.
Sift
Applications will be sifted based on the CV and two of the above Behaviours: ‘Collaborating and Partnering’ and ‘Communicating and Influencing’.
Interview
Interviews will take place in the week commencing 22nd March 2021. Interviews will be conducted remotely normally via Microsoft Teams.
At interview you we will assess you against the four behaviours, your CV and statement of suitability. You can find out more about behaviours and strengths.
Applicants invited for interview will be required to undertake a brief work exercise either before or on the day as part of the selection process. More details will be provided if you are invited to interview.
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