Deputy Director, Criminal Justice System Strategy and Reform

£86,000 - £117,800

pro rata

The salary for this role is set within the MoJ SCS PB1 range (£86,000 - £117,800 pro rata)

External candidates should expect their salary upon appointment to be £86,000 pro rata per annum.

Existing Civil Servants will be appointed in line with the Civil Service pay rules in place on the date of their appointment.

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Alongside your salary of £86,000, Ministry of Justice contributes £24,914 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This position can be based at any of the following locations: 102 PETTY FRANCE (MOJ) LONDON, SW1H 9AJ, 5 WELLINGTON PLACE, LEEDS, LS1 4AP

The Criminal Justice System Strategy and Reform Directorate provides strategic leadership to make the criminal justice system work better as a whole. It connects partners, develops a shared system view, supports evidence-led prioritisation, surfaces and resolves cross-system issues, and creates the conditions for departments and agencies to deliver reform effectively. We're a relatively new, small team, with two Deputy Director-led divisions.

This is a senior leadership role at the heart of the Government's work to strengthen collective leadership across the criminal justice system.

The role will evolve over time, as we organise ourselves to align with the emerging priorities of the Government, but priorities are likely to include:

• leading the development and implementation of a shared vision, strategy and outcomes for the Criminal Justice System;
• building a whole-system view of performance, demand, capacity, risk and delivery;
• leading cross-CJS preparations for the next Spending Review;
• using data, analysis and operational insight to inform strategic choices;
• supporting devolution and place-based reform from a whole system perspective.

The portfolio will be managed flexibly between the job-share partners, allowing each partner to bring their experience and strengths while ensuring clear, seamless and resilient leadership.

You will be a key member of the Directorate's senior leadership team collectively responsible for its strategy, people, culture, resources and corporate contribution to the Ministry of Justice.

Reporting to the Director, you will be responsible for:

• Providing visible and inclusive leadership across the Directorate, and in particular a team of c15-20 FTE, setting clear priorities and creating the conditions for teams to perform at their best.
• Leading development and delivery of a shared vision, strategy and outcomes for the criminal justice system.
• Bringing together political priorities, evidence, operational insight and longer-term trends to support coherent strategic choices.
• Advising ministers and senior officials on complex cross-system issues, including priorities, dependencies, risks and trade-offs.
• Building trusted relationships with senior leaders across the Ministry of Justice, Home Office, Attorney General's Office, criminal justice agencies, the judiciary, policing and other partners.
• Leading work to develop a CJS horizon scanning and insights function so that the system is better prepared for emerging challenges and opportunities.
• Leading cross system work to prepare for SR27.
• Leading cross-CJS policy development on devolution.

Flexible working, Job share, Part-time

This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Apply before 11:55 pm on Saturday 21st November 2026

489407

SCS Pay Band 1

Permanent

Senior leadership
Strategy

1

London (region), North East England

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: [1] [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Diversity & Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the [2] Civil Service People Plan and the [3] Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
References

Visible links
1. [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity
2. [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-people-plan-2024-2027
3. [4] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy-2022-to-2025

For full details about the Role, Key Responsibilities and Person Specification, please download and review the Candidate Information pack

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

• Name : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : scsrecruitment@justice.gov.uk

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/

https://jobs.justice.gov.uk/careers/JobDetail/24028?entityId=24028

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