Director of Employment Group

Location

Leeds, London

GLD is seeking a Head of its Employment Group. As a member of the senior team within GLD, you will help shape and deliver the GLD vision for the whole of the organisation. 

You will be directly responsible for the employment law advisory and litigation service provided by GLD and for the operational management of one of the single largest concentration of employment lawyers in the UK. This includes the daily operation and people management of the Group, client relationship management, and consultation on difficult, important, or sensitive case issues. 

As a senior member of the Government Legal Profession and the Senior Civil Service, you will also be part of a network of colleagues who work corporately across Whitehall to establish best practice within the legal profession, for example by considering how the GLD can work corporately to reduce legal risk and cost to Government, and to drive change within the civil service as a whole.

Job description

- Oversee the effective delivery of all Employment Group services 

- Provide strategic direction and lead the Employment Group in efficiently delivering an effective, high quality service that meets the Groups performance targets 

- Ensure the continuous development of the people within the Group and ensure that individual skills are best deployed and developed 

- Provide consultation on difficult, important, or sensitive case issues 

- Develop processes and systems that allow us to measure and monitor service delivery performance and resolve issues that impact clients quickly and effectively

Responsibilities

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate evidence of the following criteria: 

Essential 

Legal Professional Skills 

- Knowledge of employment law and an ability to provide sound legal advice at a strategic level. 

- The ability to think creatively and give authoritative risk based legal advice at pace that facilitates practical solutions. 

Business delivery skills 

- The experience and capability to lead a large legal function that handles both complex and high volume litigation; 

- The ability to enhance the legal professionalism of the team; to command the confidence of senior stakeholders, internal and external; and to bring about improvement in operational performance and greater value for money; 

- Strong financial awareness and understanding of factors that are critical to commercial success. 

People and capability skills 

- Demonstrate leadership within a legal services environment, including the communication and management skills to lead, unify and motivate staff at a time of growing work pressures, championing talent management and development, building a strong culture of continuous learning and improving staff engagement; 

- The ability to proactively create, maintain and promote a strong network of connections with people across the Department, wider Civil Service and externally; 

- A commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. 

Corporate leadership skills 

- The ability to work collaboratively with senior peers in leading a large organisation , making a strong contribution to governance structures, initiating change projects and driving an organisational culture of professional excellence and continuous improvement; 

Desirable: 

- An understanding of the legal context in which the Civil Service operates