Are you passionate about building strong and collaborative stakeholder relationships? Is delivering impactful and inspiring remote events your forte? Do you want to contribute to supporting the creation of a judiciary that better represents the society it serves? If the answer is yes, you could be exactly who we are seeking.
We’re looking for a Targeted Outreach and Engagement Manager (HEO) to help us reach and connect with our target audiences. As an independent public body, the Judicial Appointments Commission is responsible for designing, planning, and running recruitment campaigns to select judges in the courts and tribunals, up to and including the High Court, as well as non-legal tribunal members. You can read more about our work on our website: http://judicialappointments.gov.uk
With a new recruitment campaign launched every couple of weeks, and statutory responsibilities to make sure we select candidates on merit and through fair and open competition, it’s essential that our processes are robust, inclusive, and attractive to candidates from the widest possible backgrounds. It’s also essential that our audiences and stakeholders understand our work and our commitment to supporting the creation of a more diverse judiciary. Our Targeted Outreach and Engagement Manager plays a vital role in helping us to achieve that ambition.
As part of the JAC’s Targeted Outreach and Research (TOR) team, who have responsibility for supporting judicial applicants from underrepresented groups, the Targeted Outreach and Engagement Manager will lead key projects aimed at improving judicial diversity. They will play a central role in coordinating our engagement with our target audiences, managing our rolling stakeholder events calendar, and leading on the design, delivery, and evaluation of remote and face to face outreach events.
The successful applicant will lead promotion of our initiatives across a range of partners and stakeholders to encourage candidates from a wide range of backgrounds to consider applying for judicial appointment. The role will also play an important part in supporting the Targeted Outreach Team’s Judicial Guide Scheme - which matches experienced judges with candidates from diverse backgrounds during their application journey.
You can read more about the work of the JAC’s Targeted Outreach Team here: Targeted Outreach and Research Team - Judicial Appointments Commission.
This role would particularly suit someone who enjoys working in a small but dynamic team, collaborating with colleagues who are passionate about the JAC’s mission.
Reporting to the Senior Project Delivery Manager of the Targeted Outreach and Research (TOR) team, your main responsibilities will be to:
Lead stakeholder interaction for the TOR team by developing a programme of rolling outreach and engagement activities that links to the judicial recruitment programme and TOR initiatives.
Ensure stakeholders are kept appropriately informed on the TOR teams work via regular newsletters, blog posts and articles, and constructively contribute their perspective and specialist input.
Maintain and implement a stakeholder strategy and action plan to direct engagement of existing and emerging stakeholders. Ensure TOR team activities align with JAC diversity strategy and complement outreach and engagement work undertaken elsewhere in the JAC and wider MoJ.
Oversee liaison with external stakeholders to arrange TOR team attendance at remote and face to face outreach events, draft content for outreach briefings, prepare materials for use at outreach events and deliver presentations.
Develop, implement, and evaluate audience feedback tools and data, to support and enhance outreach with user led insights.
Work with partners in the legal professions, Ministry of Justice, Judicial Office, and JAC to support a coordinated approach to candidate development programmes and other diversity initiatives, including development of new resources for potential candidates to familiarise themselves with the selection process.
Support ongoing strands of research focussed on the Commission’s 2025 priorities around neurodiverse candidates and better understanding barriers for black candidates.
Collaborate and coordinate with the JAC’s Diversity, Engagement and Communications team and relevant stakeholders to develop and engage existing and new candidate pools, prioritising underrepresented and harder to reach groups.
Work with the Directors of Training for the TOR Judicial Guide Scheme to deliver, evaluate and expand the training offer for volunteer judges.
Manage and update corresponding stakeholder engagement tools and databases, and compile reports and internal and external updates.
Work with TOR statistics leads to support the monitoring of progress of Targeted Outreach participants through the JAC selection process to inform updates.
We are a small team who work collaboratively, and the Targeted Outreach and Engagement Manager may need to get involved in other projects and work beyond what is listed above to support the wider TOR team (and wider organisation).
Experience of delivering informative events, sessions, or workshops for varied audiences.
Experience planning, scheduling, delivering, and commissioning content for regular internal and external publications.
Excellent IT proficiency, including experience utilising video conferencing platforms to deliver remote events and garner feedback.
Experience of engaging and communicating confidently with senior staff and stakeholders, building constructive relationships with a variety of internal and external partners and other stakeholders
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including ability to confidently present to public audiences.
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to build strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects with varied deadlines.
Strong team working skills and ability to work flexibly to support a small team.
Experience of working with the judiciary.
Experience of diversity monitoring data collection and analysis.
We offer a range of benefits including an attractive annual leave allowance, flexible and hybrid working opportunities, and choice of pension schemes. We actively encourage all staff to undertake learning and development as part of their personal objectives and have a range of networks to support and promote inclusivity, wellbeing, and dignity at work among other things.
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the recruitment process:
Communicating and Influencing
Working Together
Delivering at Pace
Your CV
A statement of suitability detailing the relevant experience and skills you have that would make you suitable for the post (500 words max).
Written evidence of the 2 core behaviours for this role: Communicating and Influencing and Working Together (250 words per behaviour)
Applications will be sifted based on the CV, Statement of Suitability and the 2 behaviours: Communicating and Influencing and Working Together.
If a large number of applications are received, candidates may be sifted on their CV, statement of suitability, and lead behaviour: Communicating and Influencing.
At interview you we will assess you against 3 behaviours: Communicating and influencing, Working Together, and Delivering at Pace. You can find out more about the Civil Service success profiles here.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles
Applicants invited for interview will be required to undertake a brief presentation on the day as part of the selection process. More details will be provided if you are invited to interview.
Interviews are expected to take place in early-mid September 2025.
Interviews may be conducted remotely via Microsoft Teams. More details on the arrangements will be provided to candidates invited to interview.
Office Attendance
JAC staff are currently working in a hybrid way with a minimum of 2 days per week in the office. Applicants for this role should note that they may be required to attend the office more than 2 days per week on occasion in line with business need.
As well as appointing to the vacancy listed above, we may place other candidates on a 12-month reserve list for future vacancies.
If after reading this job description you require any further information, please contact Filipa Luxton, Senior Project Delivery Manager, at Filipa.luxton@judicialappointments.gov.uk
If you have any questions about the recruitment campaign, or any terms and conditions relating to the role, please contact the JAC Recruitment Team:
Recruitment@judicialappointments.gov.uk