24175 - Head of Council of Europe (Strategy and Policy)

### Salary
The national salary range is £58,511 - £65,329, London salary range is £63,343 - £70,725. Your salary will be dependent on your base location

Job description

Head of Council of Europe (Strategy and Policy)

Grade 7

International Rights and Constitutional Policy

The International Rights and Constitutional Policy Directorate is recruiting permanently for Grade 7 and Head of Council of Europe (Strategy and Policy). This campaign is open to all staff within the Ministry of Justice and is available on level transfer and substantive promotion.

Current Civil Servants (all contract types) will need to ensure that they are still employed as a civil servant at the point of starting in the relevant new post. If their contract ends (e.g. end of FTA contract or resignation) at any point during the recruitment/onboarding process for the advertised role, they will no longer be eligible and may be withdrawn.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

- 102 Petty France, London
- 5 Wellington Place, Leeds

Occasional travel between the two locations may be required. We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds) .

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

- Full-time, part-time or the option to job share
- Flexible working patterns

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Salary

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.

Security Clearance

This role requires SC and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 3 years.

You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:

United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The vetting charter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

The Work of International Rights and Constitutional Policy Directorate

This role will sit in the Rights and Public Law Division (RPLD), within the International Rights and Constitutional Policy Directorate (IRCP).

The IRCP Directorate, led by Director James Dowler, manages a wide-ranging portfolio of international engagement for the Lord Chancellor and ministers and also has responsibilities for multilateral priorities such as relevant United Nations Treaties and the European Convention on Human Rights and Private International Law. IRCP’s domestic priorities including the relationships with the Devolved Administrations, the Human Rights Act, Judicial Review policy and the Public Sector Equalities Duty (among others).

RPLD, led by Deputy Director Abigail Culank, leads on international multilateral priorities including the UN and Council of Europe as well as having a domestic role in stakeholder engagement, PSED and the Better Regulation agenda. This role sits within the international team of RPLD.

This is a friendly and high-performing division and directorate that invests in building a positive and supportive culture. There are opportunities for Learning and Development and engagement with building the corporate culture.

Head of Council of Europe (Strategy and Policy) the role

The Council of Europe is Europe’s principal intergovernmental organisation for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, and many of its conventions and monitoring bodies touch directly on justice policy.

The Ministry of Justice leads on a range of Government equities including:

- The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the implementation of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. While the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) lead the UK's overall representation at the Council of Europe, the MoJ has major policy responsibility for domestic human rights issues and ECHR-related matters.
- Leading the MoJ role in ECHR reform in irregular migration – continuing the work on the Chisinau Declaration (May 2025).
- Rule of law and judicial cooperation, including through CoE bodies such as the Committee on Criminal Justice Co-operation and also, European Committee on Legal Cooperation where justice ministries from member states work on shared standards.
- Anti-corruption, through engagement with GRECO (Group of States against Corruption), whose evaluations often involve MoJ policy interests.
- Work on criminal justice, prison, probation and legal cooperation conventions developed under the Council of Europe framework.
- Participation in meetings of Council of Europe Justice Ministers, where UK ministers may represent the UK on justice-related themes.

The Head of Council of Europe (Strategy and Policy) leads the team delivering a diverse portfolio of work by supporting the relevant MoJ policy leads across CoE equities; managing specific policy teams (GRECO, implementation of judgements) and finally, being the MoJ lead for the cross-Whitehall ECHR reform programme (which delivered the high-profile Chisinau Declaration in May 2026).

Skills and Experience

We are looking for an enthusiastic and experienced individual who can hit the ground immediately, with well-established expertise in the subject matter, and experience of working on complex policy and cross-Whitehall coordination.

It will suit individuals who have established expertise in international human rights law, international engagement at the bilateral and multilateral level and enjoy developing policy with the subject matter experts in other departments, and who are confident in working with a variety of senior stakeholders, including ministers.

The role manages a team of SEOs, HEO and EO and therefore, applicants will need to demonstrate strong leadership skills, and experience of managing and developing teams who work across several different priorities simultaneously.

The work can be fast paced, demanding and sometimes unpredictable. Successful candidates will be comfortable operating in a changing and demanding context.

The role will demand the ability to Working Together – managing complex and difficult priorities, building the teams to do so and adapting to shifting deadlines and the ability to See the Big Picture -to see the strategic picture, horizon scan to anticipate and manage risks and opportunities.

Essential

- Confident policy professional – with established expertise (whether from work or academic study) in international human rights, international engagement and/or the European Convention on Human Rights and Council of Europe system.

- Strong record of working autonomously and with a team to ensure effective and timely delivery even at short notice and with rapidly moving deadlines. Experience of delivering complex and difficult projects/priorities to deadlines and at pace

- Ability to set or support strategic direction in a fast-paced and complex policy environment across a wide-range of internal and external stakeholders.

- Ability to see the strategic picture while managing a number of competing priorities and deadlines.

- Experience of developing policy or delivering outcomes across Whitehall.

- Excellent written and oral communication skills – ability to draft and present to a high standard and also, ability to communicate credibly with seniors.

- Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise effectively, and drive work forward autonomously.

- Comfortable working with fast-paced and moving deadlines.

Additional Information

- If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.
- Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.
- The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework .

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.

Experience

You will be asked to provide a CV during the application process to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 500 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

You will be assessed on both the CV and Statement of Suitability.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

At interview you will be assessed against behaviours where you will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated them. In addition, you will also be asked strength-based questions.

Behaviours:

The following Behaviours will be tested at interview:

- Seeing the Big Picture
- Leadership
- Working Together

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:

- WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? Or
- STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take?  What were the Results of your actions?

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK

Strengths:

You will be assessed against Strengths. It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this. Further information on Civil Service Strengths can be found via this link Success Profiles: Strengths - GOV.UK

Interview Timeline:

Interviews are expected to take place in December 2026

Contact information

If you would like to know more about this role, please contact [email protected]

Additional Information

Working Arrangements & Further Information

The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.

Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.

For nationally advertised roles: All successful candidates will be appointed to the nearest viable office nearest to their home postcode and on its respective pay scale. This will be at either a HQ building (subject to desk allocation, a Justice Collaboration Centre (JCC) or a Justice Satellite Office (JSO) – See Map . All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity).

For current MoJ employees, your base location will need to be changed to the nearest viable office (to your home postcode), either at a HQ building, JCC or JSO within the National Office Network and moved its location’s respective pay scale (any legacy arrangements/locations will need to be amended).

Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.

MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain their grade on lateral transfer.

All candidates who are currently in receipt of Mark Time / Pay Protection should ensure they are familiar with the new policy on permanent and temporary promotion which can be found on the employee intranet.

Flexible working hours

The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. MoJ welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.

Benefits

The MoJ offers a range of benefits:

Annual Leave

Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years’ service.

There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

Pension

The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.

Training

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

Networks

The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Eligibility

Staff on fixed term appointments must have been recruited through fair and open competition.

Vacancies advertised “cross-government” are only open to all Civil Service employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) who were appointed on merit following a fair and open competition; or were appointed to a permanent post through an exception in the Civil Service Commissioners' rules.

Support

- A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
- Access to flexible benefits such as voluntary benefits, retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
- For moves to or from another employer or moves across the Civil Service this can have implications on your eligibility to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for alternative government childcare support schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. More information can be found on www. www.GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/tax-free-childcare) or Childcare Choices (https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/) . You can determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ .
- Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
- Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles . Should you feel that the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you are able to raise a formal complaint in the following order

- To Transformative Business Services (0345 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) );
- To Ministry of Justice Resourcing team ( [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) );
- To the Civil Service Commission (details available here (https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints/) )

As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. MoJ are able to offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns.

You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form. If you need additional help completing the application form, please contact the TBS Recruitment Enquiries Team.

For more information on applying for a role as a candidate with a disability or long-term condition, please watch our animated videos .

Diversity & Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ is committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.

MoJ is able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidates will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.

Civil Service Nationality Rules

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families (https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fsettled-status-eu-citizens-families&data=05%7C01%7Cchristopher.jeffery%40soprasteria.com%7C8a2293860362402c15da08dbf4cff146%7C8b87af7d86474dc78df45f69a2011bb5%7C0%7C0%7C638372946312587803%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=s%2BxUsev%2BGeeK%2FLgTUjpjfTJu%2FjpKQZ%2BQPJXNduvik3Q%3D&reserved=0)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Reserve list

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles.

Contact Information

MoJ:

If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail [email protected]

Please quote the job reference 24175

HMPPS

If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail [email protected]

Please quote the job reference

### Guidance for the Statement of Suitability
You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 500 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above
Strengths will be assessed but these are not shared in advance. To learn more about Strengths and how they are assessed please click here (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles/success-profiles-strengths).

Use of Artificial Intelligence (Al)

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.