Job title: HEO Strategy Officer
Directorate: Strategy and Analysis
Workstream: Business and User Strategy Division
About us
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our service users and colleagues, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice. We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and want to make a difference in people’s lives in delivering justice. If you’re interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply.
The Business and User Strategy Division sits at the heart of HMCTS, working across the whole organisation to use expert insight on the needs of our users and business, the policy context, operational priorities and wider strategic trends to develop and drive organisational strategy, strategic decision making and support for vulnerable users. We work with senior leadership and engage with colleagues across HMCTS, the Ministry of Justice and stakeholders across the wider justice system to help the organisation to meet strategic challenges, innovate and help enable access to justice for all.
The work of the Strategy Unit includes:
Working with senior leadership to set out future priorities and shape the strategic vision and direction of HMCTS in the medium to long-term.
Leading HMCTS engagement on judicial strategy and policy development.
Carrying out research and generating insight on both domestic and international trends that may impact on the future shape and direction of the justice system and feeding this into strategy development and decision making.
Working with analytical colleagues to understand and use data in driving decision making across a wide range of topics including capacity, performance and productivity.
Developing relationships across the justice system to ensure that HMCTS is engaged in policy and legislative development that may impact delivery of services.
About the role
We are looking for an ambitious and self-motivated candidate who has an interest in strategy, experience of turning research into insight and action, and an enthusiasm for working on large-scale and complex challenges that improve user experience of courts and tribunal services. We are also looking for someone who can build strong, constructive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders across the justice system to deliver high quality work at pace.
As a Strategy Officer in the Business and User Strategy Division, you can expect to support the delivery of a wide range of projects. This role sits within the Strategy Development team, working to shape the strategic vision and direction of HMCTS in the medium to long-term, alongside supporting the business to deliver on the current HMCTS Strategic Plan. The role has a large focus on corporate engagement, gathering and applying insight, prioritising and aligning inputs and clear communication.
Main Activities/Responsibilities
To be successful in this role you must have the ability to use personal initiative to find solutions to challenges and to deliver high quality work at pace. You will be a critical thinker, with the ability to synthesise information into clear written and verbal communication. You will work closely with the Grade 7 to support strategy development and implementation. This will typically include:
Leading your own specific strategic projects and supporting the Strategy Lead - e.g. conducting research, using strategic tools to interpret data, engaging with wide range of colleagues to gather views, and prepare recommendations.
Building and managing relationships with stakeholders to align work, secure input and support.
Presenting on strategy using visual and verbal presentational skills to a range of audiences.
Continually learning and developing subject matter expertise on the courts, tribunals and wider justice system, and strategy.
Contributing to corporate activities aimed at developing team capabilities.
The successful candidate will ideally have some knowledge and understanding of issues facing the courts and tribunals system.
We are looking for independent strategic thinkers. We welcome applications from all backgrounds who feel that they can meet the criteria.
Person Specification
The ideal candidate for this position should demonstrate:
Essential Skills
Experience of gathering, analysing and interpreting information to draw out key insights, set out options and make robust recommendations.
Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.
High level of written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to reassess workloads and priorities when there are conflicting demands to maintain timely delivery.
The below criteria are desirable only. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process, but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates
Desirable Skills
Experience of working in strategy or policy development.
Some knowledge and understanding of wider issues facing the courts and tribunals system and the broader Civil Service policy environment.
How to apply
Application Stage
Please submit:
An anonymised CV. Please ensure your CV is uploaded in a simple format to prevent any formatting issues when it's downloaded or reviewed.
Your CV should:
Be succinct and clear.
Be factually accurate - You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, is 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.
Include your qualifications, highlighting any modules or accreditation relevant to the role.
Include your relevant experience, providing dates.
Provide detail - we are interested in how your knowledge, skills, and experience demonstrate the capabilities we are looking for in this role.
Statement of suitability demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria (up to 500 words).
Your Statement of Suitability should be no more than 500 words and should give us real life examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. Tell us about what you did and how you did it.
You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application 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.
In the event of a large volume of applications, we will sift primarily on the statement of suitability.
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:
The below behaviour questions will be assessed:
Working Together
Seeing the Bigger Picture
Strengths will also be assessed however these are not shared in advance.
Further details
Travel requirements
There will be an occasional requirement to travel to 102 Petty France, SW1H 9AJ, as well as to other HMCTS sites, in line with business needs.
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.