Ministry of Justice

Role Purpose

Heads of Operations are senior leadership roles, responsible - as part of the regional leadership team - for overall delivery of operational objectives within a region. The Head of Operations will lead the overall safe and secure delivery of operational priorities and objectives, contributing significantly to the achievement of key national and regional business plan objectives. The Head of Operations will undertake the strategic leadership and oversight of overall operations for one or more jurisdictions/services across multiple locations, ensuring effective, efficient and consistent service delivery and performance and supporting the work of the Regional Delivery Director. The Head of Operations has considerable influence and responsibility over areas of operations and development activity, responsible for co-ordinating large areas of work activity with personal responsibility for service delivery which will have a significant impact on the achievement of key business plan objectives.

The Head of Operations has significant people leadership responsibility, with direct line management of a large team of Courts and Tribunals Managers and indirect leadership of several hundred staff across the region. The Head of Operations will be responsible for ensuring leaders within their teams have the skills to confidently lead, manage and inspire our people to deliver high quality service and effective performance. The Head of Operations will promote inclusive leadership, champion our values and behaviours and foster a culture that values innovation and creativity, ensuring everyone feels valued, supported, challenged and capable.

Key Accountabilities

• Responsible for leading and managing the effective and efficient delivery of jurisdictional/service performance across multiple locations within the region. The Head of Operations will be accountable for the performance and delivery of the service(s) and locations for which they are responsible and have a clear mandate to take steps to sustain/improve performance of those service(s)/locations across the whole region where required
• Overall ownership and responsibility for governance, assurance and risk management within their area(s)/jurisdiction(s) of responsibility. The Head of Operations will balance risk, strategic impact and short and long-term needs when dealing with organisational issues. The Head of Operations is responsible for ensuring systems are in place within their area(s)/jurisdiction(s) of responsibility to identify and manage risk and to ensure remedial action is taken to mitigate such risks, only reporting to the Regional Delivery Director (RDD) and/or internal audit teams where risks are intolerable and/or possible solutions would go beyond current policy or levels of authority. • Embed organisational values and behaviours, ensuring wellbeing, inclusion, diversity and equality is at the forefront of all people activities
• Be visible as a leader, making best use of modern ways of working and be available to managers and staff across the region. Act as representative of the regional senior leadership team in providing visible, collective senior leadership across service/jurisdictional boundaries to staff in all parts of the region
• Provide strong leadership, clear direction and support to operational managers and set benchmarks to manage effective performance standards in line with strategic objectives
• Lead regional talent and succession planning. The Head of Operations is responsible for ensuring that managers are equipped with the right skills to effectively support our people to grow and engage in their own personal and professional development and to effectively manage poor performance
• Assess compliance and performance, identifying the reasons for workload fluctuations and variances to provide a detailed picture of the operation of the service(s) for which the Head of Operations is responsible to support the work of the Regional Service Improvement & Performance Lead (SIP) and the RDD
• Work with the regional senior leadership team to undertake business planning and set and agree strategic direction for all services/jurisdictions present in region and support the RDD in ensuring effective delivery of quality regional operations
• Maintain a strategic focus across the jurisdiction(s)/service(s), realigning priorities where necessary and assigning responsibility for action against plans to meet the strategic direction agreed
• Work collaboratively with the SIP to highlight opportunities to make efficiencies and potential improvements within services/jurisdictions to feed into national service/performance improvement and maintain consistency of service provision across HMCTS. Provide operational knowledge and insight (via the SIP) into national project streams
• Plan for and implement strategy and lead change within the jurisdiction(s), supported by the SIP.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Head of Operations will have:

• Excellent leadership and relationship management skills with proven ability and experience of delivering through others, leading and managing operational teams in accordance with appropriate management practices policy and strategy
• A breadth and depth of knowledge and experience of operational/service management and experience of supporting stakeholders/partners. They will develop a specialist service knowledge and expertise to enable them to execute significant representational and external facing responsibility on behalf of the organisation. The Head of Operations will engage effectively with regional/internal stakeholders, the legal community and external stakeholders in managing interactions with the wider community and the media
• The ability to anticipate and identify strategic organisational issues and analyse and interpret statistical information gathered to assess performance. The Head of Operations will be expected to take responsibility for the resolution of a range of complex problems, escalating only those which are outside of current policy area or level of authority
• Excellent communication and customer service skills, understanding the needs of our end users reflecting the diverse needs of our customer base from professional justice partners to vulnerable victims and witnesses
• Influencing skills - to be able to deliver through others, collaborating and negotiating to deliver excellent levels of service within the jurisdiction(s)
• A demonstrable track record of strategic planning and delivering significant change.

Problem Solving and Decision Making

The Head of Operations will:

• Work effectively in a highly complex customer and stakeholder environment within jurisdiction(s), building effective relationships and managing the expectations and concerns of a variety of senior stakeholders, with complex and often competing needs
• Be responsible for leading the resolution of complex strategic problems within the jurisdiction(s), for which there may not be existing guidance or procedures and which may involve several organisational dependencies. The Head of Operations will be expected to take responsibility for the resolution of a range of complex problems, escalating to the Regional Delivery Director only those which are outside of current policy area or level of authority
• Need to confidently and regularly make decisions which drive or change business and jurisdictional strategy. There will be a requirement to prioritise resources within their area(s)/jurisdiction(s) of responsibility to maximise efficiency of the operation and effectively manage risk. This will include urgent problem solving where immediate high-level decisions are required e.g. when business continuity plans need to be implemented as well as balancing risk and the strategic impact of short and longer term needs in the jurisdiction
• Be expected to assess locational/jurisdictional performance to anticipate strategic organisational issues. They will analyse and interpret complex and possibly conflicting evidence and data to make sound judgment on the most appropriate solutions that take into account the views of important stakeholders.
• Make use of specialist service knowledge, expertise and insight to inform effective decision making.

Management of Resources

Heads of Operations will:

• Have significant people leadership responsibility across the region, and role model engaging and effective leadership behaviours that reflect our MoJ Shared Values, sharing the 'big picture' to help people understand their roles in contributing to the success of HMCTS
• Directly lead, coach and support a large team of Courts and Tribunals Managers and have indirect leadership responsibility for the people who work to those Courts and Tribunals Managers
• Create a culture that reflects our values and supports innovation, creativity and appropriate risk taking, bringing our people together, managing and encouraging inter- relationships across jurisdictional and geographical boundaries
• Bring insight and understanding of regional jurisdictional performance to the development of strategy and vision for the region and be responsible for implementing regional and corporate strategies
• Make best use of resources to achieve business objectives, overseeing the management and deployment of resources within their area(s)/jurisdiction(s) of responsibility including staff, hearing/court rooms, judicial resources and sitting days, contributing to effective financial management at a national and local leve
• Work with Heads of Legal Operations (HOLO) and Senior Legal Managers to agree and set service level targets and analyse performance
• Liaise with the SIP and HOLO (as appropriate) to forecast and prioritise and maximise efficient use of sitting day resource allocation for their area(s)/jurisdiction(s) of responsibility and to liaise, manage and report on risks and implementation of change
• Be responsible for regional attainment of national jurisdictional performance goals and customer satisfaction across the region, balancing delivery of these against the delegated budget and resources.

Autonomy

Heads of Operations will:

• Have considerable freedom to set aims and objectives for the work in their area working within strategic and wider operational plans and will be accountable for the performance of their jurisdiction(s)
• Have full responsibility for the management and allocation of resources within their area(s)/jurisdiction(s) of responsibility
• Operate independently in making decisions that drive forward service delivery and/or performance improvement within their jurisdiction(s), the Head of Operations will seek guidance only where possible solutions would go beyond current policy or levels of authority.

Key Relationships and Contacts

Heads of Operations will:

• Be a visible senior leader, and build relationships with staff at all levels, advocate change and communicate the vision for their service(s) across the region so that our people understand our strategic objectives and how the work they do contributes towards them
• Establish, build and maintain effective relationships with key internal and external stakeholders within the jurisdiction(s) to influence, negotiate and deliver strategic outcomes which impact service delivery. As the expert voice for their jurisdiction across the region, the Head of Operations will regularly discuss operational service and performance issues with the Regional senior leadership team and HQ corporate functions including their business partners to shape organisational context and convince others to follow a course of action to drive service delivery
• Establish, build and maintain effective relationships with the HOLO/Senior Legal Managers and Leadership Judiciary for their area(s)/jurisdiction(s) of responsibility. This could include Resident Judges, Designated Family and/or Civil Judges, Regional Tribunal Judges, Magistrates Bench Chairs etc to work together to strategically manage workload and resolve issues including sitting day allocation management and other judicial related issues
• Lead on discussions with relevant external justice partner stakeholders, including but not restricted to; Criminal Justice Agencies, Police, Witness Service, CAFCASS etc, to work jointly to implement national strategies, problem solve and drive forward improvements
• Hold external suppliers to account and to ensure that contract standards are met, challenge performance issues and escalate to Contracted Services Division any major issues
• Contact national media agencies in connection with high profile cases to minimise and manage risk to organisational reputation and maximise public confidence in the justice system
• Promote cross-government working and relationships with other government agencies including Home Office, HMPPS, DWP etc, at a strategic level. Liaise with Regional Trade Union to discuss regional issues as part of the regional senior leadership team.