Project Support Officer

Job summary

About the Government Legal Department

From healthcare to artificial intelligence, energy to national security, we provide legal advice to government departments on nation-changing subjects.

At Government Legal Department we have a vital, single-minded purpose: to help the Government govern well within the rule of law. This is complemented by our exciting vision to be an outstanding legal organisation, committed to the highest standards of service and professionalism and a brilliant place to work where we can all thrive and fulfill our potential.

Our work touches almost every aspect of public life. We are the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters.

Our respected professionals are involved in everything from regulation and litigation to advice on drafting legislation. They provide expertise to the full range of government departments. We are at the heart of delivering the government’s priorities and our success depends on our people.

GLD is a non-ministerial government department headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary, and employs nearly 4000 people, including nearly 3000 legal professionals. We have offices nationwide, in Bristol, Leeds, inner and outer London and Manchester. Our lawyers can also be located within other departments and overseas.

GLD also depends on a range of cross-functional professionals to provide our corporate services. There are nearly 1000 colleagues playing an essential part in helping GLD to achieve its purpose and truly deliver much more than law.

This is an exciting time to join GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.

To find out more about what we do you can view our introductory film. On our website you can hear from team members, find out how to apply and learn about the benefits of working for GLD. You can also read more about the future vision for GLD in our GLD Strategy 2024 – 2027.

Job description

About the Knowledge & Innovation(K&I) Division

The work of the K&I Division is core to all our legal work in GLD. We equip government lawyers with the relevant knowledge, skills and systems to provide excellent and efficient legal services to ministers and officials.

The K&I Division is a multi-disciplinary team, that provides a portfolio of services spanning Knowledge (incorporating Legal Information, Knowledge Systems and Knowledge Communities & Projects), Legal Learning and Innovation.

Sitting at the heart of the Government Legal Department, we connect lawyers, support legal communities and facilitate sharing of knowledge and collaboration across government.

We drive innovation to improve legal processes and create new services, including introducing new legal technologies such as artificial intelligence and developing lawyers' capability to maximise the benefits of these technologies.

We support our lawyers’ professional development at every stage of their careers through an extensive programme of learning opportunities.

Through our commitment to excellence and innovation across all our activities, we help GLD achieve its vision of being "an outstanding legal organisation, committed to the highest standards of service and professionalism" and with its strategic aim to ensure the organisation is fit for the future.

About the Role

Reporting to the Engagement & Reporting Manager and working with a team providing project support, communications & engagement and secretariat services to colleagues across K&I.

Key responsibilities include:

• Provide administrative support and ad hoc duties (consistent with the grade) to project managers, the wider Knowledge & Innovation team and divisional senior leaders.
• Management of shared mailboxes.
• Organise events and meetings, and provide an efficient secretariat function, including drafting agendas, compiling papers and taking minutes.
• Create and maintain accurate records, such as stakeholder lists, plans and actions logs to support projects and BAU activities.
• Assist with project and activity planning, researching options, progress tracking and reporting.
• Supporting colleagues across the K&I division where required with the design, production, and delivery of communications plans for K&I projects, core business activity and communities.
• Support the Engagement & Reporting Manager to develop and deliver the division’s engagement strategy by assisting with content for GLD’s information channels such as Eagle and TWIB and helping to organise events.
• Draft articles and work with GLD Communications & Engagement Team to publish content which informs GLD colleagues about the work of K&I and which showcases the division’s projects.
• Assisting with the curation of K&I’s team SharePoint home page and editorial responsibility for K&I standard content on GLD’s internal intranet (Eagle).
• Information Management, such as maintaining Teams/SharePoint Folders.
• Support the wider Central Services Team by assisting with temporary cover for other project support or Business Management colleagues (consistent with grade).
• Support the culture of the division by assisting with, and contributing to, team meetings, development days, events and internal communications.
• Undertaking all mandatory and relevant training.

Person specification

Behaviours

Below are details of the Success Profiles that make up this role. Demonstrating all the behaviours listed below is essential at either application or interview. You can read more about Success Profiles and how they are used as an assessment method before completing your application.

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

• Managing a Quality Service (lead)
• Communicating & Influencing​
• Working Together ​

Experience

Essential – must be demonstrated at application and interview

• Experience of working in a business support/administration role
• Experience of helping to deliver change or improvements in their area of work
• Experience of building effective relationships with a range of stakeholders

Desirable

• Experience of working in a project environment
• Experience of using project planning tools and documentation
• Experience of using AI tools to improve efficiency

Technical

Essential – must be demonstrated at application and interview

• Strong communication skills (written and verbal) and the ability to communicate with a wide audience base
• Excellent planning and organisational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to deliver at pace, prioritising work effectively, ensuring deadlines are met
• Ability to take steps to understand customer needs and to deliver pieces of work which meet expectations
• Ability to work effectively with a team, supporting colleagues as well as prioritising own development and wellbeing
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft 365 tools
• Interest in developing project management expertise

Security Clearance Level

All GLD employees must hold BPSS security clearance. If successful for this post you must hold, or be willing and able to obtain, BPSS level security clearance. More information can be found about the vetting and clearance levelsbefore completing your application.

Sponsorship and Visas

Visa sponsorship will not be given to candidates except where they are existing civil servants employed by GLD, who meet the HO/UKVI requirements for sponsorship. If you are an existing civil servant employed by GLD who requires sponsorship, you should confirm your eligibility for sponsorship for this role.

Candidates with Limited Leave to Remain, must have at least 12 months remaining on an existing visa which allows them to work for GLD, at the point they start working at GLD. Please allow three months for the onboarding process from the point of offer.

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

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

• Strong communication skills (written and verbal) and the ability to communicate with a wide audience base
• Excellent planning and organisational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to deliver at pace, prioritising work effectively, ensuring deadlines are met
• Ability to take steps to understand customer needs and to deliver pieces of work which meet expectations
• Ability to work effectively with a team, supporting colleagues as well as prioritising own development and wellbeing
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft 365 tools
• Interest in developing project management expertise

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £30,891, Government Legal Department contributes £8,949 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%

Benefits of working for the Civil Service

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service. It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead, and you’ll benefit from regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.

Learning and Development at GLD

GLD has a comprehensive learning and development offer for all employees.

We offer a programme of in-person/hybrid and virtual sessions providing learning on profession-specific, soft skills, technical skills, and different topics. We also support colleagues through a range of different professional qualifications.

Cross-Functional Professional

We support all Professions with building their careers and capability aligning with the wider Civil Service offerings for each Profession.

There are also talent and development opportunities offered throughout the year these include:

Senior Leaders and Future Leaders Schemes – cross Civil Service accelerated development schemes.

Beyond Boundaries – cross government development programme designed to help participants develop the knowledge, skills and networks required to build a satisfying and effective career in the Civil Service.

Mentoring and Coaching – we encourage all colleagues to share their knowledge, capability, and experience.

Apprenticeships - We have a range of apprenticeships on offer across all professions with the opportunity for all employees to explore a profession specific apprenticeship to support their development in role.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

Application

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application on Civil Service Jobs, searching the reference below. The deadline for this application is Monday 19th January 2026 at12:00 Midday.

In your application you will be assessed on the following:

1. A CV (of no more than 2 A4 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. The CV will be scored and assessed on Experience.

2. A Statement of Suitability of no more than 1000 words demonstrating how you meet the Essential criteria for Experience and Technical Skills. Full details can be found on the person specification slide.

3. An example in no more than 250 words for the lead behaviour, Managing a Quality Service.

Application Errors

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, please contact us via: activecampaigns@governmentlegal.gov.uk . Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’.

Selection Process

After the closing date, the appointing panel shall assess candidates’ suitability for the role based on evidence provided in their application against the Behaviours, Experience and Technical Skills outlined in the person specification.

STAGED-SIFT : If there are a large number of applications the panel will conduct a staged sift. The initial sift will be on CV alone. If you meet the minimum criteria for the CV, you will then go to the full sift on the Statement of Suitability and lead behaviour, Managing a Quality Service.

In the eventuality that there are a high number of applicants successful at sift, GLD may operate a longlist, whereby applicants who have been shortlisted and met the minimum pass mark but are not selected for interview will have their application placed on hold. After the initial interview round candidates on the longlist may be offered an interview, should there still be posts available.

Interview

If you are invited to interview, you will be assessed on your performance in the criteria listed in the Person Specification, and strength-based questions.

These criteria are:

Behaviours

• Managing a Quality Service (lead)
• Communicating & Influencing​
• Working Together

Experience

Technical skills

Your interview will take place online.

Offer

The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, and all shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter.

All communications regarding your application will be made through Civil Service Jobs.

All candidates will be notified of the outcome as soon as possible after the interview. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

We appoint in strict order of merit. If you meet the minimum criteria for this position but are not successful for a post, you will be placed on the reserve list. We may contact you to see if you are interested in a post at the same, or a lower grade, in GLD should one arise.

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

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 : Sam Berkson
• Email : Sam.berkson@governmentlegal.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : activecampaigns@governmentlegal.gov.uk

Further information

You have the right to complain if you feel there has been a breach of the Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application hasn’t been treated in accordance with these Principles and wish to make a complaint, please contact recruitment_feedback@governmentlegal.gov.uk in the first instance. Please title your email as follows: Job Reference Number – Job Title – Recruitment Complaint. Complaints must be submitted in writing within 30 days of the incident or the decision which has caused the complaint. To fully engage with the issues raised GLD require that you submit evidence of your complaint.

Attachments

443609 - Project Support Officer -FINAL2 Opens in new window (pdf, 650kB)