Transformation Office Lead (up to 4 roles)

Grade 7

The Service, Strategy and Transformation Directorate is recruiting permanently for a Grade 7 Transformation Office Lead. This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

• 102 Petty France, London

• National

We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your chosen base location.

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

• Full-time, part-time or the option to job share

• Flexible working patterns

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Salary

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.  

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

This role sits within the Service Strategy & Transformation (SS&T) Directorate, within the Service Transformation Group (STG). STG is responsible for leading the transformation of the services the MoJ and its agencies deliver to the public. Its mission is twofold: to provide the best justice services in the world, powered by the happiest team in government. The SS&T Directorate within STG is responsible for:

• Service Transformation Strategy: Working across Service Transformation Group, to understand and drive collaboration on current transformation and digital plans; bringing together all areas of STG to collectively create a clear and compelling strategy for delivery over the next 3-5 years; baselining and supporting performance and prioritisation across STG.

• Transformation Office: Managing the transformation portfolio, including through the Transformation Committee (Director General level); analysing portfolio performance; building transformation programme capabilities; identifying cross-cutting opportunities and issues that block progress towards user outcomes; and recommending rebalancing efforts where needed.

• Transformation Delivery: Providing end-to-end service transformation delivery support to embed best practice approaches; identifying, encouraging and delivering new ways of working; acting as a critical friend to delivery partners and collaborating with a wider range of stakeholders to improve user outcomes.

• Innovation Engine: Accelerating systems-wide transformation through high-value investments in digital development and product innovation; piloting initiatives to test new ways of working in cross-functional teams to unlock value through innovation and create cutting-edge solutions to challenges in the justice system.

Transformation Office Lead - the role

The Grade 7 Transformation Office Lead will sit in the Transformation Office and be part of a team responsible for the successful management of the MoJ-wide transformation portfolio. The Transformation Office acts as the “air traffic controller" between transformation programme performance towards user outcomes, decisions required from Director Generals in the Transformation Committee, and the Transformation Delivery and Innovation Engine teams in SS&T. The role will involve responsibilities ranging from problem-solving to triage issues raised by programme SROs, framing the problem statement and recommendations to Director Generals at the Transformation Committee, acting as a change agent to drive delivery actions to unblock cross-cutting issues, recommending rebalancing efforts across the portfolio where needed, analysing portfolio performance and building transformation programme capabilities.

You will regularly be providing expert support and advice to the Transformation Director, transformation programme SROs, Director Generals across MoJ, the STG Executive team and colleagues across the department on matters relating to transformation. The post holder will be part of a team that leads during periods of uncertainty, change and tremendous opportunity, and will act as a champion of solutions that embed and scale transformation excellence across the department. The post holder will embrace cross-functional, collaborative ways of working, while modelling MoJ transformation behaviours.

The role requires strategic problem-solving acumen, experience acting as a change agent, experience of performance tracking, excellent communication and engagement skills, and strong line management. Understanding of agile governance, delivery models and ways of working is an asset.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic problem-solving: Be a self-starter who can oversee the transformation portfolio and programmes by driving problem-solving to triage issues raised by programme SROs across MoJ, frame problems and recommendations to Director Generals and facilitate data-driven, effective oversight at Transformation Committee.

• Acting as a change agent: Be part of a strong team responsible for ensuring delivery of user outcomes set out in the Transformation Plan for MoJ by coordinating direction from Director Generals, dependencies between transformation programmes, and delivery support from the Transformation Delivery and Innovation Engine teams.

• Performance tracking: Adopt a data-driven and evidence-based approach to track KPIs and OKRs to assess programme performance, combined with an ability to zoom out and ensure progress is being made on MoJ-wide transformation priorities.

• Excellent communication and engagement skills: Communicate strategic recommendations clearly, with experience drafting high-impact, accurate and concise problem statements for the most senior levels of government. Convene and lead meetings across MoJ and its agencies. Build and maintain effective networks across MoJ and its agencies.

• Strong line management and team development: Onboard, support and develop Transformation Advisors, providing leadership and coaching within SS&T.

Skills and Experience

The work of this team is highly dynamic and requires a proactive approach. The successful candidate must demonstrate:

• Exceptional flexibility and agility, with the ability to respond to new and changing strategic priorities.

• This includes the ability to create clarity in ambiguity by working iteratively on proposals and solutions, often employing an agile approach.

• We require strategic problem-solving skills to perform effectively in a complex environment.

• A proven capacity for influencing and delivering through others to ensure we achieve our strategic objectives.

Essential:

• Problem-solving: Able to break down complex, ambiguous problems into smaller, manageable components. Proficient in gathering, analysing and interpreting both quantitative and qualitative data. Able to see the big picture and connect programmatic issues with the overarching Transformation Plan for MoJ.

• Change management: Experience managing and overseeing senior-level governance and central programme management functions. A track record of prioritising issues impacting delivery, developing recommendations and escalating to seniors.

• Performance tracking: Experience employing data-driven and evidence-based approaches to tracking KPIs and OKRs. A proven ability to zoom out and ensure programmes are progressing MoJ-wide transformation priorities.

• Communication and engagement: Experience communicating strategic recommendations, leading meetings and engaging across MoJ and/or government. A track record of drafting high-impact, accurate and concise problem statements for the most senior levels of government.

• Line management: Experience with line management responsibilities and building highly motivated teams. Skilled at setting direction, empowering teams, and fostering a culture of accountability, learning and continuous improvement.

• Commitment to public service reform: A strong belief that the Civil Service must transform how it designs and delivers services, with ideas and experience that demonstrate how change can be delivered at pace and at scale.

Desirable

• Agile transformation: Understanding of transformation, agile governance, delivery models and ways of working. Comfortable applying these approaches pragmatically in complex public service or mission-driven environments and iterating the model in response to learning.

• Justice system knowledge or domain depth: Experience working within, or in close partnership with, parts of the justice system with a strong understanding of the operational, policy and user context. 

Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.

The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your CV, statement of suitability and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Experience

You will be asked to provide a CV during the application listing any experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role. This will not be assessed.

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 750 words stating how you meet the following criteria:

• Problem-solving: Able to break down complex, ambiguous problems into smaller, manageable components. Proficient in gathering, analysing and interpreting both quantitative and qualitative data. Able to see the big picture and connect programmatic issues with the overarching Transformation Plan for MoJ.

• Change management: Experience managing and overseeing senior-level governance and central programme management functions. A track record of prioritising issues impacting delivery, developing recommendations and escalating to seniors.

• Performance tracking: Adopt a data-driven and evidence-based approach to track KPIs and OKRs to assess programme performance, combined with an ability to zoom out and ensure progress is being made on MoJ-wide transformation priorities.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

Candidates who are successful at sift will be invited to interview 1. 

Interview 1 - We will invite candidates to a short (15 minutes) suitability conversation to understand more about your background and motivation at this stage. This will include strengths-based questions to explore what you enjoy, and your motivations relevant to the job role. 

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well. 

You can refer to the CS Strengths dictionary for more details:  Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk) 

Interview 2 - Short-listed candidates will be invited to a 30-minute interview which will cover in depth experience-based questions to explore in detail how you meet the essential experience criteria.

Interviews are expected to take place March 2026