Senior Responsible Owner - Transformation and Change

Job summary

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is pleased to announce the opportunity to apply for the role of Senior Responsible Owner - Transformation and Change.

Reporting to the Director of Transformation and Change, as the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO), you provide strategic leadership, direction, and accountability for the successful delivery of one or more major programmes and strategic change initiatives across the CPS. You are accountable for ensuring programmes deliver their intended outcomes, benefits, and organisational value, while maintaining effective control of scope, cost, schedule, quality, risk, and resources.

You operate within a highly complex stakeholder environment, working collaboratively with CPS Executive Group colleagues, operational and legal leaders, government departments, criminal justice partners, and external suppliers to deliver sustainable and measurable improvements. You act as the principal adviser to Executive Sponsors and senior leaders on all aspects of programme delivery, governance, assurance, and benefits realisation.

Alongside programme accountability, you contribute to the continued development of project delivery capability across the CPS by promoting professional standards, championing delivery excellence, and supporting the growth of organisational capability. Working alongside project delivery profession leaders and senior delivery colleagues, you help ensure the CPS has the skills, expertise, and leadership required to deliver increasingly complex programmes of change.

As a member of the senior leadership team within the Transformation and Change Directorate, you contribute to the wider leadership and direction of the Directorate and support the delivery of CPS strategic priorities beyond your own programme responsibilities.

The Crown Prosecution Service operates across England and Wales, and this role can be based in any CPS office within these locations. Please note that regular travel will be required as part of the role, and it is subject to the CPS hybrid working policy.

As part of this role, you are expected to undertake direct line management responsibilities.

This is an exciting and fast-paced role with a real opportunity to make a difference. Find out more about the Crown Prosecution Service.

Job description

Your roles and responsibilities:

• Lead and deliver through multidisciplinary teams operating in complex matrix environments, creating an inclusive, high-performing culture that promotes innovation, accountability, personal development and delivery excellence.
• Accountable for the successful delivery of one or more major programmes and strategic change initiatives throughout the full programme lifecycle.
• Establish and maintain governance arrangements that provide confidence to Executive Sponsors, the Executive Group and the CPS Board.
• Influence senior stakeholders and secure consensus across complex and, at times, competing priorities.
• Develop and maintain strong collaborative relationships across the CPS, wider Government and the Criminal Justice System.
• Champion Project Delivery Profession standards and best practice across programme activity.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement, innovation and evidence-based decision making.

A copy of the full job description is attached.

Person specification

You must clearly demonstrate evidence of the following essential criteria, which are assessed throughout the selection process, including at the shortlisting and interview stages.

Essential criteria:

• Significant experience acting as a Senior Responsible Owner, Programme Director or equivalent senior delivery leader within large, complex, geographically dispersed organisations.
• Extensive experience of leading operational change and transformation programmes across the full programme lifecycle, with demonstrable expertise in programme governance, assurance, controls, business case development, and benefits realisation.
• Strong understanding of Project Delivery standards, assurance frameworks and functional requirements, including agile and hybrid delivery methodologies.
• Highly developed leadership, communication, and influencing skills, with the ability to deliver impactfully in matrix-style environments and build effective relationships with senior stakeholders internally and externally.
• High degree of political awareness, sound judgement and resilience, with the ability to operate effectively in ambiguous and fast-moving environments.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £86,000, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £24,914 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).

The Crown Prosecution Service is passionate about ensuring that we're a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.

This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, social mobility alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.

The Crown Prosecution Service commits to offer its employees the following experience:

• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You are able to learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
• We care about your wellbeing.
• We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.

We also offer the following range of benefits:

• Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.9%
• 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
• an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
• £350 each year to spend on personal development
• lawyer training programme for all new prosecutors
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• flexible working including flexitime, and a family friendly approach to work, subject to business and operational needs
• Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings.

Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want you to feel that you belong and can thrive, whatever your background, identity or culture. As a Disability Confident employer, we're happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments and improve your recruitment experience. If you'd like any reasonable adjustments made to our recruitment process, let us know within your application. You can find out more about reasonable adjustments and the Disability Confident Scheme at Civil Service Reasonable Adjustments and Disability Confident Scheme.

We want to ensure our employees can thrive at work and home and offer a range of support to achieve a balance. This includes flexibility of working hours, flexibility to support caring responsibilities and a flexible approach to deployment. We offer a hybrid working policy. There is an expectation that you spend at least 40% of your contracted hours over a four-week period at court, in an office or another official workplace depending on business need and the kind of work you're doing.

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 recruitment process is being supported by Veredus on behalf of the CPS, for the pre-sift and assessment stages.

The recruitment process will consist of an online application, followed by a number of assessments (virtual and in-person), and an interview held in person.

Application

When you are ready to apply, please click on 'Apply' at the top of this page. Applications must be submitted no later than midday (12:00pm) on Friday 11 September 2026.

Your submission must include:

• A personal statement (maximum 1,250 words) outlining how your personal skills, qualities, and experience demonstrate your suitability for the role. Please include relevant examples to demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria set out in the person specification.
• In a single document, please include the following and attach it with your submission:
  • Your current CV (maximum two A4 pages), including your educational and professional qualifications, full employment history, and an explanation of any employment gaps. Where applicable, include details of budgets and teams managed, together with key relevant achievements in your most recent roles.
  • Details of your current remuneration package.
  • The names of at least two referees who may be contacted after the shortlisting stage. Please state the capacity in which they have known you and for how long. Referees will not be contacted without your consent.

Your personal statement and CV/experience are used to assess your suitability at the application stage. If you do not submit all required information, the panel has only limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

Applications cannot be amended once submitted. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure all required information is provided in the specified format at the point of submission in order to be considered.

Pre-sift

You will receive an acknowledgment of your application through the online process. If you do not receive a notification of your application, please contact: SCS.RelationshipsTeam@cps.gov.uk

A pre-sift will be conducted by Veredus to support the panel in managing applications effectively. This will involve considering the evidence provided against the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application.

Shortlist

The panel will then assess your application to select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role by considering the evidence provided against the essential criteria set out in the Person Specification. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application.

Assessments

If you are shortlisted, you undertake a number of assessments prior to your final interview, including the following:

• Participate in a staff engagement panel with a selection of people from across the Crown Prosecution Service, this will take place in person in London.
• Undergo an individual leadership assessment (ILA), a series of psychometric assessments, concluding with a session with the psychologist.

These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel's decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview. Find out more about SCS assessments.

Interview

If you are shortlisted, you attend a panel interview following the individual leadership assessment and staff engagement exercise. This provides an opportunity for a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the essential criteria set out in the person specification.

You will also complete a scenario-based exercise during the interview. Further details about this stage of the process will be provided to shortlisted candidates.

Offer

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible after the final assessment and panel interview. Feedback will only be provided to candidates that progress onto the interview stage.

Key dates

• Application deadline: Friday 11 September 2026, 12pm (midday)
• Individual leadership assessment (online): week commencing 12 October 2026
• Staff engagement assessment (in person in London): 12, 13, 15 October 2026
• Interview (in person in London): week commencing 26 October 2026

Your co-operation in making yourself available during this time is much appreciated. We always offer as much flexibility as possible, but unfortunately, it is not possible to provide alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the timetable set out above and exercise flexibility throughout the recruitment and selection process in order to meet the given dates. Please note that the assessment and interview dates may change.

Reserve list

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, which the Civil Service may use to fill future suitably similar vacancies across government for candidates who are considered appointable following interview.

Checks

The following checks apply if you are shortlisted:

• You are required to complete a conflict of interest declaration form. To ensure the integrity of the judgements and decisions you make every day, all civil servants must ensure that no conflict arises, or could be perceived to arise, between your public duties and private interests. This is a requirement of the Civil Service Code and is designed to protect both individual civil servants and their employing departments. If you believe you, or a family member, have any interest that may be relevant, or could be perceived as relevant, to your ability to undertake this role, please email SCS.RelationshipsTeam@cps.gov.uk as early as possible in the process. Relevant interests may be financial or may relate to your relationships with specific individuals, organisations or employers.
• References and open-source due diligence checks may also be carried out, including searches of previous public statements, social media, blogs and other publicly available information. You are also required to complete a candidate information form.
• Fraud check: if successful at interview, you will undergo pre-employment screening, including a check against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This involves checking your name, National Insurance number and date of birth. Anyone included on the database is refused employment unless they can demonstrate exceptional circumstances.
• Documentation submitted by unsuccessful candidates will be securely disposed of.

Clearance required

The appointment will be subject to satisfactory completion of checks on health, security and other matters.

Successful candidates must hold, or be willing to obtain, Security Check (SC) clearance before commencing the role.

Find out more about the vetting process.

Current civil servants

If you are a current civil servant and you are currently undergoing any of the following formal actions your application will not be progressed any further:

• Formal discipline action
• Any formal action regarding attendance, poor performance
• Any restriction of duties as a result of disciplinary action

Restrictions
During the period of appointment, there will be certain restrictions on political activity. Further information can be found in the Civil Service Management Code on GOV.UK.

Business appointments
Please note that, on leaving the appointment, you are subject to the Government’s business appointment rules, and restrictions on future employment may be imposed. Find out more about business appointments.

Civil Service Commission

If you are dissatisfied with the recruitment process and wish to make a complaint, please contact SCS.RelationshipsTeam@cps.gov.uk with your concerns.

If you remain dissatisfied and wish to make a further complaint, please click on the following link to the Civil Service Commission complaints page Recruitment Complaints - Civil Service Commission

Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/

Details of the Civil Service Nationality Rules are located at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Candidates are subject to UK immigration requirements. For the most up-to-date information on the requirements of working in the UK, please go to the UK Visas and Immigration website at https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

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 standard (or equivalent) 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 Relationships Team
• Email : SCS.RelationshipsTeam@cps.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : SCS.RelationshipsTeam@cps.gov.uk

Attachments

SCS1 Senior Responsible Owner - Transformation & Change Job Description Opens in new window (pdf, 63kB)Candidate Additional Information - SRO Transformation & Change Opens in new window (docx, 982kB)CPS Personal Statement Guidance Opens in new window (pdf, 240kB)