Lead Service Manager

As a Senior Service Manager, you provide operational leadership and assurance across complex digital services, ensuring they perform effectively, meet user and business needs, and are ready for future change.

Working on behalf of the Service Owner, you maintain a clear view of service health, performance, operational readiness, adoption, benefits and risk. You use performance data, user insight and operational evidence to identify issues, support prioritisation and inform effective decision making.

You work across multidisciplinary teams, bringing together Product, Delivery, User Centred Design, technical and operational colleagues, as well as suppliers and Criminal Justice System partners. You help coordinate activity across organisational boundaries, manage risks and dependencies, and drive continual service improvement.

This is an influential role requiring strong judgement, collaboration and stakeholder management. You build trusted relationships, provide constructive challenge and translate complex information into clear briefings and recommendations for senior stakeholders.

Ultimately, you help ensure our digital services are reliable, well managed and continually improving, supporting operational colleagues to deliver an effective service across the Criminal Justice System.

The Crown Prosecution Service is based in England and Wales. If you’re applying for this role and live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must let us know when accepting this offer as you need permission to work from your home address if hybrid working is part of your role. There’s no guarantee that we will grant this approval.

You must be aged 16 or over at the point of starting in this role. The expected start date is approximately 8–12 weeks after the application closing date. You are expected to commence employment as soon as possible following the expiry of your notice period. Requests for significantly later start dates may not be accommodated.

Your roles and responsibilities:

• You lead service performance management, operational readiness, governance, adoption, benefits realisation and continual improvement across the end-to-end service lifecycle.
• You establish and monitor meaningful measures of service health, performance and effectiveness, using data, user insight and operational evidence to identify trends and improvement priorities.
• You coordinate multidisciplinary teams and suppliers to manage operational risks, issues and dependencies, ensuring appropriate mitigation, escalation and assurance.
• You provide senior stakeholders and governance forums with clear analysis, evidence-based recommendations and assurance to support service decisions and prioritisation.
• You build effective relationships across Digital, Operations, Legal Services and external partners, championing user needs and leading collaboration to improve service outcomes

A copy of the full job description is attached.

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)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Recruitment process

The recruitment process consists of an online application, assessment and interview.

Behaviours

You are asked to complete a statement of no more than 250 words for each of the following behaviours, setting out how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience match the specified behaviours and requirements:

• Managing a Quality Service (Lead Behaviour)
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership

The panel has the right to assess the lead behaviour ‘Managing a Quality Service’ first. If the standard on this behaviour isn’t met, the other behaviours won’t be considered and your application won’t progress. The panel also has the right to raise the minimum standard pass mark. The panel may also refer to the lead behaviour at the interview stage to determine merit order.

Personal statement

We also ask you to complete a personal statement of no more than 1000 words. You need to demonstrate the following experience required for this role:

• Experience of supporting the management, delivery or continuous improvement of complex digital services.
• Ability to use performance data, user insight and operational evidence to assess service health, readiness, adoption and improvement needs.
• Experience of working across multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships and support collaboration across organisational boundaries.
• Experience of identifying, tracking and escalating risks, issues, dependencies or service improvement actions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to produce clear briefings, updates and recommendations for senior stakeholders.
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of the Criminal Justice System and the wider criminal justice landscape.
• Experience of case management or operational delivery within a criminal justice environment.

You also need to demonstrate the Crown Prosecution Service or Civil Service values.

CV

You’re not required to upload your CV. However, when submitting your application there is a ‘CV section’. You are required to provide information about your employment and/or academic history for the past three years. The CV section will be used as supporting evidence, it won’t be assessed.

It’s your responsibility to provide the specified information in the requested format to ensure that you're considered for the post.

If you're unable to cover three years through employment or academic history, you must provide a character reference for clearance purposes.

Interview and Assessment

The interviews and assessments are expected to take place on 10 & 11 December 2026.

Your interview takes place online through Microsoft Teams. A member of our recruitment team will be in touch with guidance. If you have any queries about this, contact dimitra.siakavara@cps.gov.uk

You should keep these date free or notify us if you're not available. We'll make every effort to accommodate your date preferences but we can't guarantee it.

We ask you to complete an assessment as part of the recruitment process for this role. We will provide details immediately before your interview.

We use behaviours to help us understand your experience, to see if you're a good fit for the role. You are assessed against G7 in the Civil Service success profiles behaviours framework. We are assessing 4 behaviours at interview and assessment stage:

• Managing a Quality Service - interview
• Communicating and Influencing – interview
• Making Effective Decisions – interview
• Leadership – interview
• Changing and Improving – assessment

Strengths

Strengths are tested at interview stage - the strengths tested are not shared before the interview.

Other

This is a full-time post. We do consider requests for flexible, part-time working and job share, always considering the operational needs of the department.

Please note that the CPS is unable to offer visa sponsorship. If you require visa sponsorship to work in the UK, you will not meet the eligibility criteria for this role.

Clearance

If successful, you are required to secure a Disclosure and Barring Service check, for which you must have a current valid UK address. You may also be required to secure a Security Check clearance once in post.

If successfully appointed, we ask you to complete a character enquiry form, and nationality and immigration questionnaire. If Security Check is required later, we also ask you to complete a national security vetting form.

If you're a Crown Prosecution Service member of staff, you won’t need to do a Disclosure and Barring Service check as you already hold this clearance.

The job you’re applying for is covered by Article 3(a) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, consequently Section 4(2) of that Act doesn’t apply. You’re required to disclose all previous convictions and cautions including spent convictions. Failing to make a full declaration will result in withdrawing your offer of employment if our checks reveal convictions that haven’t been disclosed.

To be cleared to Security Check clearance level, should this be required, you have to be able to meet the residency requirement in the Cabinet Office guidance. For the Crown Prosecution Service, this is three years within the last five years.

Reserve list

If you're recommended by the selection panel but not appointed to the current vacancy, you’re put on a reserve list for 12 months. You may be offered another Lead Service Manager post in the CPS if a vacancy comes up during this period. We may also approach candidates on the waiting list to fill other roles that require similar knowledge and experience.

Civil Service Commission

If you’re dissatisfied with the recruitment process and wish to make a complaint, please contact Strategic.Resourcing@cps.gov.uk with your concerns.

If you remain dissatisfied and wish to make a further complaint, please click on the following link to the Civil Service Commission complaints page Recruitment Complaints - Civil Service Commission

Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/

Details of the Civil Service Nationality Rules are located at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Candidates are subject to UK immigration requirements. For the most up-to-date information on the requirements of working in the UK, please go to the UK Visas and Immigration website at https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.