Ministry of Justice UK
22550 - Chief of Staff to the CEO
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HM Courts and Tribunals Service
Job Title: Chief of Staff to the CEO
Grade: Grade 6
Directorate: Office of the Chief Executive
Location: London
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full-time
This is a full-time position only due to the nature of the role.
Successful applicants will be expected to attend 102 Petty France, London when the CEO is present in the office.
Introduction
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil, and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our service users and colleagues, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice. We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and want to make a difference in people’s lives in delivering justice. If you’re interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply.
Job Description
The Office of the Chief Executive sits at the heart of HMCTS, working directly with the Chief Executive and across the organisation to help turn her ambitions into action. The Office of the CEO brings together three teams: the Private Office, which provides grip around the CEO and ensures she has the advice and support she needs to lead the organisation effectively; the Executive Engagement Unit, which helps the CEO and Executive Team build strong relationships with HMCTS staff and with our most important partners; and the CEO Priorities Unit, which provides additional drive and focus on the issues and opportunities that matter most to the CEO and the organisation.
As Chief of Staff, you will lead the CEO’s Private Office and be one of her closest advisers. You will have a unique view across HMCTS, working with senior leaders across the organisation and engaging regularly with Ministers, the senior judiciary, and colleagues across the Ministry of Justice. You will help the CEO navigate complex issues, spot where her intervention can make a difference, ensure decisions turn into action, and bring together the right people to get things done.
If you enjoy dynamic, fast-paced roles where no two days are the same, this is a fantastic opportunity. We are looking for someone with excellent judgement, strong instincts, and the confidence to operate with senior people; someone who can move quickly between strategy and detail, bring clarity to complexity, and make things happen. You will need to be comfortable working at pace and with ambiguity, but in return you will have an unusually broad and influential role at the centre of one of the largest operational organisations in government.
In this role you will
Your role as Chief of Staff will encompass several key responsibilities listed below (but not limited to):
- Lead a high-performing Private Office, ensuring the CEO receives high-quality, timely advice, briefing, coordination, and support.
- Act as a trusted adviser and sounding board to the CEO, providing clear advice and exercising judgement on complex, sensitive, and fast-moving issues.
- Maintain grip across the CEO’s agenda, ensuring key decisions, actions, risks, and emerging issues are identified, progressed, and followed through.
- Act as a fixer on behalf of the CEO, coordinating activity across HMCTS and providing advice, support, challenge, and direction to senior colleagues where appropriate.
- Build strong relationships across the Executive Team and with senior leaders across HMCTS and MoJ, using influence to resolve issues and drive progress.
- Support the CEO’s relationships with the Board Chair, Ministers, the Senior Judiciary, the Permanent Secretary, and other senior stakeholders, managing day-to-day interaction and ensuring requests are handled effectively.
- Commission and quality-assure briefings, correspondence, and other material for the CEO, Ministers, and senior stakeholders, often at short notice.
- Represent the CEO’s views and priorities appropriately and, where required, represent the CEO in meetings and discussions.
- Work closely with the Engagement team so that important relationships, commitments, and follow-up are joined up with the CEO’s day-to-day business.
- Work closely with the Priorities team so that the CEO has clear visibility of progress on key priorities, risks, and decisions required.
- Support strong standards across Directors’ offices through the Heads of Office network, sharing good practice and providing guidance where useful.
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Essential skills
- Excellent judgement, with the ability to handle complex and sensitive issues with integrity, professionalism, and discretion.
- Highly proactive, with the ability to spot risks and opportunities, work with minimal direction, and drive issues through to resolution.
- Strong leadership skills and the ability to build, motivate, and develop a high-performing team.
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to absorb complex information quickly and provide clear, concise written and verbal advice.
- Strong relationship-building and influencing skills, with the confidence and credibility to work effectively with senior leaders and stakeholders.
- Ability to prioritise and re-prioritise rapidly, remain calm under pressure, and deliver at pace in a complex environment.
- A collaborative approach, with the ability to work across organisational boundaries and get results through influence rather than formal authority.
Application process:
Stage 1 - Sift:
To apply for this position, you must submit the following as part of your application:
- An anonymised CV, setting out your career history, key responsibilities, and achievements. Your CV will be assessed against the essential criteria outlined within the Essential Skills section of this advert.
- A Statement of Suitability which should give us real-life examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role.
Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift may be conducted on the CV. Candidates who pass the pre-sift will be fully assessed on all the sift criteria.
Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply - Application Guidance
Stage 2 - Interviews:
Successful candidates who passed the sift will be invited to interview in person – with interviews being held at 102 Petty France. At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following - Strengths and Behaviours. Details can be found under the interview stage assessment section on the advert.
For further guidance on the interview process, please click here.
Important information
Level of Clearance
You will be required to obtain SC clearance (unless already held) upon appointment and once you have completed BPSS checks. To meet these requirements, you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least:
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- SC - 5 years
For further information, please click here.
Salary details
New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum.
Existing Civil Servants applying on promotion, will usually be appointed on the salary minimum of the new pay band, or receive an increase of 10 percent on the current base salary, whichever is higher (This is restricted to the pay maximum of the new band).
Travel requirements
There will be a requirement to travel frequently to any HMCTS site in line with business needs.
Fixed Term Appointments (FTA) on Promotion
MoJ employees may apply for FTA opportunities in MoJ that are advertised at a higher grade than their current substantive grade. Where an employee accepts an FTA on promotion, this promotion will be temporary, and the employee will revert to their substantive grade upon return to their home business area, as per the loan policy for OGD loans. Before applying, employees must seek approval from their line managers to ensure they can be released for the duration of the FTA and can return to their substantive role at the end. If there is no role available at the end of the FTA, the employee will be subject to redeployment and potentially redundancy procedures.
Proud to Serve. Proud to keep justice going.
Additional Information
Working Arrangements & Further 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) – See Map. All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity).
For current MoJ employees, your base location will need to be changed to the nearest viable office (to your home postcode), either at a HQ building, JCC or JSO within the National Office Network and moved its location’s respective pay scale (any legacy arrangements/locations will need to be amended).
Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.
MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain their grade on lateral transfer.
All candidates who
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