Director of Asylum and Human Rights Operations
| Posting date: | 16 July 2024 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £97,000 to £119,000 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 28 July 2024 |
| Location: | Sheffield |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 361813/8 |
Summary
The UK receives over 80,000 Asylum claims every year and a further 83,000 applications for status on the basis of Human Rights grounds. Behind each of these claims is a human story that deserves professional consideration. As leader of this critical function, you will lead, develop and inspire a team of 6000 staff to deliver the best service possible. This is, however, not a role without its challenges. For many reasons, delays have grown into our system and processes have not modernised fast enough. It is our ambition to get the whole system running in a way that is responsive and yet adaptive to each individual claim.
To achieve in this role, you will need to be a systems thinker, able to lead through influence of other's, not just through the leadership of your own function. You will need to be able to motivate a workforce on a large scale and inspire people to achieve the best they can for those who need it most.
The role is accountable to Ministers and Parliament, so expect regular scrutiny and have a strong eye for performance detail.
The responsibilities of the role
As the Director for the Asylum and Human Rights Operation you will be responsible for c. 6,500 staff spread across multiple sites within the UK who provide a service to some of the most vulnerable members of society. You will lead the end-to-end case working for asylum, family and human rights applications, advocating a constant focus on delivering robust and quality decisions whilst ensuring resources are effectively managed to meet demand.
You will need to be an inspirational leader, able to support, motivate and engage colleagues across dispersed teams. We are going through a period of large-scale change where building a strong team culture will be crucial. You will be comfortable driving performance that balances colleague well-being with improving productivity, efficiency and cost. And you will need to work with our transformation team to modernise and digitise the asylum and human rights system, which still has a long journey to travel.
We are looking for a skilled communicator, who can build relations with a wide range of stakeholders, both internally across the migration and borders system, and externally with third sector organisations and other partners. The ability to quickly gain the confidence and credibility of Ministers and senior officials within the Home Office and across Whitehall will be essential.