About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

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: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

SEO - Head of Publications Teams, Judicial College

Overview:

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Judicial College to lead our Publications Team through a period of expansion as the profile of the team’s work grows following the transfer of Magistrates training into the College.  The Publications Team is responsible for supporting the production of a range of internal and external publications and training materials for the judiciary, ensuring that products are produced on schedule and are of high quality – an important part of our Strategy for 2021-25 - https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Judicial_College_Strategy_2021-2025_WEB.pdf.

The role would suit a leader with experience in producing and managing publications, continuous improvement and managing a complex stakeholder group.

The Judicial College

Judicial College is part of the JO, an arm’s-length body of the MoJ.  The JO is a unique branch of the Civil Service, independent from Government, dedicated to supporting the judiciary and promoting judicial independence, to maintain confidence in the rule of law. The JO reports to, and is accountable to, the Lady Chief Justice and was set up in 2006 to provide support to her and to the wider judiciary following the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.  In addition, we support, and are accountable to, the Senior President of Tribunals, whose responsibilities extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland.  We support some 22,000 judicial office holders, providing policy, legal and handling advice and operational support.

The principal role of Judicial College is to support the Lady Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals in fulfilling their responsibilities for the arrangements for training the judiciary in an ever-evolving justice system.  Working with the College Board, the Judicial College supports these senior members of the judiciary in setting the direction for training and ensuring the College has the right support in place to provide advice on the design and delivery of training, innovative digital systems to support delivery and that seminars are well organised. Our purpose is to strengthen the rule of law and improve the administration of justice through delivery of essential training for the judiciary in courts and tribunals, as well as a framework of training for magistrates. 

The College is looking to recruit a self-motivated, enthusiastic leader with strong publications experience.  Experience in continuous improvement and managing stakeholder groups to deliver a service will be advantageous.  The Publications team is currently based over two sites – London and Leeds.  The post-holder can be based at either office. 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/judicial-office/

Overview of the role:

Reporting to the G7 team leader, you will be responsible for leading your team in overseeing the governance of College publications, and working with content creators and authors on drafts and manuscripts ahead of production, throughout the production process through to final publication.   You will work with a wide range of stakeholders, including the judiciary, professional experts, communications teams and College staff.  You will work closely with our Digital Training and Content Strategy teams who lead on the preparation, presentation and accessibility of e-learning materials and other online resources for the College’s digital learning. You will also work closely with College colleagues on the publication of an annual training prospectus.  You will help design College communications and provide advice on how best to use publications channels to promote the College’s work and products. 

As Publications Team Manager you will:

• Plan and oversee the Publications Team schedule of work ensuring that resources are in place to deliver against current and future activities.
• Oversee the project management of individual publications, ensuring clear terms of engagement are in place and publications are delivered on-time, reporting to senior management on issues and risks.
• Design and develop new business processes and consistency of approach for servicing the increased demand for publications support and services, leading implementation of change across the team and stakeholder groups and evaluating performance.
• Work with the Strategy, Governance and Change and Content Strategy teams to maintain a clear governance structure for managing College publications.
• Establish working relationships with key stakeholders (judiciary, senior officials, communications team) to identify links to priority areas of work or policies on the horizon that may result in work for your team, or where your team might add value.
• Work with the Judicial Office Communications team and publications experts across the Justice family to share best practice.
• Use excellent writing and editing skills to help authors express their ideas clearly, concisely and creatively, and help design a suitable narrative for their work.
• Help produce diverse communications products to complement major work, e.g., briefs, one-pagers, e-letters, notices.
• Work with College teams/content owners to ensure that College publications are consistently of a professional standard, comply with governance and approvals processes and accessibility guidelines.

If you are pro-active, have first-rate communications, attention to detail and project management skills and enjoy collaborative working, this could be an excellent opportunity to play a central role in a growing team and help deliver on the Judicial College’s key strategic objectives to make sure judges have the right knowledge, to meet the future needs of the magistracy and to provide high quality support for modern judicial training.

Key Skills:

• Drafting, editorial and proofreading.
• Design and production process.
• Strong planning skills (both work and resource) and effectively manage several strands of work simultaneously, delivering on schedule.
• Leadership and team management.
• Change management.
• Stakeholder engagement and relationship management.
• Confident in communicating with a diverse range of internal & external stakeholders at all levels.

Desirable skills:

• Project management.
• Continuous improvement and change management.
• An understanding of the judiciary, and/or the business of courts and tribunals.

Selection criteria:

This vacancy will be managed using the Success Profiles process https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles.   Applications will be sifted based on experience and the following Civil Service Behaviours:

We will assess your application against the following Civil Service Behaviours

• Leadership
• Communicating and influencing
• Working together
• Changing and improving

You will also be asked to provide your CV and a statement of suitability (max 500 words).

For more details of behaviours at this grade (Level 3 – SEO) see

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

At interview we will assessing Civil Service Behaviours and Civil Service Strengths.

Contact:

For more details about this role, please contact Fozia Hussain - Fozia.hussain@judiciary.uk  or Sarah Wallace – sarah.wallace@judiciary.uk .

Working hours

This is a full-time role, but we can consider part-time (minimum 0.8 of full time equivalent) or a job share.  We operate a flexible hybrid working policy, which includes a balance of office-based and remote working.  This post can be based from our London or Leeds office. 

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,868, Ministry of Justice contributes £10,804 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist 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.

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.