Head of Parliamentary Scrutiny in Edinburgh

Permanent Head of Parliamentary Scrutiny

Working pattern: This is a full-time post working 35 hours per week.We’re committed to supporting staff to achieve a healthy work-life balance and are happy to talk about flexible working. This is a hybrid role, working from Holyrood, and from home. You’ll be expected to work from Holyrood three to four times per week during term-time (including Tuesdays to Thursdays).

About the Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is responsible for providing the Parliament with the property, staff and services required for the Parliament’s purposes. We place a high value on excellence, and we are continually looking to improve how we can deliver the Parliament's core purpose of representing the people of Scotland by debating issues of national importance, passing legislation and holding the Scottish Government to account. We are a diverse workforce, and our embedded values shape the way we work and treat each other. We have a culture of respect and inclusion, and everyone has the ability to make a difference. For further information about working for the Scottish Parliament, please see our website.

About the role

This is an excellent opportunity to join the Scottish Parliament in a senior role within the Parliamentary Business Directorate. To see where it sits within the organisation, you can view our organisation chart here.

Reporting to the Director of Parliamentary Business, you’ll lead the Scrutiny Group which comprises the Committee Office (encompassing the clerking teams that support 14 of the Parliament's 16 committees) and the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

You’ll lead on complex procedural, public policy and political handling matters. You’ll be a trusted advisor to the Presiding Officer, Clerk/Chief Executive and Director for Parliamentary Business. You’ll work closely with Members – particularly the Presiding Officer, Conveners Group and Business Managers – to support the delivery of all the services which support an effective scrutiny function.

This is a visible, fast-paced role in the Parliament. You will need to exercise quick judgement, dealing with a highly diverse set of challenges on a daily basis. Alongside this, you’ll prioritise the longer-term interests of the Parliament, finding innovative ways to strengthen ways of working to support impactful parliamentary scrutiny. You will be skilled in workforce planning and change management to ensure our services and systems are fit for the future.

You’ll encourage a culture where your team members are empowered to deliver high-quality work which will enhance the reputation of the Parliament. You will be an experienced organisational leader, confident in making decisions that require you to make judgements about conflicting interests and opinions. You’ll also champion collaborative working with colleagues across the parliamentary service, promoting positive and open communication, as well as our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

We offer a great range of benefitsincluding: 41.5 leave days (including public holidays), flexible working, paid professional subscriptions, family-friendly policies, Season Ticket advance loans, an onsite gym, Health and Wellbeing Schemes including discounted gym membership, a confidential counselling and information service, and the Cycle to Work Scheme.

You’ll also have the opportunity to join the Alpha Civil Service pension scheme, where we’ll offer you an employer contribution of 28.97% of your basic salary.

We are a values-based organisation. Our values are a central part of our working culture and our people management processes. We use these to recruit, manage and develop our staff. For more information on our values and behaviours framework, please visit our values pages in our Employee Handbook.

About you

You’ll have experience of providing high-level advice on the most important issues that the Parliament deals with in relation to its scrutiny functions. Integrity to uphold personal and professional standards will be vital to ensure the impartiality required in this role and forge trusted relationships.

You’ll work collaboratively with colleagues at all levels and externally. A strategic thinker, with outstanding influencing skills, and someone who can instil confidence at senior levels, you’ll appreciate the need for diplomacy, tact and firmness in dealing with live issues.

You’ll provide strategic leadership within the Directorate, anticipating and influencing future priorities.

You’ll have outstanding people management skills and proven experience of motivating and inspiring multi-functional teams, capable of leading colleagues confidently through major organisational change.

You’ll have a proven track record of working inclusively with a diverse range of people and groups, ideally including politicians. As a leader, you’ll have outstanding mentoring and coaching skills and be passionate about contributing to an inclusive and collaborative working culture which values diversity and encourages openness.

For further information about the role please see the attached job descriptionand recruitment pack. You can also contact the Chair of the recruitment panel, Callum.Thomson@parliament.scot

Our commitment to an inclusive workforce

We are a Disability Confident Leader Employer and guarantee to interview any Disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the role. If you have a disability and would like to talk to us about any aspects of this job, please contact us. More details can be found here.

How to apply

Stage 1

Please apply before 12:00 noon, Thursday 29 October 2026.

To find out how to apply and for further information about our recruitment process, please see our recruitment process pages on the website.

Please note that only your statement will be submitted to Hiring Managers, without any personal details.

Following a review of the statements received, a longlist of candidates will be invited to undertake an online written exercise. This is expected to take place the week commencing 9 November.

Stage 2

Hiring managers will shortlist candidates for interview based on their statement and the written exercise.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to participate in an EQi assessment where you’ll be invited to complete a questionnaire online and will have a follow up discussion with an external assessor. This will be approximately 1 – 2 hours and we ask that you are flexible in setting time aside in your diary to do this.

The EQi assessment does not lead to a pass or fail decision; rather, it is intended to highlight areas for further discussion at interviews.

The EQi questionnaires are scheduled to be issued to candidates the week commencing 16 November.The follow up discussions with the external assessor are scheduled to take place from week commencing 23 November.These dates are subject to change.

Stage 3

At the final stage, you’ll be invited to attend an in-person panel interview and will also be asked to make a presentation. Interviews will be held the week commencing 7 December, although this is subject to change.

Offers will be awarded based on merit. For this role, the following weighting is used to come to a final score on which offers will be based. Application 15%, Written Assessment 15%, Presentation 20%, Interview 50%.

All new starts will be appointed to the first scale point of the grade for their role. For information on progression through the scale points, see our Pay and Reward Policy Statement.

Feedback will only be provided on request to those who attend interview.

If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please email: careers@parliament.scot