9417 - Judicial Appointments Commission - Senior Secretariat and Knowledge Officer
| Posting date: | 28 August 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £40,014 to £42,859 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 11 September 2025 |
| Location: | SW1H 9AJ |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 3 days per week |
| Company: | Ministry of Justice |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 9417 |
Summary
Judicial Appointments Commission Job Description – Senior Secretariat and Knowledge Officer
We’re looking for a Senior Secretariat Officer (HEO level) who will be responsible for managing stakeholder relationships with our Commissioners, as well as providing knowledge management support to the Secretariat team.
The successful candidate will play a critical role in supporting the Commissioners of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to work effectively as a Board, ensuring that they have all the information and materials that they need to conduct their roles effectively.
You will ensure the JAC Secretariat is maintaining its corporate knowledge, and lead in the creation and provision of quality resources in support of both Commissioners and the JAC Senior leadership team. You will assist the Head of Secretariat and broader JAC organisation at all levels to deliver our business plan.
You will work directly with a wide variety of senior stakeholders across government, the judiciary, and the legal profession. You will use your excellent communication, influencing and relationship management skills to support collaborative working. You will also be comfortable working at pace while maintaining exceptional attention to detail and sound judgement.
As an independent public body, the Judicial Appointments Commission is responsible for designing, planning, and running recruitment campaigns to select judges in the courts and tribunals, up to and including the High Court, as well as non-legal tribunal members. You can read more about our work on our website: http://judicialappointments.gov.uk
Main responsibilities
Reporting to the JAC Head of Secretariat, your main responsibilities will include:
• Proactively managing the JAC engagement with its commissioners, building strong working relationships and ensuring the organisation is effectively supporting them to deliver within their roles.
• Providing a first point of contact for Commissioner queries, commissioning responses, monitoring and following up on actions, and being a friendly and helpful representative for them and the wider directorate both internally and with external stakeholders.
• Taking the lead in managing Commissioner workloads, including the coherence of commissioner’s assignment to exercises and committees, and ensuring strong commissioner contributions to JAC outreach programmes.
• Quality assuring materials and briefings produced for JAC Commissioners, and developing an online library of resources to support their working knowledge of the organisation and improve board effectiveness.
• Taking ownership of various Excel and Word-based logs and trackers, including commissioner work plans, to support the smooth delivery of Secretariat services to the broader organisation. Also, identifying and developing new logs for areas of work which come under the Secretariat’s responsibility to help streamline management information across the organisation.
• Acting as one of the team’s Information Managers to ensure the Ministry of Justice’s online storage systems (Juststore) meet the needs of the Secretariat.
• Supporting the Head of Secretariat, to manage the business of the Board and deliver 8 Board meetings a year.
• Provide support as part of the Commission Secretariat team, who are responsible for all aspects of support to the JAC Commission Board and sub-Committees.
• Support the Head of Secretariat in managing the JAC’s senior stakeholder activities.
The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary.
We’re looking for a Senior Secretariat Officer (HEO level) who will be responsible for managing stakeholder relationships with our Commissioners, as well as providing knowledge management support to the Secretariat team.
The successful candidate will play a critical role in supporting the Commissioners of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to work effectively as a Board, ensuring that they have all the information and materials that they need to conduct their roles effectively.
You will ensure the JAC Secretariat is maintaining its corporate knowledge, and lead in the creation and provision of quality resources in support of both Commissioners and the JAC Senior leadership team. You will assist the Head of Secretariat and broader JAC organisation at all levels to deliver our business plan.
You will work directly with a wide variety of senior stakeholders across government, the judiciary, and the legal profession. You will use your excellent communication, influencing and relationship management skills to support collaborative working. You will also be comfortable working at pace while maintaining exceptional attention to detail and sound judgement.
As an independent public body, the Judicial Appointments Commission is responsible for designing, planning, and running recruitment campaigns to select judges in the courts and tribunals, up to and including the High Court, as well as non-legal tribunal members. You can read more about our work on our website: http://judicialappointments.gov.uk
Main responsibilities
Reporting to the JAC Head of Secretariat, your main responsibilities will include:
• Proactively managing the JAC engagement with its commissioners, building strong working relationships and ensuring the organisation is effectively supporting them to deliver within their roles.
• Providing a first point of contact for Commissioner queries, commissioning responses, monitoring and following up on actions, and being a friendly and helpful representative for them and the wider directorate both internally and with external stakeholders.
• Taking the lead in managing Commissioner workloads, including the coherence of commissioner’s assignment to exercises and committees, and ensuring strong commissioner contributions to JAC outreach programmes.
• Quality assuring materials and briefings produced for JAC Commissioners, and developing an online library of resources to support their working knowledge of the organisation and improve board effectiveness.
• Taking ownership of various Excel and Word-based logs and trackers, including commissioner work plans, to support the smooth delivery of Secretariat services to the broader organisation. Also, identifying and developing new logs for areas of work which come under the Secretariat’s responsibility to help streamline management information across the organisation.
• Acting as one of the team’s Information Managers to ensure the Ministry of Justice’s online storage systems (Juststore) meet the needs of the Secretariat.
• Supporting the Head of Secretariat, to manage the business of the Board and deliver 8 Board meetings a year.
• Provide support as part of the Commission Secretariat team, who are responsible for all aspects of support to the JAC Commission Board and sub-Committees.
• Support the Head of Secretariat in managing the JAC’s senior stakeholder activities.
The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary.