UK Ministry of Defence
Service Justice System and Policing Governance Risk and Assurance Lead
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Job Summary
This vacancy is open to Department of State employees only.
The Conduct, Justice & Legislation Directorate provides strategic leadership, policy direction, and assurance across Defence’s conduct, discipline, policing, complaints, legislation, and casework systems. It is Defence’s core route for service justice and casework reform, sustaining statutory and operationally critical activity while underpinning operational effectiveness and institutional credibility. It brings together policy, assurance, and programme delivery across the Service Justice System, Service and Civilian Complaints, conduct, and discipline frameworks and major legislative reform, the Directorate strengthens accountability and provides end-to-end oversight of how Defence prevents, manages, and responds to misconduct and grievance. Operating in a high-profile and scrutinised environment, the Directorate enables timely, transparent, and consistent handling of conduct and justice issues, reinforces the highest standards of behaviour, and ensures Defence meets its legal, moral, and societal obligations. Through sustained delivery of legislative reform, system transformation, and rigorous oversight, it strengthens Defence’s grip on conduct and justice risk, improves confidence among personnel, Parliament, and the public, and supports a disciplined, accountable, and values-led organisation underpinned by fair and credible justice and conduct systems.
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.
Job Description
The Conduct and Justice Directorate sets direction and provides assurance for Defence’s conduct, discipline, and justice systems, ensuring they are fair, robust, and command confidence. It brings together policy, system oversight, and legislative reform to strengthen accountability, improve case handling, and support delivery of Defence’s legal obligations.
The post holder will lead the development and operation of a Directorate-wide risk and assurance function across Conduct, Justice, and Legislation. Establish and maintain a single view of strategic and delivery risk, design proportionate assurance arrangements, strengthen controls, provide evidence-based reporting, and support senior leaders to make timely, defensible decisions.
The role will operate alongside programme and sponsorship teams to ensure risks, issues, dependencies, recommendations, actions, benefits, and evidence are visible, actively managed, and escalated through the right governance routes. It will provide senior-level advice on the health of the Directorate portfolio and help embed disciplined, proportionate, and auditable delivery controls.
The post holder will be accountable for leading the Directorate risk model and assurance framework, ensuring effective use of risk and control information to support governance, escalation, senior reporting, assurance activity, and continuous improvement.
The post holder will be expected to work flexibly across the Directorate and wider Defence People, providing support to other directorate priorities and emerging business requirements as required to create an agile workforce.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of a Directorate-wide risk model, including risk appetite, ownership, scoring, controls, mitigations, review rhythm, and escalation routes.
- Establish and maintain a proportionate assurance framework aligned to Directorate governance, portfolio priorities, delivery milestones, performance reporting, and senior decision points.
- Provide strategic oversight of risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, opportunities, and controls across the Conduct, Justice, and Legislation portfolio, ensuring timely escalation and resolution.
- Produce decision-ready reporting for senior leaders and governance boards, including consolidated risk reports, assurance summaries, control assessments, and evidence-based recommendations.
- Work with programme, sponsorship, policy, and operational teams to create clear audit trails for decisions, risks, controls, approvals, actions, and delivery evidence.
- Lead assurance activity across high-priority programmes, implementation activity, and emerging business requirements, identifying gaps, weaknesses, duplication, and opportunities for improvement.
- Coordinate risk and assurance inputs for ministerial, parliamentary, senior board, or external scrutiny requirements where required.
- Strengthen portfolio controls, including action tracking, recommendation tracking, benefits evidence, dependency management, and governance reporting.
- Provide leadership and direction to any supporting risk or assurance resource, setting standards for analysis, reporting, escalation, and assurance products.
- Build risk and assurance capability across the Directorate by coaching colleagues, improving templates, embedding consistent standards, and supporting organisational learning.
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Person Specification
Essential Criteria
- Significant experience leading risk, assurance, governance, controls, PMO, programme delivery, or portfolio management activity in a complex organisation.
- Experience developing and operating risk management frameworks, assurance approaches, governance products, and senior-level reporting.
- Experience providing evidence-based advice to senior leaders, including clear analysis of risks, controls, dependencies, options, and recommended action.
- Strong understanding of risk management, assurance, internal controls, delivery governance, dependency management, escalation, and audit trails.
- Experience working with multidisciplinary teams and senior stakeholders to improve delivery grip, reporting quality, and accountability.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to turn complex or sensitive information into clear, balanced, and actionable advice.
- Ability to work at pace, manage ambiguity, and maintain professional judgement in high-profile or scrutinised environments.
Desirable criteria
- Experience in Defence, wider public sector, regulated, statutory, assurance, audit, or high-scrutiny environments.
- Professional project delivery, risk, assurance, audit, or governance qualification, or equivalent experience.
- Experience designing assurance frameworks, portfolio controls, benefits evidence, recommendation trackers, or senior board reporting products.
- Experience coaching teams, embedding standards, and improving risk, assurance, or project delivery maturity.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £61,630, Ministry of Defence contributes £17,854 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
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The post does not offer relocation expenses.
External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.
Selection Process Details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.
Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability 750 Words.
The sift will be based on a CV, Personal Statement of suitability, and the following Civil Service Success Profile Behaviours:
- Leadership
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Should there be a large amount of applicants, a sift will be based on a CV, Personal Statement of suitability, and the lead Behaviour of Leadership only.
At Interview, Candidates Will Be Assessed Against The Following:
- Leadership
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard 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
- 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
- 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
Contact Point for Applicants
Job Contact:
- Name: Julie Grugel
- Email: Julie.Grugel100@mod.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Further information
Please ensure you read the attached candidate information document prior to completing your application. If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from DBS, or believe that DBS has failed to follow the recruitment process in line with the Civil Service Commission principles of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of Fair and Open competition, you can raise a formal complaint by writing to DBS at the following address: Defence Business Services, Scanning Hub, Room 6124, Tomlinson House, Norcross Lane, Blackpool, FY5 3WP. If after raising your complaint with DBS you remain dissatisfied you can complain directly to the Civil Service Commission at the following address: Civil Service commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ Or by email: info@csc.gov.uk.
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