Head of Operational Delivery

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is an executive agency of Ministry of Justice. We receive over 40,000 applications a year for compensation, from people who have lost loved ones or have been injured as a result of violent crime. We know financial compensation can never fully redress what they have suffered. Nevertheless, what we do is an important part of providing justice for victims and we take pride that the compensation we pay helps people move forward with their lives.

Some of the material you will access may include upsetting personal accounts of harm inflicted by others. This could include sexual assault and violence against children. We recognise the personal impact this may have and we provide resilience training, to promote wellbeing.

We employ around 350 people and are based in Glasgow city centre, with excellent transport links. We are a small, engaged, productive workforce with a real sense of corporate community. We want to keep improving our services and the way we work to best serve the public, meet new challenges, deliver value for money and ensure CICA is a great place to work.

This position is based at Buchanan Wharf, 10 Clyde Place, Glasgow, G5 8AQ. We currently operate a hybrid working business model, where you will be expected to work 50% of your time in the office and the remainder at home.

The Role

The Head of Operational Delivery is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of CICA’s core operational services, ensuring claims are processed efficiently, fairly, and in line with legislation, MoJ standards, and organisational priorities.

The role provides strategic and operational leadership to multiple operational teams, circa.200 staff driving performance, quality, and continuous improvement while ensuring a strong focus on customer outcomes and staff engagement.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership & Delivery

• Lead and oversee operational teams responsible for the assessment, decision-making, and progression of criminal injuries compensation claims.

• Ensure annual compensation budget is spent as per forecast throughout the year and any risks mitigated and shared with the Director of Operations.

• Ensure delivery against agreed service level agreements (SLAs), KPIs, and performance standards.

• Maintain operational resilience, capacity planning, and workload prioritisation across services.

• Act as the senior operational escalation point for complex, high-risk, or sensitive cases.

Quality, Compliance & Risk

• Ensure operational activity complies with legislation, CICA Scheme rules, MoJ policies, and governance frameworks.

• Work with the Head of Operational Excellence to improve quality assurance frameworks, ensuring consistent and defensible decision-making.

• Identify, manage, and mitigate operational risks, contributing to organisational risk registers and assurance processes.

People Leadership & Capability

• Provide visible, inclusive leadership to senior managers and operational leads.

• Build leadership capability, succession planning, and workforce resilience.

• Foster a culture of accountability, professionalism, and continuous improvement.

Performance & Continuous Improvement

• Use performance data, insight, and customer feedback to drive improvement.

• Sponsor and lead operational change initiatives, working closely with Transformation and Digital teams.

• Champion lean working, efficiency, and evidence-based decision-making.

Stakeholder & Corporate Contribution

• Represent Operations at senior forums.

• Deputise for the Director of Operations as required.

• Work collaboratively with Policy, Legal, Finance, Digital, and Operational Support functions.

• Contribute to wider MoJ and cross-justice initiatives where required.

Essential criteria

• Proven senior operational leadership experience in a high-volume, regulated environment.

• Strong understanding of performance management, quality assurance, and operational risk.

• Experience leading large, multidisciplinary teams through change.

• Excellent decision-making, judgement, and stakeholder management skills.

Desirable criteria

• Experience within justice, tribunals, compensation, or public sector casework environments.

• Knowledge of MoJ governance and assurance frameworks

How to apply

The selection process for this vacancy will utilise Civil Service Success Profiles and will assess your Experience, Behaviours and Strengths.

Stage 1

Applicants should provide a Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a Statement of Suitability of no more than 1000 words, which demonstrates evidence of the essential criteria for this role and of the behaviours listed below.

Stage 2

If successful at Stage 1, you will be invited to interview, which will incorporate a short presentation. You will be notified of the presentation topic in your invitation to interview. At the interview we will assess you against the behaviours listed below:

• Leadership

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Making Effective Decisions

• Managing a Quality Service

At interview you will be asked a number of behaviour and strength-based questions.

Interviews are likely to take place in May at our office at 10 Clyde Place, Buchanan Wharf, Glasgow G5 8AQ.

Following the closing date, this job advertisement will no longer be available to view. You may wish to retain a copy for your records.

A reserve list will be created and will be valid for 12 months. If further vacancies arise for this or similar roles within the organisation, candidates may be appointed from the reserve list in order of merit.

We offer flexible working 7am - 7pm, Monday to Friday. However, we ask that candidates make themselves available to attend the office on a full-time, fixed hours basis (9am to 5pm) for the initial training period which takes up to 10 weeks. This is to ensure the best training and consolidation experience for new colleagues.

This role is offered on a full-time (37 hours per week) basis.

For queries about the role, please contact our Corporate Support Team by email Corporate.Support@cica.gov.uk.

Reasonable Adjustments

Please tell us if you have a disability when you apply, and we can offer reasonable adjustments to help with the selection process.