Location: East Midlands (England), East of England, London (region), North East England, North West England, Scotland, South East England, South West England, Wales, West Midlands (England), Yorkshire and the Humber. This is a Nationally based role.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) priorities include improving public safety and reducing reoffending by reforming prisons, probation, and youth justice, and building a justice system which makes access to justice swifter and more certain for all citizens whatever their background. Project professionals in the MoJ help to improve the government's ability to protect the public and reduce reoffending, and to provide a more effective, transparent, and responsive criminal justice system for victims and the public.
The MoJ Portfolio and Assurance team is a central component of the MoJ Project Delivery Function and oversees the centralisation, coordination, and assurance of all project delivery within the Department. You will be able to access professional development opportunities, guidance, tools and support and access to the unique Government Project Delivery Professional Network.
The MoJ Portfolio is one of the largest and most complex across Government; including several Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) projects and programmes that will transform the operation of the Department.
The post holder will have the opportunity to oversee the breadth of major change across the Department as part of the Portfolio Office, and will focus primarily on providing insight, information, and support that will help strengthen portfolio governance and enable prioritisation decisions and effective allocation of resources across the Department's change initiatives.
This role is instrumental in ensuring optimal delivery of Departmental strategic objectives in line with Government priorities. The post holder will help achieve this through the analysis of a range of information sources and engagement with programme and project stakeholders, converting this intelligence into informed insights using appropriate reporting and visualisation methods.
This is an excellent role to gain experience of Departmental portfolio management and corporate governance and will provide the post holder an opportunity to enhance their professional development and raise their profile across the Department.
The ideal candidate will be methodical, organised, and diligent; able to deliver at pace, working to tight deadlines whilst maintaining a quality service. They must be able to work pro-actively and with a variety of stakeholders and have excellent communication skills. They will have experience effectively managing competing priorities and will be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment.
The ideal candidate will have previous experience working in a project, programme, or portfolio management office with experience of planning, governance, and risk management or have experience managing a project or programme through application of the government functional standard for project delivery.
MoJ expects its leaders to show openness, honesty and commitment, and, of course, to deliver results.
Key responsibilities of the role
These may be further shaped and adjusted dependent on business needs and team resources / skills.
Governance & Reporting and Quality Management
- Lead in the management, tracking, and assurance of portfolio data and information, working with the wider Portfolio & Assurance team and project & programme teams to ensure compliance.
- Review portfolio data and information and coordinate and lead Quality Assurance reviews with Portfolio Account Managers, ensuring a high standard of data is provided and challenged where necessary.
- Lead on development of regular portfolio reports including reports and submissions for the MoJ Portfolio, Investment, and Executive Committees, and GMPP reporting for the National Infrastructure & Service Transformation Authority.
Portfolio Analysis
- Analyse key portfolio data and information from a range of sources and stakeholder to provide insight on trends and themes across the portfolio.
- Develop these insights into analysis reports using appropriate reporting and visualisation methods to provide Departmental senior leadership with clarity on the state of delivery and support prioritisation decisions and effective allocation of resources across the portfolio.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Act as a key point of contact for key portfolio practices, establishing effective working relationships with key senior stakeholders across MoJ, IPA, and other Government Departments.
- Provide support and advice for projects, programmes, and sub-portfolios on developing collaborative working practices with all stakeholders.
- Respond quickly to ad hoc commissions from across the business including from the Directors General and Permanent Secretary.
Frameworks & Methodologies
- Develop and maintain frameworks and methodologies for key portfolio practices, and champion best practice for these across the Department and wider government.
Knowledge Management
- Ensure that key lessons are captured and learned across the team on a regular basis and portfolio processes, frameworks, and methodologies are optimised to drive continuous improvement.
Other
- Demonstrate commitment to professional learning and development.
Location & Terms of appointment
This post is advertised nationally but frequent travel will be required to locations where the Portfolio & Assurance team is based.
Your base office location at an MoJ HQ site, or Justice Collaboration Centres, will be discussed if successful, as we do not offer home working contracts. All available sites can be found on this link.
Salary & Grade
Band B - SEO
New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join on the minimum of the pay range and this is non-negotiable.
Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department's pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.
Selection and Application Process
You will be required to complete an application form providing evidence of how you meet the following Project Delivery Competencies as per the Project Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF) Infrastructure and Projects Authority pages and provide a current CV:
- Governance
- Quality Management
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Knowledge Management
- Resilience
Where high volumes of applications are received the initial sift will be completed against the lead competency. If your application progresses to a full sift, all competencies will then be considered. Feedback is not available for those not invited to interview.
Merit List of successful candidates based on location will be retained after this campaign for 12 months.
Successful candidates will be invited for virtual interview where the following Project Delivery Technical and Behavioural Competencies, as per the Project Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF) Infrastructure and Projects Authority pages will be assessed:
- Governance
- Quality Management
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Knowledge Management
- Resilience
Technical 3
Stakeholder Engagement - Stakeholder engagement is the ability to systematically identify, analyse and communicate with stakeholders, using appropriate channels, to ensure all those impacted by the change are engaged, taking account of their levels of influence and particular interests.
