Deputy Director, Digital Project and Change Delivery

Job summary

This is a Nationally based role

Job description

The Role

The Deputy Director, Digital Project and Change Delivery is a senior leadership role within HMCTS Digital and Technology Services (DTS). The postholder will be responsible for driving delivery excellence across a portfolio of digital and technology change initiatives, ensuring that projects and programmes are aligned to HMCTS priorities and delivered to time, cost, and quality standards.

Reporting to the Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO), the role provides visible leadership across project delivery and digital workstreams, enabling joined-up delivery and timely resolution of inter-programme challenges.

The postholder will also lead delivery of the Decommissioning and Legacy Risk Mitigation (DLRM) Programme — a Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) initiative addressing legacy technology, cyber and operational risks. Acting on behalf of the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO), they will ensure that the programme delivers against its business case, meets the highest technical and security standards, and contributes to the modernisation and resilience of HMCTS’s digital estate.

Key Responsibilities

Portfolio Delivery

• Provide strategic leadership across the DTS portfolio of projects and programmes, ensuring work is effectively sequenced, prioritised and governed to deliver HMCTS’s strategic objectives. Shape the overall portfolio roadmap, aligning investment and delivery capacity with business priorities, and maintain oversight of interdependencies to ensure coherent and sustainable progress.
  
  
• Lead prioritisation and trade-off decisions where resource constraints or risks arise, balancing short-term operational needs with long-term transformation goals. Work collaboratively with peers across DTS and the HMCTS Change Portfolio Directorate to enable integrated planning and shared accountability for delivery outcomes.
  
  
• Strengthen capability and consistency across the digital delivery profession by overseeing the Digital Workstreams and Project Delivery Groups. Champion best practice in agile and hybrid delivery, build programme management maturity, and embed performance insights and continuous improvement across teams.

Leadership of the Decommissioning and Legacy Risk Mitigation (DLRM) Programme

• Lead the delivery of the DLRM Programme on behalf of the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO), providing strategic direction and day-to-day oversight of the Programme Director and delivery teams. Ensure commercial, technical and operational delivery are fully integrated, risks are managed proactively, and business case benefits are realised.
  
  
• Champion high standards of delivery practice and governance, maintaining progress across this complex, multi-supplier environment and managing dependencies across HMCTS and MoJ.
  
  
• Ensure all delivery approaches meet the highest technical and security standards, making appropriate use of innovative technologies (such as AI and Low Code) to accelerate progress, reuse capabilities, and reduce cost and risk.
  
  
• Provide authoritative advice to senior stakeholders — including HMCTS and MoJ leadership, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury — and represent the programme in key assurance and investment forums.
  
  
• The DLRM Programme addresses some of HMCTS’s most complex digital and operational challenges, from legacy system retirement to large-scale data migration. The postholder will combine strategic foresight with strong delivery discipline to ensure progress towards a modern, secure and sustainable technology estate.

Cross-Government Engagement and Governance

• Act as a senior digital leader across HMCTS, engaging with MoJ, GDS, and cross-government delivery and assurance bodies as required.
  
  
• Lead DTS contributions to HMCTS governance boards and cross-cutting delivery forums, including ministerial briefings and PAC/NAO engagements as necessary.

Team and Community Leadership

• Provide line and professional leadership to the Heads of Project Delivery and Digital Workstreams.
  
  
• Embed a culture of delivery, accountability and professional excellence within the change community.
  
  
• Champion the Civil Service values, model inclusive leadership, and foster a culture where diverse teams can succeed.

Financial and Commercial Stewardship

• Ensure delivery is underpinned by strong commercial and financial management, with robust oversight of business cases, budgets, procurement pipelines and in-flight delivery performance.
  
  
• Contribute to Spending Review and investment case development, particularly in relation to legacy mitigation, Reform transition, and digital operations continuity.

Leading Through Ambiguity / Vision for the Future

• Deliver insights that shape organisational design, enabling future-ready structures and ways of working.

* Be a stabilising force during times of change, guiding teams through transition with clarity, empathy, and a focus on maintaining momentum and morale

Person specification

Please view our candidate information pack for full details about the role, key responsibilities, person specification, and the criteria you will be assessed against throughout the recruitment process.

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.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.

For full details about the Role, Key Responsibilities and Person Specification, please download and review the Candidate Information pack

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, HM Courts and Tribunals Service contributes £23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.For full details of the Selection Process and Recruitment Timeline, please view the Candidate Information pack.

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.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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 : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : scsrecruitment@justice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scsrecruitment@justice.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

https://jobs.justice.gov.uk/careers/JobDetail/13620?entityId=13620

Attachments

Candidate Information Pack - Deputy Director, Digital Change & Project Delivery Opens in new window (pdf, 678kB)Accessible Candidate Pack - Deputy Director, Digital Change & Project Delivery Opens in new window (pdf, 193kB)