Proud to serve. Proud to keep justice going.

Directorate: Chief Financial Officer, Contracted Services Division

Location: National, at any HMCTS site

About us

The Contracted Services Division (CSD) is a fun, dynamic, fast paced and rewarding place to work where no two days are the same. Staff have great opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills, particularly on operational contract management, service improvement, stakeholder engagement, working with senior officials/ministers as well as working with commercial partners.

The team is responsible for the day-to-day operational contract and supplier management for a range of contracted services that support court and tribunal business; as well as ensuring effective and efficient contract procurement cycles. We act as a primary stakeholder to represent the interests of HMCTS and the judiciary and engage with HMCTS and HM Prisons & Probation Service Reform programmes to understand the impact of reform implementation on contracted services and operations, ensuring all contracts are future proofed to support the changing landscape. We review and continuously improve operational processes to ensure contracts provide a quality of service.

About the role

You’ll provide support to the Senior Contract Manager and Head of Contracted Services in the day-to-day operational management and stakeholder engagement with several contracts in the Contracted Services Division’s portfolio. You may lead a small team of Contract Support Manager.

You will work closely with operational teams, contractors, key stakeholders and the MoJ Commercial and Contract Management Directorate (CCMD), gathering data and insight on contract performance to ensure efficient and effective delivery of services that ensure excellence and value for money.

Your role as Contract Manager encompasses several key aspects (but not limited to):

• Regularly liaise with suppliers on projects and actions to help improve the service provided by the contract to ensure that the public receives the best possible service and ensure the needs of HMCTS are kept at the forefront of any changes implemented in our business or by key justice partners, especially HMPPS.

• Regularly meet with suppliers as required to foster positive relationships and ensure that there is a shared understanding of performance, whilst working across the department to ensure that contractual obligations are being met and that contracted services continue to provide value for money, efficiency, and excellence for HMCTS users.

• Draft for approval by the Senior Contract Manager, high-quality and timely briefings and submissions for HMCTS Senior Management Team (SMT), senior judiciary and press and ministers’ offices.

• Identify and investigate operational issues either encountered or raised by HMCTS staff, key justice partners, the judiciary, users, ministers or senior managers, resolving complaints and issues where possible and escalating the most serious to the Senior Contract Manager.

Person Specifications:

The ideal candidate for this position should demonstrate the following:

Essential skills/expertise

• People management skills to lead and manage a team of experienced contract managers and support teams, in accordance with HMCTS and MoJ people policies, with a clear focus on wellbeing and development and on ensuring diversity and inclusion across the team.

• Communication skills to be able to explain contract service issues clearly and concisely and to provide clear advice and recommendations where needed.

• Stakeholder engagement skills to be able to engage suppliers and stakeholders effectively to understand and/or monitor contract performance.

• Resource and time management skills, especially when dealing with conflicting priorities, stakeholder requirements and timescales.

• Strong MS Office skills, especially Teams, Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

Desirable skills/expertise

• Knowledge of the day-to-day running of operations and /or contract management is highly beneficial, however is not essential.

How to apply

Application Stage

Please submit

• An anonymised CV

• Statement of suitability demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria (up to 500 words)

• Behaviour example illustrating the Civil Service Behaviour “Delivering at Pace" (up to 250 words each).

Please ensure you cover both ‘what’ you do but also ‘how’ you do it. (i.e., the effective skills, knowledge & experience needed to undertake the role)

We will aim to sift the CV, statement of suitability and behaviour but, in the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift may be conducted on the statement of suitability only. Candidates who pass the initial sift of the statement of suitability will either:

• ⁠progress to a full sift where all application assessment criteria is then assessed.

• or progress straight to further interview.

Interview Stage

If successful at sift, you will be invited to attend a remote interview, via Microsoft teams. During your interview, you will be assessed against the following Civil Service Success Profiles which will include:

• Question(s) in relation to the following Civil Service behaviours:

  • Managing a quality service

  • Making effective decisions

  • Changing and improving

• Strengths will also be assessed however these are not shared in advance.

Further details

Working pattern

This is a full-time position only due to the nature of the role.

Travel requirements

There will be a requirement to travel frequently in any HMCTS site in line with business needs.

Based on current ways of working, work location is likely to be a combination of working from home and from the office. 60% of your working week will need to be in the office.

Opportunities for development

HMCTS is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

About our benefits

We reward our people for their hard work and commitment. We have a number of family

friendly and flexible working polices that will help you achieve a healthy work-life balance. In addition, we offer a range of employee benefits which include generous annual leave, a highly competitive contributory pension scheme, childcare benefits, season ticket and bicycle loans.

Proud to Serve. Proud to keep justice going.