JOB DESCRIPTION

We are looking for a motivated Principal Advisor to work in a challenging and exciting environment. Working with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, you will take the lead to develop and embed an improved approach to strategic workforce planning (SWP), helping the department set direction for its people and workforce needs, and ensure alignment with the delivery of MoJ business objectives and the Civil Service workforce agenda. This will include the assessment, development and embedding of new tools and processes that will provide clear oversight of SWP performance in the MoJ.

You will have the opportunity to build relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders, seeing first-hand how your influence can deliver a better justice service to society.

Your responsibilities will be to

1. Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders across the MoJ, agencies, arm’s length bodies and externally (cross Civil Service and Private Sector) to gain commitment to the delivery of Business Architecture ambitions.

2. Engage and nurture relationships with Business Groups to ensure the effective embedding of practices that will support the prioritisation of organisational strategy, capabilities, infrastructure, and strategic workforce planning, aligning with internal and external drivers (Civil Service).

3. Manage the preparation, delivery, and implementation of regular (annual) planning activity (fiscal / political) for the MoJ through the lens of your thematic theme (strategic workforce planning) for the medium- and long-term realisation of MoJ strategic and business objectives.

4. Own (identify, develop, and implement), your specific thematic theme (Strategic Workforce Planning), to deliver agreed activity that supports the Business Architecture ambitions, MoJ priorities and Civil Service plans up to 2040.

5. Identify opportunities to improve data, intelligence, information collection and practises to inform scenario modelling, and decision making. Understand how these changes will impact the organisation for your thematic theme (Strategic Workforce Planning) and make recommendations to manage risks.

6. Actively lead across the group to support corporate culture and manage a team of Senior Advisors, setting objectives, monitoring delivery, encouraging development, providing support and sponsorship to stretch your team, and ensure good quality work is produced across your portfolio.

You’ll be a highly motivated person who meets the following essential criteria:

• EXPERIENCE - Strong strategic workforce planning skills, with knowledge and experience of designing resourcing plans to ensure the right workforce is mobilised at the right time, with the ability to understand, marshal and interpret a wide range of abstract concepts, ideas and sets of information, to draw conclusions and make recommendations.

• SEEING THE BIG PICTURE BEHAVIOUR - Strong drafting and analytical skills, including the ability to derive insight from multiple data sources, use data to support debate, conduct statistical analysis, and solve complex problems, able to draft and present complex data and analysis in a visually accessible way.

• COMMUNICATING & INFLUENCING BEHAVIOUR - The ability to cultivate and maintain effective relationships, experience of influencing key stakeholders, on a range of SWP subjects - and a range of people at all levels on whose efforts the Strategic Workforce Design Team will depend - across the business and externally.

• LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR - Strong leadership experience of working collaboratively across teams, confidently with senior colleagues, managing a multi-disciplinary team with a broad range of diverse and demanding stakeholders.

Skills and Knowledge:

Experience of designing and implementing strategic workforce planning processes and procedures; preferably in large and/or complex contexts.

CIPD accreditation, a related field, or a willingness to study to achieve it (desirable).

We may consider any evidence within the application form that demonstrates meeting the desirable criteria as set out in the job description. This will only be after essential criteria is scored and where there is a need to differentiate between closely scored candidates.

What we do

The Strategic Workforce Design Team are an exciting and dynamic team who sit within the newly established Business Architecture and Transformation Directorate, under the Business Architecture Division. We work extensively with stakeholders across the organisation to support business areas in planning the workforce of the future. We develop the systems, tools and guidance to support strategic workforce planning across the MoJ and provide consultancy services to key business areas on their future workforce requirements.

The Business Architecture Division is a new team at the heart of the MoJ within COO Group and will work to help identify opportunities and in turn formulate a strategy to improve the way services are delivered, the organisation is structured and ensure we invest in the right skills and capability for our future workforce. The Division works hand in hand with colleagues across the department, and closely with core People, Strategy and Strategic Finance colleagues in the preparation, delivery and implementation of fiscal and political events for the MoJ through the lens of people, infrastructure and capability.

The new Business Architecture and Transformation Directorate supports and works with the MoJ leadership team, and in turn advise ExCo, on the people, skills, capability, resilience and infrastructure needed across the department to put us in the best possible place to deliver for the current and future Governments. We work alongside MoJ People and in partnership with other functions and teams to ensure the machinery of the department is efficient but maintains a strong ‘people first’ culture.

Civil Service Assessment Process

The Civil Service recruits using Success Profiles, these are made up of 5 elements.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

The assessment process will be made up of two parts:

1. Application (including CV, suitability statement and behaviours).

2. Interview (behaviours, presentation, strengths).

1. Application stage

Experience - You will need to submit an anonymised CV, and Statement of Suitability (no more than 250 words) setting out why you think you are suitable for this role. Please ensure you include examples of job experiences that would contribute and benefit you delivering this role.

Your experience and understanding of Strategic Workforce Planning will be assessed through your response to this question in the application stage - Please describe your experience of designing and implementing strategic workforce planning processes and procedures, preferably in large and/ or complex contexts.

Behaviours - Please provide examples of how you meet these behaviours Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, and Leadership in the context of this role you are applying for.

Successful applicants at this stage will be invited to interview. In the event of a high volume of applications, an initial sift take place via statement of suitability and/or experience question.

2. Interview stage

Experience - Presentation, on What are the business benefits of good Strategic Workforce Planning, and how would / have you convinced others of these benefits?

Behaviours - You will be asked for examples of how you meet these behaviours Seeing the Big Picture, Communicating and Influencing, and Leadership.

Strengths - You will be asked questions on a range of strengths.