Deputy Director Service Prosecutions

Job summary

The Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) provides for the independent, efficient and consistent consideration of criminal cases and offences contrary to military discipline. It initiates prosecutions where they are justified and conducts fair and thorough proceedings in the service courts. Whilst maintaining independence from the service chain of command, the SPA fulfils its functions in support of operational effectiveness of the Armed Forces throughout the world. ​

The role of the SPA is to review cases referred to it by the Service Police or Chain of Command and to prosecute appropriate cases at Court Martial or Service Civilian Court. The SPA will also act as respondent in the Summary Appeal Court and represent the Crown at the Court Martial Appeal Court.

As Deputy Director Service Prosecutions (DDSP), you will be responsible to the Director of Service Prosecutions (DSP) for the efficient and consistent consideration of offences and the management of all cases, advices and compliance; ensuring that all decisions taken by the Authority are justifiable and in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and all other appropriate policies, deputising for the DSP in their absence. ​

You will need to be able to get the best out of your mixed civilian and military team and exercise your judgment to deploy our resources in a way that helps individuals develop and ensures that the organisation delivers. Aside from having excellent management and people skills, vitally, you will also need to be a first-class lawyer, able to deal with your own caseload of serious criminal and service offending, to offer assistance to managing prosecutors, and to provide essential support to DSP in making decisions in the most challenging cases. This post is open to civilian and military lawyers, in which military lawyers can take this post up in uniform if supported by their Service to do so.

Job description

The current responsibilities for this role include:

• Leading four prosecution teams, through the Managing Prosecutors, in the operational delivery of the SPA’s output, ensuring suitable operational support through the Practice Manager.​
• Conducting their own caseload.​
• Playing a leading role in the quality assurance of advice, charging decisions, case preparation and advocacy.​
• The direct management of senior SPA staff and a general oversight of all other support staff. DDSP is expected to take a leading role on projects affecting the current and future architecture of procedures and policies that affect how the SPA operates within the Service Justice System.​
• Overseeing and managing the Service Prosecuting Authority’s (SPA) support to the Service police forces (SPF) in their investigation of offences, including allegations of overseas offending in the context of armed conflict. ​
• Ensuring that legal advice concerning the investigation of offences is provided to the SPF in a timely manner.​
• Ensuring that reviews under the SPA Victims' Right of Review (VRR) Policy are appropriately allocated and conducted in accordance with the policy.​
• Liaising with and providing information on the Authority’s work as required to other Service Justice System stakeholders, including Ministers, the Information Commissioner's Office, the House of Commons Defence Committee and the Office of the Judge Advocate General.​
• Ensuring appropriate representation of the Authority in the appellate courts and the High Court and appearing personally as appropriate.​
• Monitoring the Service Prosecuting Authority’s KPIs and other performance measures to identify risks and issues, and putting countermeasures in place when required.​
• Performing the functions of the Director of Service Prosecutions in their absence.​
• Taking responsibility for all budgetary matters, where delegated.

Person specification

• Satisfies the legal requirements to be appointed a prosecuting officer (see s.365(2) of the Armed Forces Act 2006).​
• In-depth knowledge and experience of practice in criminal law, including experience of advocacy and case management in the courts of first instance, and, ideally in the appellate courts.​
• Excellent leadership skills and a proven track record of motivating, empowering and getting consistently good results from a diverse team, often under pressure. ​
• Excellent interpersonal skills and previous experience of managing key senior relationships with an ability to engage and influence a range of internal and external stakeholders across a complex, multilateral environment.​
• Experience in making difficult decisions using sound judgement, evidence and knowledge to provide accurate, expert and professional advice and to defend it when challenged by senior stakeholders, demonstrating independence of thought. ​
• Possession of, or an ability quickly to acquire, an understanding of service law, in particular those parts of the Armed Forces Act 2006 that create the various Service offences and govern the powers of Commanding Officers, the Service police and Director of Service Prosecutions.​

Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a strong field of candidates when there is a need to distinguish between candidates. This will be as a second sift, after the essential criteria has been considered:​

• Knowledge and previous experience of how the Service Justice System (SJS) works in practice.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £97,000, Ministry of Defence contributes £28,100 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the advertisement listed for this role. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on Sunday 26 April2026and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:​

• A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.​
• A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) providing tangible examples that demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria for the role. trong examples should focus on what you did, how you did it, and the impact of your actions.​

Both documents are weighted equally in their scoring, so it's important to consider this when uploading your application. Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

Mary Cowe will be offering an online Q&A session on Thursday 16 April at 10:00am – 10:45am to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here.

External candidates who join the MOD and are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

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 : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

SCS1 Deputy Director Services Prosecutions - Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 2179kB)