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.
More is on our website: http://judicialappointments.gov.uk
The Role
We are looking for a Senior Policy Advisor to join the Selection Policy Team of the JAC. You will be helping to ensure that the JAC fulfils its core statutory duty of selecting judges solely on merit. This is a key role in a vital public body that delivers complex and constitutionally sensitive work at pace.
The Selection Policy team works closely with the JAC’s Commissioners, operational teams, independent panel members and members of the judiciary to ensure the JAC identifies the very best candidates for judicial office. Working within this team, you will be:
- advising on current JAC selection policy and ensuring that it is implemented fairly and effectively in the delivery of selection exercises; and
- developing and improving policy and processes, supporting our key aims of increasing confidence in the quality of selections and becoming a recognised centre of excellence for appointments.
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 this may continue for a few months, it will be necessary for the successful postholder 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.
Main responsibilities of the role will include
- Providing advice, briefing, and guidance for Commissioners, senior staff and operational teams on selection exercise process and policy matters;
- Development, drafting, presentation, and delivery of new policy relating to the JAC selection process and selection tools;
- Ensuring that the JAC’s selection processes are fair and free from bias, working with equality and operational leads and Commissioners to meet the JAC’s statutory duties;
- Maintaining ownership of key delivery materials, templates and guidance relating to selection policy;
- Regularly reviewing and quality assuring the selection exercise process, liaising regularly with selection exercise teams to ensure best practice is understood and followed;
- Managing requests to seek legal advice from the in-house legal team;
- Providing support to the Head of Selection Policy and wider team as required.
Skills & Qualifications
In addition to meeting the required behaviours it is expected that successful applicants will have:
- Ability to engage and communicate confidently with senior staff, Board members, and the ability to build constructive relationships with a variety of internal and external partners and other stakeholders;
- Experience and understanding of working to published procedures, or operational policy, in a public sector environment;
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to target communications to a range of audiences.
Desirable criteria
- Knowledge and understanding of recruitment and selection processes would be advantageous but is not essential.
- Strong IT skills, especially MS Word, MS Teams and Excel and the ability to quickly develop the skills to work with new IT solutions.
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Changing and Improving
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Selection process
Candidates will be shortlisted based on the above behaviours. You will also need to submit a statement of suitability of no more than 1000 words.
The job advert closes at midnight on the 19th October 2020
Interviews
Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 2nd November 2020
Please note applicants who are invited for interviews, which will be conducted remotely, will be required to undertake a brief work exercise either before or on the day as part of the selection process.
If after reading this job description you require any further information about this vacancy, please contact Alex McMurtrie, Head of Selection Policy, on 07966 224631 or email alex.mcmurtrie@judicialappointments.gov.uk.
If you have any questions about the recruitment campaign, please contact the JAC HR Division: ian.thomson@judicialappointments.gov.uk.
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