About the job

Job summary

This position is based nationally

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.

Overview of the job    

This is a HQ role, located in geographically dispersed teams across England. The post is based in Custodial Contracts Group (CCG).
The post holder will work as a member of the Systems and Service Improvement Team as part of the wider Governance & Risk Team, helping to ensure that it operates effectively and efficiently; to maintain correct and appropriate relationships with both team colleagues and other stakeholders. As and when required conduct duties on behalf of the team.

The post holder will work to the Head of Systems and Service Improvement. There may be line management responsibilities of up to 10 people (a mix of Contract Assurance Specialists and Systems and Contract Management Assurance Officers).

This is a generic post and the job holder could be deployed to lead any of the discrete subject areas the team covers depending on demand including, but not limited to:

•    Managing our Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) system
•    Managing our contract assurance and group reporting systems
•    Managing our risk management assurance and group reporting
•    Managing benefits realisation for a portfolio of our contracts
•    Managing payment assurance across our suppliers

Any of the post holders may matrix manage one or more of the Contract Assurance Specialists and/or Systems and Contract Management Assurance Officers depending on how demand dictates deployment across the team.

This post is non-operational.

Summary    

The exact subject matter will depend on which area the post holder(s) are deployed to, but all will broadly be responsible for similar outcomes and will cross deploy to provide resilience.

The job holder will be responsible for managing or supporting our Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) system according to the internal control framework which includes user management, system configuration, policy publishing and review, questionnaires and good relationships with the system supplier. Escalate any issues or regular reporting to the Governance and Risk SMT.

The job holder will be responsible for contract management reporting across the group to include portfolio dashboards, gold contract scorecards, risk reporting and other relevant data to provide management information to support effective contract management and to provide assurance that systems are operating effectively.
 
The job holder will manage the relevant internal control frameworks and owning the control checks, including reporting to the Governance and Risk SMT and escalation of any issues.

The job holder will lead process design or process improvement in relation to contract management or ways of working for the group including measures of cost effectiveness and sustainability considerations, including potential for digital solutions.

The job holder will lead elements of the group People Strategy on behalf of the Head of Systems and Service Improvement including engagement, reward, wellbeing and capability working across the group to make sure policy and process is understood and used effectively. Arrange engagement events (for example, listen to improve exercise or lunch and learn sessions) for the group.

Design and build reporting and management information across a range of subject areas, working with contract management teams, stakeholders and the SMT to specify requirements, test outputs and develop products.

The post holder will be required to travel.

Responsibilities, Activities and Duties    

The job holder will be required to carry out one or more of the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

Contract Management Assurance
•    Ensure quality assurance procedures for the contracts work effectively
•    Provide support to relevant contract managers and stakeholders
•    Design and build reporting to the group on the effectiveness of processes (this may cover risk, financial MI or people strategy for example), working with contract management teams and stakeholders to specify requirements
•    Coordinate internal and external audits of contract management and the group response to those audits
•    Own the system management of internal control frameworks and risk management
•    Source data from internal systems (for example, payment assurance data from the finance ERP or risk and issues from any risk systems) and turn this into actionable reporting

Manage system administration for the GRC system
•    Own the system governance policies including acceptable use policy, configuration and change governance
•    Own the internal control framework and provide assurance to the SMT that the GRC system is being used and managed effectively
•    Manage the system administrators and contract assurance specialists
•    Keep oversight of policy publishing and review, questionnaires and risk and action configuration

Portfolio management
•    Manage collation, analysis and reporting of management information for contracts
•    Manage completion of gold contract scorecards including completing any centrally driven management information
•    Keep oversight of the functional mailbox and make sure correspondence is directed correctly or issues are resolved at the right level

Benefits realisation
•    Develop, establish and manage appropriate plans, processes and products to ensure the effective management of benefits for one or more portfolio(s) of contracts
•    Track and monitor progress towards benefits realisation; produce and own a tracking process, update it at key stages and report periodically to the contract management teams and SMTs
 
    •    Ensure continuous improvement in benefits management through effective reviews, lessons learned processes and applying lessons learned in future contract competitions
•    Work with Analytical Services, Commercial and Finance Business Partners to ensure that the methodology used to calculate cashable benefits is fully understood, documented and agreed

Representational and other duties
•    To represent the Systems and Service Improvement Team at relevant meetings or other events, briefing the rest of the team appropriately and ensuring that all action points are either delegated or acted upon
•    Work across the team flexibly to ensure coverage of all priority areas and be involved in resourcing decisions
•    To complete any other duties or tasks as requested by the Head of Systems and Service Improvement
•    To lead by example and demonstrate organisational values and principles

Line or matrix management
•    There may be up to 10 people (a mix of Contract Assurance Specialists and Systems and Contract Management Assurance Officers) and while most will be line managed by one Systems and Service Improvement Manager (for continuity), they will be deployed to subject areas and projects as required so there will be matrix management at times

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £47,907, HM Prison & Probation Service contributes £13,366 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 Ability.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. 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.