Director, Centre of Expertise

Ministry of Justice; Folly Gate; On-site; GBP 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A governmental organization in the UK is seeking a Director for the Centre of Expertise to lead its long-term people agenda. This role involves shaping workforce strategy, driving employee development, and fostering cultural reform within a complex large-scale organization. Candidates should have proven experience in strategic planning and stakeholder engagement. The position offers an annual salary of £100,000 and various benefits including pension contributions and flexible working options.

Benefits

Annual salary of £100,000

Pension scheme contributions

Flexible working options

Inclusive working culture

Annual leave and public holidays

Season Ticket Advance

Qualifications

• Experience in leading future workforce strategy and cultural change.
• Ability to set and drive the people agenda at pace.
• Demonstrated experience in building partnerships across various levels.

Responsibilities

• Drive the MoJ's people agenda for a productive and competitive workforce.
• Advise on talent attraction, development, and retention strategies.
• Develop strategic solutions for workforce needs and efficiency.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Employee development

Cultural reform

Stakeholder engagement

Flexibility

Job description

Role Overview

The Director for Centre of Expertise will be critical in shaping and leading the MoJ's long‑term people agenda, ensuring a modern, skilled, inclusive and resilient workforce fully aligned to ministerial priorities and capable of delivering for the public. It is an exceptional leadership role needing experience in leading future workforce strategy, employee development and cultural reform within a complex large‑scale matrix organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Set, drive and bring coherence to the MoJ's people agenda to support a more productive, capable and competitive MoJ.
• Advise the Director General for People & Capability and the wider Executive Committee on attracting, developing and retaining talent, creating a compelling employee development offer and employee experience, and ensuring MoJ is future‑ready.
• Develop and drive practical strategic solutions that equip MoJ people to manage ambitious future needs with ongoing regard for efficiency savings.
• Build strong partnerships at a senior level across the People & Capability Group, Executive Committee and the whole MoJ landscape, including external stakeholders (Cabinet Office, Trade Unions), to encourage a culture of engagement and co‑creation.
• Demonstrate a flexible approach, role‑model professional behaviours and motivate your teams through change, empowering them to build successful new ways of working with partners.

Additional Responsibilities

• Oversee a performance‑driven strategy function that sets the people agenda at pace, working with other areas of P&C to use future analysis and data to plan and identify talent, capability and resourcing needs across the MoJ, and to manage effective culture change.
• Design and govern a strategic talent approach, succession planning and performance frameworks, ensuring effective pipelines for critical roles and a diverse, inclusive workforce.
• Introduce a core Learning & Development offer aligned to the workforce and organisational priorities, and future skills requirements; set leadership and management capability frameworks for all levels; partner with Civil Service professions to align capability development with departmental needs.
• Establish a compelling Employee Experience and Value Proposition that attracts and retains high‑performing, diverse talent; lead MoJ's approach on inclusion, engagement and well‑being aligned to organisational values; oversee the transformation and simplification of HR policy to enable flexible, modern working.

Nationality Requirements

• 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)
• 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 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

Security

• Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
• Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before appointment; the level of security needed is "security check".
• People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard checks.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme 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.

Benefits

• Annual salary of £100,000
• Ministry of Justice contributes £28,970 towards the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme (28.97% employer contribution)
• Access to learning and development
• Flexible working options to enhance work‑life balance
• Inclusive and diverse working culture
• Annual leave and public holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

Other Information

Assignment duration: 3 years (minimum). This is an expectation, not a contractual change to terms and conditions. It supports career depth and expertise building.

Find out more about how we do this: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

For full details of the Selection Process and Recruitment Timeline, please view the Candidate Information pack. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

To find more about benefits, allowances and general queries, visit: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ