245 Jobs in Greater Manchester

Job summary

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 Legal Operations Directorate

The Legal Delivery Division is part of GLD’s Legal Operations Directorate, sitting within the DG led Chief Operating Officer’s Group.

The Legal Operations Directorate aligns existing cross functions and skills, and creates new complimentary roles and capabilities, to collaborate and identify ways for GLD to become ever more efficient in the support of legal teams.

The work of the Legal Delivery Division is core to the future effectiveness of GLD’s legal work. We are building to provide the support to lawyers in many areas, including legal process improvement; automation; effective use of legal technology; data driven insights; and the provision of complimentary service skills, such as Legal Project Managers.

Through our commitment to excellence and innovation across all our activities, the Legal Delivery Division will help GLD achieve its vision of being an outstanding legal organisation, and an organisation fit for the future. The Legal Delivery Division will also play a crucial role in helping GLD maximise the impact of public spending on people's lives.

The Legal Delivery Division partners with other Legal Operations services, such as the AI Programme, and the Legal Knowledge and Learning Division; as well as working closely with the Digital and Data team, and with development training colleagues in HR, to optimise the overall service provided to lawyers.

The Legal Operations Directorate collectively operates on an open and collaborative basis.

The Role

This is a key leadership role at the heart of transforming how the Government Legal Department (GLD) delivers legal services. You will work closely with the Head of Legal Delivery to shape and drive a growing function focused on improving the efficiency, effectiveness and consistency of legal services across the organisation.

You will play a central role in designing and embedding GLD’s Legal Process Services offering. This includes:

• Legal project management – ensuring complex legal work is delivered in a structured, predictable and transparent way.
• Process improvement – identifying opportunities to streamline how legal services are delivered and driving practical improvements.
• Legal delivery management – strengthening how we plan, resource and manage delivery across teams.

Why this role matters

Legal Process Services is a strategic priority for GLD. As demand for legal services grows, this function is critical to modernising how we work—making our services more efficient, scalable and responsive.

This role offers a unique opportunity to shape an emerging capability at an organisational level. You will not only deliver tangible improvements but also help define the long-term direction of how GLD approaches legal delivery.

Leadership and impact

As the function continues to evolve, you will:

• Lead the development and growth of a specialist team.
• Build capability in areas such as project management and process improvement.
• Champion new ways of working and clearly articulate their value to a wide range of stakeholders.
• Engage with stakeholders at all levels, including senior leadership, to support the ongoing design and implementation of the function.
• Be comfortable working in an evolving environment, balancing strategic thinking with delivery.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the growth and strategic direction of Legal Process Services, defining and implementing the vision and operating model required to embed it as a sustainable, organisation-wide function.
• Hold accountability for a portfolio of large-scale legal delivery and improvement programmes.
• Build and maintain senior stakeholder relationship, acting as a strategic advisor and ambassador or Legal Process Services to influence decision-making, understand drivers and maximise impact.
• Lead workforce and capability planning to build a high-performing function with the right skills, capacity and expertise.
• Embed continuous improvement frameworks, identifying and addressing systemic inefficiencies and cross-cutting opportunities.
• Provide visible, inclusive leadership to a large G7 team, setting clear direction, expectations and standards for delivery.

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:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving

Key Skills and Experience

Essential – must be demonstrated at application and interview

• Substantial experience delivering change in a legal organisation, legal function or comparable professional services environment (for example, Legal Operations experience either at a law firm or in-house)
• Strong understanding of legal environment, workflows and matter delivery
• Experience in legal project management, process improvement, change management or delivering transformation
• Experience building working relationships and establishing credibility across a wider range of professions and seniority levels and using these to bring about change
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information in an accessible way
• Problem-solving ability with a proactive approach to independently identify and implement solutions or new ways of working
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence at all levels, including senior management

Desirable criteria will be used when there is a need to distinguish between candidates who are closely tied or the same after the initial consideration of essential criteria, at sift or interview.

• Previous experience as a practising lawyer

Security Clearance Level

All GLD employees must hold . If successful for this post you must hold or be willing to obtain SC level clearance for this role. You can start this position while obtaining this clearance level, however continued appointment will be conditional upon obtaining the required security clearance. Please note that there may be the opportunity to go through DV level clearance when in post, however this is optional. More information can be found about the vetting and clearance levelsbefore completing your application.

Sponsorship and Visas

There is the possibility that GLD can provide sponsorship for skilled workers, as long as they meet the full eligibility criteria set down under current immigration legislation. GLD does not guarantee sponsorship will be provided or that an applicant will be successful in gaining a skilled worker visa. Candidates should note this role is on the Temporary Shortage List, which is subject to periodic review by the UKVI.

Candidates with Limited Leave to Remain can apply but must have at least 12 months remaining on an existing visa which allows them to work for GLD when employment commences. Please allow three months for the onboarding process from the point of offer.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that they meet the criteria for sponsorship. They also have the responsibility to notify the Resourcing Team that they require Sponsorship at the start of the onboarding process into GLD. This applies to existing civil servants as well as external candidates.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £70,984, Government Legal Department contributes £20,564 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).

• 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 and Experience.

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 on Friday 14thAugust 2026 at 12:00 Midday.

In your application you will be assessed on the following:

• A CVsetting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. The CVwill be scored and assessed on Key skills and Experience set out within the person specification.
• A personal statement of no more than 750 words providing relevant examples in relation to the Key Skills and Experience set out within the person specification.

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 – 471848 & vacancy closing date Friday 14th August 2026'.

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 Key Skills and Experience 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 personal statement.

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.

These criteria are:

• Behaviour: Leadership
• Behaviour: Seeing the Big Picture
• Behaviour: Changing and Improving
• Key Skills and Experience

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 : Anna Mukerji
• Email : anna.mukerji@governmentlegal.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : activecampaign@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

Legal Operations Process Services Lead - candidate pack Opens in new window (pdf, 548kB)