Senior Legal Adviser

Job summary

Join Ofsted’s Legal Services Team – Make a Meaningful Impact

We are looking for a talented legal professional to provide or commission high-quality, accurate, and cost-effective legal services that support Ofsted’s vital work.

You will work across diverse areas of law, including public law, judicial review, children’s social care, education law, and litigation, reporting directly to the Deputy Director, Legal Services.

What we’re looking for

We welcome applications from experienced solicitors or barristers who meet the following criteria:

• A qualified solicitor or barrister with at least 5 years' post-qualification experience
• Significant experience in public law and litigation, particularly judicial review
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to simplify complex legal issues
• A collaborative approach with confidence in advising senior stakeholders

This is a fantastic opportunity to further your experience in Ofsted’s well-established team. The post holder will work with high-achieving professionals at all levels, surrounded by a friendly and supportive team. They will have access to amazing benefits, such as flexible working hours, the Civil Service Pension Scheme, and 32.5 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays. We offer a hybrid working model, so you may also choose to spend a proportion of time working from home.

Job description

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Person specification

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Qualifications

Qualified Solicitor or Barrister with five years post qualification experience.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

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

• Excellent knowledge, understanding and application of public law. (Essential)
• The ability to exercise sound legal judgement and to appreciate legal risks and their underlying causes and to identify solutions which take account of wider policy and operational contexts. (Essential)
• The ability to deliver authoritative advice and guidance and to engage effectively with senior stakeholders to influence and implement strategic policies and decisions. (Essential)
• Successful application of leadership and management skills. (Essential)
• Experience of judicial review work. (Desirable)
• Knowledge, understanding and application of regulatory law. (Desirable)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £85,850, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills contributes £24,870 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Full details of the benefits available can be found in our Ofsted brochure.

Ofsted is devoted to equality, diversity and inclusion. Within our Ofsted Strategy 2023-2027 we have stated that we will improve the representation of under-represented groups across the organisation and publish our progress on this annually. We are always looking to expand on our diverse workforce by recruiting candidates from varied backgrounds and differing experiences. We are proud to be a Disability Confident – Leader, we continually engage with our 5 staff networks for protected characteristics, and highlight the work of our Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Group. We ensure all candidates are treated with fair and open competition, with all appointments being made on merit and we use our Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) to provide assurance to all candidates of this.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

Application and shortlisting:

The selection panel will assess your application (personal statement) based on your evidence you have provided against the essential criteria as set out in the person specification and job advert.

You will also be asked to provide information within the “Employer/Activity History” section of the application form. This information is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV setting out your career history (this will be used in the sifting process).

Assessment and Interview

Candidates who pass the benchmark at the shortlisting stage will be invited to an assessment and interview where they will be assessed against a mixture of the Civil Service behaviours and the experience/technical skills set out in section 3 of the job specification.

The most suitable candidates will be invited to attend an assessment and interviewon week commencing Monday 23 February 2026, at either 23 Stephenson Street, Birmingham, 10 South Colonnade, London or held via Microsoft Teams. This will be confirmed near the time.

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 : People Services Delivery
• Email : Jobs@ofsted.gov.uk
• Telephone : 03000 131 487

Recruitment team

• Email : Jobs@ofsted.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 email Ofsted recruitment at jobs@ofsted.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 at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recrutiment/

Attachments

Job specification - Senior Legal Adviser Opens in new window (pdf, 205kB)