Chief Executive & Chief Land Registrar

Job summary

Every property transaction, mortgage and infrastructure development in England and Wales depends on the integrity of HM Land Registry’s data and the effectiveness of the wider property system. HM Land Registry (HMLR) is entering a pivotal phase: delivering a step change in customer outcomes by reducing friction, increasing speed and improving certainty across the home buying and selling process.

Our ambition is to make land and property transactions faster, simpler and more predictable for customers, while leading the transition to a fully digital, data‑driven property market that supports economic growth, sustainability and public confidence, including through greater use of AI and advanced digital techniques to automate and speed up transactions.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will set a bold pace of change challenging established ways of working within HMLR and across the wider system. They will unite the organisation behind a clear, customer-focused purpose, delivering operational excellence today while fundamentally reshaping how the system works for customers tomorrow.

This is a high-impact public leadership role. The CEO will lead a major transformation agenda while embedding a culture of continuous improvement, ensuring that HMLR delivers sustained, measurable improvements in customer outcomes, not just one-off change.

The CEO will be a visible and trusted leader across HMLR’s 7,000-strong workforce and externally with ministers, senior officials, and the property market. They will lead not only the organisation, but influence and challenge the wider ecosystem including conveyancers, lenders, developers and local authorities to improve performance, accountability and outcomes for customers.

In line with the Land Registration Act 2002 the successful applicant will also be appointed to the role of Chief Land Registrar.

This role requires a leader who will deliver a step change in outcomes, not incremental improvement – simplifying the system, improving accountability and ensuring that customers experience faster, more certain and more transparent property transactions.

Job description

The role involves:

• Providing inspiring, values-driven leadership to a large, diverse and dispersed workforce.
• Leading delivery of a multi-year digital transformation programme to modernise land and property transactions.
• Strengthening relationships with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Treasury, local authorities, lenders and the property industry to accelerate housing delivery and market confidence.
• Taking ownership of complex decisions and upholding rigorous standards of public accountability.
• Leading the land and property ecosystem as a whole, working with conveyancers, lenders, developers and local authorities to simplify processes, remove duplication, and improve performance while holding partners to account for delivering better, faster and more transparent outcomes for customers.

Person specification

For more information about the role and the full job description and person specification, please see the attached Candidate Pack.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £160,000, HM Land Registry contributes £46,352 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

At HM Land Registry our vision is a world leading property market as part of a thriving economy and a sustainable future. We are unique in terms of the economic and social impacts of our work, our ability to make a positive difference to the lives of our customers, our sense of mission, and our great people. They are the foundation of all we have achieved and all we aspire to in the future. We want our people to feel proud to work for HM Land Registry and able to fulfil their full potential.

We have a strong and positive culture, a commitment to inclusivity, an emphasis on continuous learning and development, and flexible ways of working. We offer competitive pay and annual leave, attractive pension options and a wide range of other benefits.

• We have integrity– we value honesty, trust and doing the right thing in the right way.
• We drive innovation– we are forward-thinking, embrace change and are continually improving our processes.
• We are professional– we value and grow our knowledge and professional expertise.
• We give assurance– we guarantee our services and provide confidence to the property market.

You can find more information on our rewards package on our website.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

We highly value diversity in all its forms and welcome applications from all sections of society.

HM Land Registry has appointed executive search specialists Gatenby Sanderson to support us with this appointment. For further information about the role and to apply, please click the link below.

HMLR is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. DCS applicants who meet the minimum criteria at shortlisting may be invited to attend an interview. There may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all DCS applicants that meet the minimum criteria for the job. For example, when we receive high number of applications. In these circumstances we may select the DCS applicants who best meet the minimum criteria for the job, rather than all of those that meet the minimum criteria, as we would do for non-disabled applicants.

If you require the panel to consider a reasonable adjustment or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you are asked to notify us of this at application stage where possible or during the process as soon as it becomes a requirement.

Visa Sponsorship - Please note that we will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa where a role is in a certain business critical category. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a skilled worker visa. You must ensure you have the appropriate right to work in the UK before applying.

Salary

Remuneration for this role is expected to be up to £160k per annum.

For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply. If appointed on promotion, you will be appointed to the salary band minimum for SCSPB2 – Director, or receive a 10% uplift on your existing salary, whichever is greater. Individuals appointed on level transfer will retain their existing salary. Standard pay rules apply for existing civil servants.

Please note that, if successful, any existing specialist allowances you currently receive will not automatically transfer to or be retained in this role.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

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)
• 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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

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

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Devon Coates-Leaning
• Email : Devon.Coates-Leaning@gatenbysanderson.com

Recruitment team

• Email : hrresourcingteam2@landregistry.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance to the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, please email hrresourcingteam2@landregistry.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from HM Land Registry then you may take your complaint to the Civil Service Commission: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/making-complaint/

Attachments

CE&CLR Candidate Pack 2026 Opens in new window (pdf, 8MB)