Senior Policy Designer, CFT Demand and Early Resolution Division

Salary: £58,511 - £65,329 (national) and £63,343 - £70,725 (London). Salary depends on base location.

Working pattern: Full Time, Part Time, Part Time/Job Share, Flexible Working.

Location: Leeds, London (London: 102 Petty France, Leeds: 5 Wellington Place). Hybrid working: at least 2 days a week at the base location.

Vacancy approach: Cross Government. Grade: 7. Permanent. Number of positions: 1. Reserve list: 12 months.

Closing date: 28 Jul 2026. Eligibility: only existing Civil Servants and employees of accredited non departmental public bodies (NDPBs).

• Lead user centred policy design to reduce tribunal demand, improve early resolution and support better user journeys.
• Apply design methods to frame complex problems, test assumptions and develop clear policy options, interventions and recommendations.
• Facilitate workshops and collaborative policy design sessions with internal and external stakeholders, including policy teams, operational teams, advice and dispute resolution sectors, practitioners and where appropriate, representatives of the judiciary.
• Work with user researchers and analysts to ensure policy options are informed by robust evidence about user needs, behaviour, barriers, demand, service performance and system impact.
• Develop clear and compelling visual and written outputs that help senior stakeholders understand complex problems, user journeys, system dynamics, trade offs and policy choices.
• Support the development and testing of early policy concepts, intervention ideas and prototypes, ensuring learning is captured and used to inform future policy and delivery decisions.
• Ensure policy options are inclusive, accessible and designed around the needs of a diverse range of users.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration and shared learning across Whitehall, the wider justice system, England and Wales, and international jurisdictions developing innovative approaches to digital justice, early resolution, policy design and access to justice.
• Support governance and assurance across the programme by anticipating key decision points, clarifying design evidence and ensuring stakeholders are sufficiently briefed to make informed decisions.
• Build strong and credible relationships with senior leaders, including Directors, Deputy Directors, Ministers' Private Offices and external partners.
• Contribute to the leadership of the division by role modeling inclusive, confident and collaborative leadership, helping create a positive, high performing and learning focused culture.

• Strong policy design skills, including the ability to apply user centred design methods to complex, ambiguous policy, strategy, reform or delivery problems.
• Strong problem framing and systems thinking skills, including the ability to understand complexity, identify root causes, test assumptions and develop practical recommendations.
• Experience of working in multidisciplinary teams, bringing together policy, digital, operational, analytical, legal, research, design or delivery perspectives.
• A thoughtful and inclusive approach to policy development, using research, data, evidence and lived experience.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, facilitation and communication skills, including the ability to influence senior stakeholders and turn complex information into clear written, visual and verbal products.
• Strategic thinking and inclusive leadership skills, with the ability to work confidently in ambiguity and support colleagues from different backgrounds.
• Awareness of user centred design principles, the Government Service Standard, agile delivery, product development or digital delivery lifecycles.
• Experience using policy design or design thinking tools such as problem statements, journey maps, systems maps, personas, prototypes, hypotheses, design principles, options frameworks or theory of change models.
• Experience working with policy teams to integrate user insight and design evidence into strategy, policy development, options appraisal, ministerial advice or implementation planning.

Hybrid working is informal and non contractual. Employees are expected to spend at least 60 % of working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity. Working hours are 37 hours per week.

Employees must work in the UK only.

The Ministry of Justice is a Level 3 Disability Confident employer. We welcome and encourage applications from all, including groups currently under represented in the workforce.