Ministry of Justice

Head of Priority Projects Portfolio, Priority Projects Team

Grade 6

Strategy, Priorities and Innovation Directorate

The MoJ’s central Strategy, Priorities and Innovation Directorate (SPI) is recruiting for a Grade 6 to develop and lead a portfolio of strategic priorities within the Priority Projects Team (PPT).

Location

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

1.            102 Petty France, London

2.            5 Wellington Place, Leeds

Occasional travel between Leeds and London may be required.

For SPI to meet its evolving business needs all staff are expected to attend their base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds) at least 2 days a week. This hybrid working arrangement is not contractual and as a result staff could be asked to attend their base location more frequently.

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, this role is available as:

•              Full-time, part-time (across 4 days per week) or the option to job share

•              Flexible working patterns

•              Flexible working arrangements between base locations, MoJ Hubs and home.

Our staff, who have an HQ building as their base location, are expected to work in an office at least 2 days per week.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is one of the largest government departments, employing over 90,000 people (including those in the Probation Service), with a budget of approximately £9.5 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

The Strategy, Priorities and Innovation Directorate

The Strategy, Priorities and Innovation Directorate sits at the heart of MoJ, and we work collaboratively to provide strategic, systems leadership across the MoJ, driving innovation, embedding longer-term thinking, supporting effective governance and surging high-capability teams into priorities for the justice system.

The Directorate is made up of a number of functions, including the MoJ’s Priority Projects Team, its strategy and innovation functions and Board secretariat, that combine to surface, help establish and collectively embed strategic justice system priorities.  

The work of the Priority Projects Team

The Priority Projects Team (PPT) is a high-profile, friendly, and supportive team working at the heart of the MoJ’s strategy function. We act as an in-house consultancy, working across the MoJ’s agenda, helping the department to deliver its highest priorities alongside policy, functions and operational teams. We do this by delivering defined projects to the highest standards.

Each project is unique, fast-paced and exciting. Members of PPT typically work in small project teams lasting from a few weeks up to six months. We work closely with policy, functional and operational experts across the organisation. Sometimes PPT members may work embedded in another team to undertake a specific piece of work. Recently our portfolio has included working on independent reviews on sentencing and criminal courts, senior stakeholder engagement to support government responses to reviews, probation policy development, magistrates workforce systems, female offenders, and offender health.

Head of Portfolio – the role

The job holder will be responsible for leading a team of approximately ten to twelve people, with line management responsibility for up to four Grade 7s to deliver their portfolio of projects, typically 3-4 projects at any time. We are looking for someone who is highly motivated in leading teams and building capability to deliver high quality justice system outcomes.

We are looking for candidates with strong leadership and management skills. You will be responsible for leading your team to deliver often fast-paced and high-profile workstreams. This will include supporting and enabling the development of your team, including through on the job opportunities as well as taking advantage of the learning and development opportunities more widely. You will be the key point of contact for maintaining relationships with project sponsors, usually Deputy Directors, ensuring good communication throughout projects and alignment on scope and deliverables. You will provide strategic direction and oversight of the projects within your portfolio, ensuring excellence in the quality of work we deliver as well as maintaining a strong focus on the wellbeing and development of everyone in the team.   

You will need to be able to get to grips with new subject areas quickly, have strong analytical and problem-solving skills and be able to communicate complex ideas clearly. You will need to be confident working independently and comfortable working with ambiguity, leading the delivery of complex and challenging projects across the MoJ’s responsibilities, and coaching others to do the same. 

You will be responsible for the initiation, development, and delivery of project-based work within the context of the MoJ strategy and political direction of the department, and within tight resourcing constraints. Across your portfolio, you will likely have a mix of projects where you will provide light-touch oversight to the lead Grade 7, others where you will lead in shaping and delivering the work. You will play a key role in upskilling the team through the delivery of our portfolio.

The team’s work tends to be on high priority and sometimes politically contentious policy and strategic issues, which require careful stakeholder management and the ability to articulate clear advice on complex issues. You will need to develop and maintain effective relationships with a range of stakeholders within and outside of government, including ministers, special advisors, legal, analytical, and operational colleagues. 

The role will provide a constantly changing portfolio of work and therefore it offers a lot of variety in the day-to-day, alongside the challenge of balancing competing priorities. You will play a key role in working with stakeholders across the MoJ to shape priorities for the team and allocate resources, maintain a solid understanding of the wider political environment. There will be opportunities for cross-Whitehall working and interaction with external stakeholders.

This role has significant leadership responsibility in shaping the culture of the team and the work we deliver that leads to continuous improvement, innovation and diversity and inclusion in our policy making. You will be expected to use your knowledge and experience to raise overall capability in the team, contribute to building an inclusive culture, and living our values of purpose, humanity, openness and together. 

Job Description overview

Heads of Portfolio are a central part of the senior management team in MoJ’s Priority Projects Team and the leadership group of the Strategy, Priorities and Innovation Directorate. Each Head of Portfolio has a significant role in designing and leading MoJ’s central strategic priorities, working alongside the other Heads of Portfolio and Deputy Director. We are looking for a strategic leader with experience in designing and delivering high-quality, evidence-led workstreams and building and managing high-performing, flexible teams.

Skills and Experience

•              Highly developed leadership skills, including the ability to build, inspire and develop inclusive and high-performing teams, maximise impact with scare resources, and to set direction, support and challenge to enable the team to deliver effectively.

•              Track record of collaborating effectively to shape and deliver shared objectives, working with senior stakeholders, navigating conflicting priorities and working with others to agree ways forward.

•              Experience of working across the policy development cycle, from shaping new strategies to implementation planning, in fast paced and ambiguous situations. This will include strong problem-solving skills, bringing structure to complex issues and able to draw sound conclusions from a range of evidence and analysis to deliver high quality advice.

Application process

Assessment Criteria – Sift Stage

Experience

You will need to submit:

•              an anonymised CV and Statement of Suitability as part of your application.  Your CV should be no more than 2 pages long and should show us your work history and previous experience. It should be well structured, succinct, and written in clear language.

•              Your statement of suitability should be no more than 1000 words and should give us examples of how your skills and experience meet those needed for this role. Consider giving examples that cover all the requirements and use work you have completed to demonstrate your experience.

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade (Grade 6):

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

In the event of a large volume of applications, an initial sift will be conducted using the statement of suitability.

Assessment Criteria – Interview Stage

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework at interview stage, with a focus on the behaviours listed below and your experience.

•              Leadership

•              Making Effective Decisions

•              Working Together

You will be required to give a five-minute presentation at interview.  Details of this will be sent to those candidates who are invited for interview. 

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

Interviews are expected to take place in October 2025.

Contact information

If you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team, we will be holding an information session at 10am on Friday 12th September. If you would like to sign up for this, please contact katie.robinson4@justice.gov.uk with ‘PPT G6 information session’ as the email subject line.