Legal Process Services Lead

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,