22448 - Deputy Head of Operations (National)


Company:	Ministry of Justice
Salary:	£58,511 to £70,725 a year
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	National, NP10 8FZ
Working pattern:	On-site
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	21 Sept 2026
Closing date:	5 Oct 2026

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Summary

Job Title: Deputy Head of Operations – Probate

While your base location may be at any of our National Services sites, regular attendance at the Birmingham site is required.

Proud to serve. Proud to keep justice going.

If you’re customer focussed, intent on delivering excellent service, enthusiastic about leading and motivating a team, then this role gives you the opportunity to play a pivotal role within HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS).

About us

HMCTS is an agency of the Ministry of Justice responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family Courts and Tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our service users and colleagues within HMCTS, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice.

Spread nationally over several sites, our Courts and Tribunal Service Centres (CTSCs) deliver services through several jurisdictions known as ‘service lines’. These include Social Service & Child Support, Family Public Law, Probate, Crime, Immigration & Asylum, Divorce, Online Civil Money Claims, the Single Justice Service (non-imprisonable offences e.g., no TV license / car tax), and supporting audio video hearings.

Your role

Deputising and supporting the Head of Operations, the role holder will have considerable influence and responsibility over service provision within National Services. The role holder will provide a high level of support to the Head of Operations in the operational management of services across National Services. A key part of this role will involve creating, developing, and maintaining relationships with internal and external stakeholders and managing their varying and complex needs.

This role has significant people leadership responsibility, and will provide clear strategic direction and focus, leading by example, and visibly championing and leading change which delivers results and improved performance across the region. The role holder will create and enhance effective working relationships to support the local judiciary and ensure hearings operate effectively and efficiently, supporting the Head(s) of Operations and representing them as required. The scope of the role is significant, contributing substantially to the achievement of business objectives across their region.

The role holder will promote inclusive leadership, champion our values and behaviours, and foster a culture that values innovation and creativity, ensuring everyone feels valued, supported, challenged and capable.

Your skills and experience

The Deputy Head of Operations will have:

Excellent leadership and relationship management skills with proven ability and experience of delivering through others, leading and managing operational teams in accordance with appropriate management practices policy and strategy.

Assess locational performance to anticipate strategic organisational issues, drawing evidence from multiple sources and drawing out key insights to understand workload fluctuations and variances and to identify where improvements are needed.

Analyse and interpret complex and possibly conflicting evidence and data to make sound judgment on the most appropriate solutions that take into account the views of important stakeholders.

Use own judgement to resolve sensitive/complex problems and or complaints as they arise, engaging personally with the key stakeholders to ensure constructive outcomes and exercising appropriate discretion approaches and taking the necessary mitigating actions. The Deputy Head of Operations will be responsible for reviewing potential solutions and mitigations referred by Operations Managers and for making the final decision.

Identify and implement workable solutions to immediate significant issues as they arise at a Court or Tribunal on the day of a hearing.

Take steps to resolve complex issues involving organisational interdependencies, collaborate with Court &Tribunal Managers and Heads of Operations to influence and develop strategic solutions and improve overall service performance.

Develop innovative approaches to maintaining and improving service delivery, balancing public user, professional user and judicial needs in a complex and challenging operating environment, identifying and evaluating risks to service delivery.

Lead criterion at application stage: Statement of Suitability. A sift based on the statement of suitability may be held if a large number of applications are received.

As part of the application process, you will be required to submit a 500-word Statement of Suitability and complete a 1,000-word CV Experience question.

Further details:

New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum.

Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. HMCTS welcomes part-time, flexible, and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs and are agreed prior to appointment. All applications for part-time, flexible, and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy. Applications for part-time working will be considered however due to the nature of the role the minimum hours would be 30 hours per week over 4 days.

Non-contractual hybrid working is available. Hybrid working arrangements will be determined by the business and will only be available when it has been established that delivering the service from home can be done effectively. We may not be able facilitate requests for a particular work from home/working in the office schedule.

While a specific jurisdiction is referenced, this does not guarantee permanent assignment to this particular service. Work allocation will be determined by business needs, and you may be required to transfer to other services as deemed necessary by the organisation.

Occasional travel to other courts

For this post, occasional travel to other National Services sites is required.

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