About the job

Job summary

This role deals with judicial challenges – mainly from previous UK military deployments - and the policy and legislative frameworks applying to them. The current focus is on Northern Ireland, which continues to pose challenges for Defence and its people, including for veterans. One of the priorities for the role will be to equip the team and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to adapt to a changing policy and institutional landscape, with the advent of the new Independent Commission for Information Recovery and Reconciliation. You will also manage legacy work relating to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the servicing of public inquiries that require MOD to provide suitably protected information.

You will jointly lead with Lucy Ahad on all policy and litigation issues relating to historical investigations and lead a unit of some 20, comprising two teams: Northern Ireland legacy policy; and public enquiries and legacy of other overseas operations.

Job description

The current responsibilities of the role include: 

1) Northern Ireland Legacy Policy

• Represent MOD and veterans’ interests in development of Northern Ireland legacy policies, particularly in relation to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act.
• Develop and leverage Across government relationships, provide high quality advice to ministers and ensure their policy position is clearly communicated.
• Prepare for the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery becoming operational. Develop sound processes with the Commission and within MOD to service information requests while protecting MOD equities, putting the right resources and capabilities in place and representing as needed with senior stakeholders.
• Leadership of the two NI Legacy teams (currently split into inquests and criminal investigations/ litigation), to ensure that the Ministry of Defence responds effectively to all ongoing judicial and wider processes. Work with teams across defence to provide efficient disclosure of documents and witnesses and to protect sensitive information. Front up senior meetings as required.
• Oversee strategy for complex civil litigation claims relating to NI. Provide strategic oversight of categories of cases and allegations, ensure defence strategies and work collaboratively with the claims team.

2) Public Inquiries and other historical allegations

• Ensure the MOD responds effectively to live inquiries involving defence, which include the Covid, Salisbury poisonings, Wayne Couzens and Omagh bombing inquiries. Ensure appropriate provision of documentation and witnesses and protection of sensitive material, consulting stakeholders across defence and ensuring appropriate communication.
• Handle the outcome of the remaining caseload of the Iraq Fatalities Inspector and seek to draw a line under remaining historical criminal investigations from Iraq and Afghanistan, including finalising any systemic issues.
• Lead MOD policy thinking on the potential impact of legal developments – principally in the area of human rights and the law of armed conflict, reflecting Ministers’ political direction and the need to safeguard the armed forces’ “licence to operate”.

3) Effective leadership within wider Directorate JudicIal Engagement Policy (DJEP) and MOD

• In addition to leadership of your team, you will contribute to Senior Leadership Team decisions on the direction and running of DJEP. You will be expected to lead one or several workstrands on areas such as diversity and inclusion or learning and development to help make DJEP a great place to work.
• You will also be expected to act as a leader and role model within wider MOD, contributing to leadership discussions and corporate initiatives.

Person specification

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:

• Senior experience of formulating and delivering policy from conception, to achieve concrete outcomes, whilst having a good understanding of the legal context within which business is conducted. 
• A proven track record of strategic thinking, politically-astute judgement, clarity of thought, and confidence in providing strategic legal and political advice.
• An ability to tackle complex policy issues at pace and to tight deadlines against a backdrop of continual change. You will need to demonstrate how you have used your analytical skills in interpreting complex data and understanding how it relates to policy decisions, to reduce ambiguity.
• Excellent leadership skills by demonstrating your ability to create and present a strategic vision or direction, that motivates and empowers others to work towards a common goal and builds team resilience. You will also need to demonstrate how you are able to build and lead high performing, diverse and inclusive teams in a large, matrixed environment.
• Proven experience of senior stakeholder management in a political, pressured environment. You will need to showcase how you can build credible and respected relationships, especially with senior officials, and legal colleagues and influence effectively in order to command trust and confidence
• High level of personal resilience by demonstrating how you can cope and lead in a role with a great amount of external scrutiny.

Benefits

• 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 average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the advertisement listed for this role. This should be completed no later than 23:55 Sunday 18th August 2024 and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:

• A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
• A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role. 

Both documents are weighted equally in their scoring, so it's important to consider this when uploading your application. Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification. 

For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.

Peter Ryan will be offering an online Q&A session on Wednesday 14th August between 13:00 - 13:45 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (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.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

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.