Senior Lawyers (2 roles)

Job summary

Are you a legal professional looking for a unique opportunity to work in a dynamic and evolving sector?

The Gambling Commission is expanding its Legal team and is seeking 2 Senior Lawyers to provide practical, solution-focused advice across a diverse range of complex and high-profile matters. Working closely with colleagues across the organisation, you will play a key role in supporting the Commission’s regulatory and criminal objectives and helping to ensure that gambling is fair, safe and free from crime.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of a multi-billion-pound industry, tackling issues of significant public interest and real societal impact. We are looking for enthusiastic, collaborative team players who are keen to get involved, take ownership of their work, and contribute to a high-performing legal function.

If you are looking to develop your career while working on challenging and varied legal issues in a supportive and purpose-driven environment, we would love to hear from you.

Why Join Us?

As part of our Legal team, you will advise on criminal, licensing, regulatory and public law matters.

As a Senior Lawyer, you will lead on the Commission’s most complex, high-risk and high-profile legal matters. You will be responsible for advising on legal strategy, overseeing the delivery of legal advice across cases, and ensuring the provision of high-quality, consistent and risk-based legal support aligned with organisational objectives.

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

The role requires significant experience in both regulatory, public law and criminal prosecutions. You will provide advice on a broad range of complex issues, including regulatory decision-making, investigations, evidential requirements, enforcement powers, and criminal proceedings, including litigation.

You will lead and take ownership of the complex, novel and sensitive matters across criminal, regulatory, and public law matters dealt with by the Commission, including those with significant legal, reputational or policy implications.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Setting legal strategy on investigations, enforcement action, litigation and regulatory decision-making
• Leading and advising on the development of policy, consultation responses and legislative proposals, with a clear understanding of legal, regulatory and public law implications.
• Providing authoritative, risk-based advice to senior leadership, including at executive and board level
• Supervising, mentoring and developing lawyers, including quality assurance of legal advice and outputs
• Making strategic decisions on enforcement approach, evidential issues and legal risk
• Leading engagement with external counsel, law enforcement partners and other regulators

This role requires proven leadership experience, including supervising and developing lawyers, providing strategic direction on complex matters, and ensuring the consistent delivery of high-quality legal advice across a team or function.

Working closely with colleagues across the organisation and external stakeholders, you will deliver practical, solution-focused legal advice that supports the Commission's mission to keep crime out of gambling, protect consumers and make gambling safer for all.

You will handle an exciting and varied caseload covering:

• Gambling law.
• Criminal investigations and prosecutions
• Regulatory and licensing matters.
• Administrative and public law, including litigation and judicial reviews.
• Contract and procurement law.
• Employment law.
• Freedom of information, data protection, and GDPR matters.

You will have a direct impact on high-stakes decisions, attend key meetings in an advisory capacity, and deliver legal advice that drives real-world results.

Person specification

About you
We’re looking for someone who can work independently whilst being an integral part of our team. You will thrive in managing a complex caseload and be comfortable advising senior leadership, external solicitors, and counsel. Your ability to find innovative solutions within the regulatory framework will be key to making the Commission more effective.

Essential criteria:

• Qualified Solicitor holding a current practising certificate, or a Chartered Legal Executive (CILEX Fellow with litigation rights) with, or working towards, advocacy and litigation rights in criminal law.
• Minimum five years’ PQE or equivalent experience.
• Significant senior-level experience advising on complex public law and regulatory matters, including the interpretation and application of statutory powers and regulatory frameworks, the application of public law principles, regulatory decision-making, and the assessment and mitigation of judicial review risk.
• Proven ability to build credibility and trusted relationships with senior colleagues, stakeholders and decision-makers.
• Extensive prosecutorial experience leading and advising on complex criminal investigations and prosecutions, including the strategic use of enforcement powers, such as the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (CPIA).
• Excellent intellectual, analytical and strategic and communication skills, with proven experience leading complex, high-profile and sensitive matters involving significant legal, regulatory and reputational risk, and the ability to provide clear, persuasive and authoritative legal advice both orally and in writing.
• Strong leadership and people management skills, with proven ability to supervise, mentor, and quality assure the work of other lawyers.

Desirable criteria:

• Experience of advising on gambling law and regulatory practice, including the interpretation and application of gambling legislation, licensing objectives, regulatory requirements and enforcement frameworks.
• Experience of advising on civil, commercial, and contractual matters with the ability to provide solutions-focused advice.
• Experience of advising on data protection, information governance and information rights issues.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £70,000, Gambling Commission contributes £20,279 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Our offer to you

• Generous Pension: Market-leading Civil Service pension with a 28.97% employer contribution rate.
• Prime Location: Our central Birmingham city centre office is just a stone's throw from New Street train station, with convenient hybrid working arrangements.
• Holidays: 26 days, increasing to 29 days after 2 years, with an option to buy up to 5 additional days.
• Work Environment: Join one of the Best Places to Work as highlighted in the Times, committed to inclusivity, respect, and helping you achieve your full potential
• Work-Life Balance: Hybrid Working Arrangements

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

Selection Process:
As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

• An anonymised CV including your job history and previous experiences. Your CV should cover up to your last 5 roles, detailing your responsibilities and any key achievements (Maximum 500 words for all roles).
• A cover letter, answering the following:
  • “The Gambling Commission adopts an outcome-focused approach to regulation. Please describe how your experience, skills and judgement have enabled you to support effective decision-making and organisational objectives in a complex legal or regulatory environment? (Maximum 500 words)
  • “Please describe a complex or high-risk legal matter where you led the strategy and influenced senior decision makers. What was your approach and what was the outcome?” (Maximum 500 words)
  • “Why do you want to become a senior lawyer at the Gambling Commission and what interests you about the role?” (Maximum 250 words).

The closing date for this role is 11:59pm on 18 October 2026. We reserve the right to change the closing date depending on the number of responses received. Please submit your application as soon as possible to ensure it is considered in the selection process.

Candidate shortlisting will take place weeks commencing 19 and 26 October 2026 with remote interviews taking place during week commencing 9 November 2026. All shortlisted candidates will be given a minimum of 5 working days ahead of their interview date.

The interview process for this vacancy will comprise a remote presentation on a designated topic, followed by a question-and-answer session. Candidates will then attend a remote interview consisting of competency-based and technical questions. To prepare for your interview, please familiarise yourself with the STAR technique for answering interview questions.

Please ensure you have the right to work in the UK before applying, as we are unable to provide visa sponsorship. This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 5 years and obtain SC level security clearance.

Incomplete applications will be discounted from shortlisting. Please ensure your application is fully completed and submitted before logging out of your account.

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.

As the regulator of the National Lottery, there are some roles within the Commission that are prohibited from playing the National Lottery. This does not affect your family playing. We will let you know at the interview if the role you have applied for is on the Prohibited List.

About us:
Set up under the Gambling Act 2005, the Gambling Commission is committed to safeguarding the public against any detrimental impact brought about by gambling. We do this by keeping crime out, protecting children and vulnerable people, and ensuring the commercial gambling industry is run fairly and openly. We work with the legal system, the public health system, community groups and the industry itself to understand how we can protect the interests of as many people as possible, as effectively as possible.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) 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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.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.

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

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 : recruitment@gamblingcommission.gov.uk
• Email : recruitment@gamblingcommission.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@gamblingcommission.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the Recruitment Principles. 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 Governance, Gambling Commission, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham B2 4BP in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from us, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

Senior Lawyer Job Advert (IM11) Opens in new window (pdf, 235kB)