Head of the Legal Delivery Division

Location options: London, Bristol, Leeds and Manchester. Travel to London at least weekly if based outside as the majority of the current Legal Operations Directorate are based in London (although recruitment outside London continues to diversify the spread of the Legal Operations Directorate and the COO Group as a whole)., About the Government Legal Department From energy to security, health to human rights, we help the Government deliver life changing law for citizens. The Government Legal Department is the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters that are frequently scrutinised in Parliament and the media. Our work includes: + Developing and drafting legislation + Providing legal advice on policies + Securing our economic and trade relationships + Ensuring value from commercial contracts worth billions of pounds + Providing the Civil Service’s employment law advice We are at the heart of delivering the Government’s priorities and our success depends on our people. GLD is a non-ministerial government department, sponsored by the Attorney General. We are headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary and employ nearly 3000 people, including over 2000 legal professionals. Our offices include London, Leeds, Bristol, Croydon and Manchester as well as overseas. We provide specialist legal services including Litigation, Employment and Commercial Law as well as advising most Government Departments on the policies and services they deliver. GLD also depends on a range of vital corporate services. These are essential to the smooth and efficient running of the Department and provide the foundation to enable GLD to deliver outstanding legal services. Our corporate functions include Strategy, HR, Finance, Digital, Data and Technology, Communications, Security, Commercial and Project delivery. Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work where everyone can thrive and fulfil their potential. This is an exciting time for GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service. To find out more about what we do visit the Government Legal Department’s webpage or have a look at this short film which showcases the breadth of work government lawyers and legal trainees are involved in., About the Chief Operating Officer’s Group The DG, Chief Operating Officer is one of four Director Generals (DG) in GLD and leads the Chief Operating Officer Group (COO Group). The COO Group is pivotal for GLD to achieve the next stage in its ambition to deliver legal excellence across Government at greater value and efficiency to the Departments and Ministers it supports. The establishment of the Director General led COO Group earlier in 2024 represents the GLD’s continued commitment and investment in the importance of corporate and operational services to the success of GLD: to the Department’s ability to fulfil its purpose and achieve its vision of being both an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work. The creation of the COO Group is underpinned by a commitment to ensuring that GLD is using the most modern corporate and operational service approaches from the Civil Service and wider legal sector to maximise their impact and value for GLD, and ultimately the departmental clients it supports. As such the very essence of the COO Group is a commitment to continuous improvement and evolution; thinking differently about how we can integrate and automate the delivery of our services, providing the best user experience for lawyers whilst ensuring the best career offer for corporate colleagues. The Group comprises three directorates: + Finance, Operations and Digital + Strategy, People and Culture, and + Legal Operations – within which the new Legal Delivery Division will sit About the Legal Operations Directorate COO Group and Legal Operations Directorate As part of the new COO Group, we are developing a new Legal Operations Directorate, which is an exciting development for GLD. The Directorate will complement the two existing Directorates already established in the COO Group: Finance, Operations and Digital (FOD); and Strategy, People and Culture (SPC), and will better align a number of dispersed capabilities and services from across GLD. The Legal Operations Directorate will bring complimentary roles and capabilities closer together to collaborate and identify ways to become ever more efficient in the support provided to legal teams. Creation of Legal Delivery Division The next step on that collaboration and alignment journey is the creation of a new Legal Delivery Division within the Legal Operations Directorate. Head of the Legal Delivery Division is a new role and so there is still much opportunity for the successful candidate to help shape and further refine what the new Division will look like and how it will operate. The Head of the Legal Delivery Division will report into the Director of Legal Operations, and be an important member of the Legal Operations Senior Management Team, working collaboratively and supportively with other Heads of Divisions and the Legal Operations Director to drive the overall success of the Directorate The Head of the Legal Delivery Division will also be integral in the collective senior leadership of the COO Group as a whole, bringing their technical and leadership skills to help drive the success of the COO Group as a collective. Immediate Priorities Immediate priorities for the Legal Delivery Division will include: + Focusing on completing the design work of the Division and implementing this. + Developing our thinking on capability alignment within the Division. + Identifying ways that data can drive all aspects of the Division’s operation, and + Identifying ways performance reporting can be improved and enhanced. The Legal Delivery Division Head will have 4 - 6 Grade 6 Team leaders as direct reports and a possible total staffing of 50+ FTE

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• following completion of further design work.
Role purpose The Head of the Legal Delivery Division will help design, then lead and ensure effective operation of the Legal Delivery Division in delivering the GLD 24-27 Strategy, through building significantly enhanced and improved capabilities to support the successful operation of the Government Legal Department. They will ensure the Legal Delivery Division meets the needs of GLD in terms of timely, proportionate and value for money legal support services. The post holder will be expected to lead through others for day-to-day delivery, but provide personal input on more strategic, novel or contentious issues across the broad portfolio. There is a significant programme of wider transformation taking place across GLD, and work to enhance our legal capability sits alongside a much broader corporate services change portfolio, which includes Cloud migration, a planned move to shared services, the cultural and operational change from being a London-centric organisation to a national one, implementation of capability-based pay for our delegated lawyers, as well as an overhaul of the way in which we charge our client departments for our services. In short, there is significant transformation across all corporate areas, alongside a new GLD Strategy and the Head of Legal Delivery Division will play a key role alongside peers in the COO Group and wider GLD in securing the anticipated benefits of transformation. We’re looking for an experienced, self-starting and dynamic leader to shape and deliver the new Legal Delivery Division at GLD. As the Head of the Legal Delivery Division, you will play a pivotal role in defining the structure, processes, and operations of this new Division, aimed at further enhancing GLD’s corporate capabilities and thereby helping front-line lawyers to deliver the quality service GLD provides. This is an exceptional opportunity to build and lead a complex service that is central to the future success of GLD. Your leadership will be key in creating a modern and efficient support infrastructure that boosts lawyer efficiency, frees up capacity, and helps make GLD a brilliant place to work and fit for the future. You will collaborate closely with colleagues at all levels of GLD, aligning corporate functions, professionalizing services, and opening up exciting career development opportunities for our corporate colleagues. Key elements for consideration in designing the new Division include: + Optimising external legal support by leveraging relationships with private sector legal firms to enhance service delivery and cost-effectiveness. + Support GLD lawyers with compliance and quality assurance, helping enable legal teams to continually improve the quality of their services. + Help drive the development of future-proof systems and processes, freeing legal teams to focus on delivering their legal work. + Leaning in on legal projects, providing support as required in enabling delivery. + Facilitate the smooth, flexible allocation of resources to meet localized business needs, supporting efficiency across GLD. + Utilise data and metrics to inform strategies, improve business performance and plan for future service provision. + Help set and drive the agenda around GLD’s use of innovative legal tech and systems, helping deliver an environment fit for the future. Importantly you’ll be instrumental in fostering the growth and development of staff within the new Division, ensuring they are empowered to take on new challenges, grow their expertise, and advance their careers. By cultivating a supportive and collaborative environment, you’ll help build a high-performing, diverse Division that is ready to support GLD in achieving its strategic goals. This is a career-defining role for a creative, forward-thinking, organized leader eager to make a lasting impact. If you’re passionate about shaping the future of GLD, and developing a highly capable, motivated support Division, we want to hear from you., We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: + Seeing the Big Picture + Changing and Improving + Making Effective Decisions + Leadership, + A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. The CV will be used to assess the selection criteria in person specification on slide 12 as part of an initial sift. Those progressing through this stage will have a second stage sift on their Statement of Suitability as per the below. + A Statement of Suitability (no longer than 1250 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the selection criteria in the person specification on slide 12. Failure to complete all of the above will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification. As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say'. The information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming an inclusive employer and a great place to work. See the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for more information or go to Equality and Diversity Should you encounter any issues with your online application or are unable to apply online please contact marthasia.mboya@governmentlegal.gov.uk In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we reserve the right to pre-sift on CV only. Selection Panels The selection panel for this campaign will be: + Zane Denton, Legal Operations Director + Richard Cornish, Chief Operating Office + Flora Huskisson, Head of Human Resources Shortlist You will receive an acknowledgment of your application through the online process. The panel will then assess your application to select those demonstrating the best fit with the role by considering the evidence you have provided against the criteria set out in the ‘Person Specification’ section. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application. Should we receive a large number of applications, we reserve the right to pre-sift on CV only. We will then sift the statement of suitability to ascertain our final shortlist. Job-Share information If you have identified a job-share partner in advance of submitting an application, it is essential you both apply with individual applications. If you are applying as a job share, they should state clearly in their application if they already have a job share partner and may choose to provide a statement describing how they will work together. If candidates do not have a job share partner and are successful at interview, attempts will be made to match them with one. Assessments If you are shortlisted, you may be asked to take part in a Individual Leadership Assessment. This assessment will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, it is designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview. Full details of the assessment process will be provided to shortlisted candidates at the earliest opportunity. Informal Interview Shortlisted candidates will also have the opportunity to speak to the vacancy holder or another senior stakeholder, prior to the final interview to learn more about the role and the organisation. Please note this is an optional part of the process, not part of the formal assessment process. Interview You will be asked to attend a panel interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence. Behaviours to be assessed in the context of the experience needed to fulfil this role. + Seeing the Bigger Picture + Changing and Improving + Making Effective Decisions + Leadership As part of this interview candidates may be required to deliver a short 5-minute presentation and the title of that presentation will be confirmed in advance. The presentation will be assessed against leadership. We may also use strength-based questions. Interviews are expected to take place in person in London, full details of the interview format will be provided to shortlisted candidates prior to interview. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.Nationality requirements 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)Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

We'll assess you against the essential criteria during selection stage. It is important through your CV and Statement of Suitability that you provide evidence and examples that demonstrate capability and potential against these selection criteria: + Experience of leading, developing or transforming a substantial support function, ideally within a legal setting. + A track record of improving service effectiveness, efficiency and value for money, including the effective management of external services. + The leadership skills to inspire and empower professional staff and support talent development. + A good understanding of legal enterprise software, tools and applications, including around managing external spend. + A good working knowledge of project and programme management. + The ability to manage workloads and resources across a multi-disciplinary team, utilising external resource appropriately. + Proficiency in budget management. + Great communication and relationship building skills, capable of building collaborative partnerships with senior leaders, as well as an ability to influence and engage peers across a large, complex organisation, building trust with all professions. + The ability to gather, understand and utilise data to support a data driven approach + An absolute commitment to diversity, to creating a truly inclusive working environment and to the core Civil Service values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality., + Degree educated or equivalent experience, Qualifications – Minimum Eligibility Criteria Degree educated or equivalent experience

Alongside your salary of £76,000, Government Legal Department contributes £22,017 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. + Learning and development tailored to your role + An environment with flexible working options + A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity + A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%