Senior Legal Adviser

Join Ofsted’s Legal Services Team – Make a Meaningful Impact

We are looking for a talented legal professional to provide or commission high-quality, accurate, and cost-effective legal services that support Ofsted’s vital work.

You will work across diverse areas of law, including public law, judicial review, children’s social care, education law, and litigation, reporting directly to the Deputy Director, Legal Services.

What we’re looking for

We welcome applications from experienced solicitors or barristers who meet the following criteria:

• A qualified solicitor or barrister with at least 5 years' post-qualification experience
• Significant experience in public law and litigation, particularly judicial review
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to simplify complex legal issues
• A collaborative approach with confidence in advising senior stakeholders

This is a fantastic opportunity to further your experience in Ofsted’s well-established team. The post holder will work with high-achieving professionals at all levels, surrounded by a friendly and supportive team. They will have access to amazing benefits, such as flexible working hours, the Civil Service Pension Scheme, and 32.5 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays. We offer a hybrid working model, so you may also choose to spend a proportion of time working from home.

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Qualified Solicitor or Barrister with five years post qualification experience.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

Application and shortlisting:

The selection panel will assess your application (personal statement) based on your evidence you have provided against the essential criteria as set out in the person specification and job advert.

You will also be asked to provide information within the “Employer/Activity History” section of the application form. This information is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV setting out your career history (this will be used in the sifting process).

Assessment and Interview

Candidates who pass the benchmark at the shortlisting stage will be invited to an assessment and interview where they will be assessed against a mixture of the Civil Service behaviours and the experience/technical skills set out in section 3 of the job specification.

The most suitable candidates will be invited to attend an assessment and interview on week commencing Monday 5 October 2026, at either 23 Stephenson Street, Birmingham, 10 South Colonnade, London or held via Microsoft Teams. This will be confirmed near the time.

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