Service Prosecuting Authority RASODA Lead / Senior Prosecutor

Note: This summary covers two G6 prosecutor roles within the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA): Senior Prosecutor and RASODA (Rape, Serious Offences and Domestic Abuse) Lead.

The G6 prosecutor roles are senior legal posts responsible for leading or supporting the prosecution of serious, complex and sensitive cases within the Service Justice System (SJS), including rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO), serious violence, domestic abuse and high-risk matters. Both post-holders would be expected to appear regularly as advocates in the Court Martial to deal with high profile cases, and to be competent to do so on their arrival into the Authority.

Senior Prosecutor: This role focuses on leading the prosecution of the most serious, complex and sensitive cases, providing strategic case direction and supporting wider prosecution performance, professional standards and continuous improvement. The post holder will be in court more regularly than the RASODA lead and be expected to conduct cases as an advocate across the spectrum of criminal offending including serious violence and fraud.

RASODA Lead: This role has additional specialist responsibility for RASSO and domestic abuse casework and advocacy. It supports SPA prosecutors in assessing and prosecuting RASSO and domestic abuse cases, benchmarks SPA casework against civilian justice best practice, and develops SPA training, guidance and policy on RASODA work. This post-holder would also conduct rape cases, including cases involving non-recent offending, as an advocate in the Court Martial. The RASODA Lead also supports concurrent jurisdiction issues, disclosure, and provides early advice to the Service Police Forces, including on reasonable lines of enquiry where required.

Both roles require independent prosecutorial judgement in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, ensuring decisions are legally robust, fair, and in the public and Service interest. The post holder will conduct casework, make and review charging decisions, provide legal advice, and conduct advocacy in their own right in the Court Martial, equivalent to the Crown Court, and in the Court Martial Appeal Court.

Both roles deliver strategic leadership across SPA. The post holder operates at senior level across Defence and the criminal justice system, contributing to policy development, and to SPA’s internal training programme for new and developing advocates.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week. The post holder reports to the Director of Service Prosecutions and works closely with the Deputy Director.

Please see details below about the Teams meeting for prospective candidates.

Prosecution & Case Leadership

• Conduct casework in the most serious and complex cases, including RASSO, serious violence, and sensitive or high-profile matters.
• Undertake advocacy in the Court Martial and appellate courts as required.
• Apply the Code for Crown Prosecutors rigorously, ensuring legally robust, fair and defensible charging decisions.
• Provide authoritative advice to Service Police on legal issues including reasonable lines of enquiry and case building.

Strategic Legal Advice & System Leadership

• Provide senior-level legal advice on complex and novel issues across the Service Justice System.
• Act as a trusted adviser to the Director of Service Prosecutions and senior Defence stakeholders on legal risk, case strategy, and public confidence.
• Support engagement with wider criminal justice partners (e.g. AGO, CPS where relevant).
• Contribute to legal policy development, ensuring SPA practice aligns with wider criminal justice.
• RASODA Lead: In addition to the shared strategic legal advice responsibilities, the RASODA Lead will work with Managing Prosecutors to provide advice and guidance to SPA prosecutors on casework, including early engagement and case-building with the Service Police Forces, and advocacy related to RASODA work. This includes providing legal advice and coaching prosecutors to develop their professional knowledge and skills. The RASODA Lead also provides advice and guidance to the Director of Service Prosecutions and Deputy Director of Service Prosecutions on RASODA and related work.

Case Management & Performance

• Oversee management of complex caseloads, ensuring compliance with statutory timelines and procedural obligations.
• Ensure that the interests of victims, witnesses and defendants are properly considered and safeguarded throughout proceedings.
• Maintain oversight of case progression, minimising delay and improving timeliness of justice.
• Escalate significant legal or reputational risks in accordance with SPA governance arrangements.

Professional Leadership, Standards & Capability

• Provide leadership, mentoring and professional oversight to SPA prosecutors, including junior lawyers.
• Develop specialist prosecution capability across areas such as RASSO, and complex fraud (where required).
• Lead internal legal training and contribute to capability development across SPA.
• Ensure adherence to SPA policies, legal standards and continuing professional development requirements.
• RASODA Lead: The RASODA Lead acts as policy and guidance owner for SPA guidance and policy related to RASODA work, identifies where improvements can be made in SPA processes, and assists in the design and implementation of new processes and procedures. The role develops specialist prosecution capability in RASODA, works with the SPA training team to identify training needs, helps develop learning events related to RASODA work and wider advocacy and casework, and undertakes learning events and presentations to upskill SPA employees.

Governance, Assurance & Continuous Improvement

• Ensure compliance with SPA policies, legal frameworks and professional standards across all casework.
• Support internal assurance, audit and inspection processes including quality reviewing decisions made and advocacy undertaken by other prosecutors.
• Identify and drive improvements in prosecution practice, including reducing delay and strengthening case quality.
• Contribute to broader SJS reform and continuous improvement initiatives where required.
• RASODA Lead: The RASODA Lead assists in developing statistics for reporting RASODA and other work, works with SPA and external stakeholders to identify best practice, and seeks to improve the service offered to victims, particularly in RASODA cases. This includes chairing or co-chairing RASSO scrutiny panels and mentoring the lead prosecutor for domestic abuse to ensure they are informed and supported to provide bespoke, trauma-informed operational support to the Service Police Forces in domestic abuse cases.

Qualified barrister or solicitor in England and Wales.

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 and Experience.

At Sift candidates will be assessed against their CV , Personal Statement and the following Behaviours:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

Where there is significant interest in the Vacancy Notice the panel reserves the right to carry out an initial sift based on the lead behaviour: Making Effective Decisions.

There will be an initial sift scoring your experience with a minimum score of 5 (substantial and strong positive evidence) required.

At Interview, you will be assessed the following Behaviours:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

The interview will include discussion of the assessment, the advocacy exercise, questions about your previous experience, and the Behaviour Questions. This will last approximately 40 minutes. Note: the role does not require you to line manage and this criterion concerns the service you provide.

Pre Assessment:

• You will be asked to undertake a pre-interview assessment, lasting approximately 40 minutes, and will look to assess your ability in relation to legal case analysis and review. The candidate will be expected to present their conclusions during the subsequent interview including, showing evidence of advocacy. Further information about the format of the assessment will be provided prior to the interview date as prior preparation will be required.

The candidate will be asked for their preferred position at interview, but the selection panel cannot guarantee the candidate’s preference.

There will be an opportunity prior to the vacancy closing date to attend an online MS TEAMS brief on 3 December 2026 at 5pm where prospective candidates can receive further information about the positions and ask any questions they may have. Candidates should contact the contact point for applicants (see below) to be provided with a link. Any questions on the role can be directed to the contact point. This will be a group briefing to ensure all candidates receive the same information. Candidates can ask follow up questions in writing, with answers circulated to all who sign up to the briefing.

Further information:

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

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