Judicial Appointments Commission Job Description - Senior Secretariat and Knowledge Officer

We’re looking for a Senior Secretariat Officer (HEO level) who will be responsible for managing stakeholder relationships with our Commissioners, as well as providing knowledge management support to the Secretariat team.

The successful candidate will play a critical role in supporting the Commissioners of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to work effectively as a Board, ensuring that they have all the information and materials that they need to conduct their roles effectively.

You will ensure the JAC Secretariat is maintaining its corporate knowledge, and lead in the creation and provision of quality resources in support of both Commissioners and the JAC Senior leadership team. You will assist the Head of Secretariat and broader JAC organisation at all levels to deliver our business plan.

You will work directly with a wide variety of senior stakeholders across government, the judiciary, and the legal profession. You will use your excellent communication, influencing and relationship management skills to support collaborative working. You will also be comfortable working at pace while maintaining exceptional attention to detail and sound judgement.

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

Main responsibilities

Reporting to the JAC Head of Secretariat, your main responsibilities will include:

• Proactively managing the JAC engagement with its commissioners, building strong working relationships and ensuring the organisation is effectively supporting them to deliver within their roles.

• Providing a first point of contact for Commissioner queries, commissioning responses, monitoring and following up on actions, and being a friendly and helpful representative for them and the wider directorate both internally and with external stakeholders.

• Taking the lead in managing Commissioner workloads, including the coherence of commissioner’s assignment to exercises and committees, and ensuring strong commissioner contributions to JAC outreach programmes.

• Quality assuring materials and briefings produced for JAC Commissioners, and developing an online library of resources to support their working knowledge of the organisation and improve board effectiveness.

• Taking ownership of various Excel and Word-based logs and trackers, including commissioner work plans, to support the smooth delivery of Secretariat services to the broader organisation. Also, identifying and developing new logs for areas of work which come under the Secretariat’s responsibility to help streamline management information across the organisation.

• Acting as one of the team’s Information Managers to ensure the Ministry of Justice’s online storage systems (Juststore) meet the needs of the Secretariat.

• Supporting the Head of Secretariat, to manage the business of the Board and deliver 8 Board meetings a year.

• Provide support as part of the Commission Secretariat team, who are responsible for all aspects of support to the JAC Commission Board and sub-Committees.

• Support the Head of Secretariat in managing the JAC’s senior stakeholder activities.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary.

Essential Criteria

• A positive, flexible, self-motivated, and organised approach, with excellent attention to detail.

• Experience of managing competing priorities and prioritising issues as appropriate.

• Experience of working to tight deadlines.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to adapt communication styles to suit a wide range of audience (including senior officials).

• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship management skills.

• Discretion and respect for confidential information.

• An ability to work calmly and methodically under pressure.

• Skilled in the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint and the ability to learn and use unfamiliar IT packages to a high standard.

• Proven experience of working directly to senior management.

• Experience of working with an information management system and structures.

What we can offer you

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.

Recruitment process details

Behaviours

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the recruitment process:

• Managing a Quality Service

• Communicating and Influencing

• Delivering at Pace

Application process

You need to provide:

• Your CV

• A statement of suitability detailing the relevant skills and experience you have (250 words max). Please refer to the main responsibilities and essential criteria sections of the job description when writing your statement of suitability.

• Written evidence of the 2 core behaviours for this role: Managing a Quality Service, and Communicating and Influencing (250 words per behaviour)

Use of Artificial Intelligence (Al)

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your CV, statement of suitability and behaviour examples, 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.

Sift

Applications will be sifted based on the CV, statement of suitability and the 2 behaviours Managing a Quality Service and Communicating and Influencing.

If a large number of applications are received, candidates may be sifted on their CV, statement of suitability, and lead behaviour: Managing a Quality Service.

Interview

At interview we will assess you against 3 behaviours: Managing a Quality Service, Communicating and Influencing, and Delivering at Pace. We will also ask you about your experience.

You can find out more about the Civil Service’s recruitment framework here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

Interviews are expected to take place in mid-October. Interviews may be conducted remotely via Microsoft Teams or face-to-face. More details on the arrangements will be provided to candidates invited to interview.

Reserve List

As well as appointing to the vacancy listed above, we may place other candidates on a 12-month reserve list for future vacancies.

Office Attendance

JAC staff are currently working in a hybrid way with a minimum of 2 days per week in the JAC office in London. Applicants for this role should note that they may be required to attend the JAC London office more than 2 days per week in line with business need.

Further Information

If after reading this job description you require any further information, please contact Michael Hardy, JAC Head of Secretariat

Michael.Hardy@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