Judicial Appointments Commission - Selection Exercise Managers - (HEO) (3 vacancies)

About the JAC 

The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is an independent public body, established in April 2006, to select judges in the courts and tribunals, and non-legal tribunal members. The JAC selects judicial candidates through fair and open competition, encouraging a wide range of quality candidates to apply for the posts that it advertises.

The JAC is responsible for designing, planning, and running recruitment campaigns to select judicial office holders up to and including High Court Judges. We have a statutory duty to select solely on merit, while keeping our selection processes open to the widest range of applicants. We launch a new campaign for judicial posts every one to two weeks. These range from high volume campaigns for ‘entry level’ posts, attracting upward of 2,000 applicants, to small campaigns for senior roles, attracting a handful of highly qualified people.

More information about the JAC is on our website: http://judicialappointments.gov.uk

The Role

We are looking to recruit Selection Exercise Managers (SEM) at HEO grade to join our busy and dynamic operations team and help us deliver our challenging programme of judicial selection activity. 

The SEMs are responsible for planning, running, and managing selection exercises to attract and select suitable candidates for judicial office. This includes a wide range of activities from initial planning and advertising of our judicial opportunities, to working with judicial office holders to develop selection materials, running selection processes (including online tests and interviews), and presenting the outcomes of the recruitment to the JAC’s commissioners so that recommendations for appointments can be made. 

The role will be part of the wider operations team working with colleagues across the organisation to plan, develop and deliver selection exercises to recommend candidates for appointment as judges and tribunal members. 

Main responsibilities

• Plan, run and manage selection exercises to attract and select suitable candidates for judicial office.

• Liaise with our stakeholders, including acting as the first point of contact for selection panel members, civil servants, and judges.

• Produce reports on progress and present recommendations at key stages of the exercise to the Commission.

• Oversee the arrangement of candidate interviews, brief the selection panel members, observe panels etc.

• Accurately collect and report on statistical information throughout the selection exercise process.

• Line manage at least one selection exercise officer.

• Delegate tasks to selection exercise officers, where necessary. 

The duties/responsibilities listed above for the post 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.

Office Attendance

JAC staff are currently working in a hybrid way with a minimum of 2 days per week in the office, which is based in Westminster - London.

Please note - This is a busy operational role and during periods of selection activity or other business need, successful applicants will be required to attend the JAC office or JAC interview venue for up to 5 days a week. This could also mean early starts and longer days during these busy periods of selection activity. Candidates are asked to ensure that they fully understand this requirement before applying for the post.

Knowledge, Experience and Skills

• Previous experience in a fast-paced, operational delivery role.

• A pro-active approach to identifying where value could be added in either project delivery or quality assurance tasks. 

• Excellent attention to detail.

• Excellent organisational and project management skills with an ability to

prioritise to deadline, manage and run competing tasks, and work to quality standards.

• Good communication skills, both written and oral. 

• An ability to build and maintain positive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders.

• The ability to quickly learn to use unfamiliar software to a good standard, with appropriate training.

• The ability to solve problems and work calmly under pressure.

• A willingness to support tasks outside of your immediate area of responsibility. 

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:

• Delivering at Pace 

• Managing a Quality Service 

• Working Together

In addition to these behaviours, your experience will be assessed during the recruitment process. You can read more about the Civil Service behaviours here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

Application process

To apply for this role, you will need to provide: 

• Your CV.

• A statement of suitability detailing the relevant skills and experience you have for the role (250 words max).

• Written evidence of the three core behaviours for the role: Delivering at Pace, Managing a Quality Service, and Working Together (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 evidence of the behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Managing a Quality Service, and Working Together.

If there is a significant volume of applications, we will sift on the CV, statement of suitability and the lead behaviour: Delivering at Pace.

Interview 

Interviews are expected to take place remotely, via MS Teams, at the end of November or early December 2025. 

At interview you will be asked about three behaviours: Delivering at Pace, Managing a Quality Service, and Working Together. We will also ask you about your experience.

You can read more about the Civil Service success profiles here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

Applicants invited for interview may be expected to undertake an assessment on the day of the interview. More details will be provided if you are invited to interview. 

Reserve List

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

Further Information

If after reading this job description you require any further information, please contact

Meena Islam, Head of Operational Delivery: Meena.Islam@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 at Recruitment@judicialappointments.gov.uk