21976 - Head of Portfolio, Priority Projects Team in London

The job holder will be responsible for leading a team of approximately ten to twelve people, with line management responsibility for up to four Grade 7s to deliver their portfolio of projects, typically 3-4 projects at any time. We are looking for someone who is highly motivated in leading teams and building capability to deliver high quality justice system outcomes. We are looking for candidates with strong leadership and management skills.

You will be responsible for leading your team to deliver often fast-paced and high-profile workstreams. This will include supporting and enabling the development of your team, including through the job opportunities as well as taking advantage of the learning and development opportunities more widely. You will be the key point of contact for maintaining relationships with project sponsors, usually Deputy Directors, ensuring good communication throughout projects and alignment on scope and deliverables.

You will provide strategic direction and oversight of the projects within your portfolio, ensuring excellence in the quality of work we deliver as well as maintaining a strong focus on the wellbeing and development of everyone in the team. You will need to be able to get to grips with new subject areas quickly, have strong analytical and problem-solving skills and be able to communicate complex ideas clearly. You will need to be confident working independently and comfortable working with ambiguity, leading the delivery of complex and challenging projects across the MoJ’s responsibilities, and coaching others to do the same.

You will be responsible for the initiation, development, and delivery of project-based work within the context of the MoJ strategy and political direction of the department, and within tight resourcing constraints. Across your portfolio, you will likely have a mix of projects where you will provide light-touch oversight to the lead Grade 7, others where you will lead in shaping and delivering the work. You will play a key role in upskilling the team through the delivery of our portfolio.

The team’s work tends to be on high priority and sometimes politically contentious policy and strategic issues, which require careful stakeholder management and the ability to articulate clear advice on complex issues. You will need to develop and maintain effective relationships with a range of stakeholders within and outside of government, including ministers, special advisors, legal, analytical, and operational colleagues.

The role will provide a constantly changing portfolio of work and therefore it offers a lot of variety in the day-to-day, alongside the challenge of balancing competing priorities. You will play a key role in working with stakeholders across the MoJ to shape priorities for the team and allocate resources, maintaining a solid understanding of the wider political environment. There will be opportunities for cross-Whitehall working and interaction with external stakeholders.

This role has significant leadership responsibility in shaping the culture of the team and the work we deliver that leads to continuous improvement, innovation and diversity and inclusion in our policy making. You will be expected to use your knowledge and experience to raise overall capability in the team, contribute to building an inclusive culture, and living our values of purpose, humanity, openness and together.

Skills and Experience

• Leadership: You will be an open and engaging leader, committed to building an inclusive and high-performing culture within the team, setting strategic direction and supporting your direct reports through coaching. You will have a focus on personal development and wellbeing, playing an important leadership and management role across your team, directorate and the MoJ.
• Make effective decisions: You will have strong problem-solving skills, bringing structure to complex issues and able to draw sound conclusions, drawing on a range of evidence and analysis to deliver high-quality, innovative and inclusive advice.
• Working collaboratively: You will have excellent stakeholder engagement skills and the ability to build and maintain strong relationships, and influence across the department and beyond to ensure that the work of your team has maximum impact. You will be open to challenge and able to effectively navigate conflicting priorities.
• Delivering at pace: You will have strong prioritisation skills and the ability to make effective decisions on how to structure projects to make best use of your resources. You will have the ability to impose structure on complex problems, allocate scarce resources in the context of the department’s strategy and political direction, and set-up and lead teams and bring colleagues together to reach your end goal.
• Communicating complex ideas clearly: You will be able to understand and articulate complex issues to senior stakeholders and ministers, drawing on your understanding of the bigger picture to ensure communications are clear, effective, and relevant, and considering political sensitivities.

Additional Information

The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and/or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.

Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.

For nationally advertised roles: All successful candidates will be appointed to the nearest viable office nearest to their home postcode and on its respective pay scale. This will be at either a HQ building (subject to desk allocation), a Justice Collaboration Centre (JCC) or a Justice Satellite Office (JSO).

Flexible working hours: The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full-time working hours are 37 hours per week. MoJ welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.

Benefits

• Annual Leave: Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years’ service. There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
• Pension: The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.
• Training: The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.
• Networks: The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management.

Eligibility: Staff on fixed term appointments must have been recruited through fair and open competition. Vacancies advertised “cross-government” are only open to all Civil Service employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) who were appointed on merit following a fair and open competition; or were appointed to a permanent post through an exception in the Civil Service Commissioners' rules.

Diversity & Inclusion: The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.