Job Description
Service Owner
Location: National*
Closing Date: 9th June 2026
Interviews: w/c 22nd June 2026
Grade: G6
(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)
Salary**: London: £75,674 – £85,257 (which may include and allowance of up to £9,151)
National: £71,381 – £80,419
Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working
Contract Type: Permanent
Number of vacancies: 3
Vacancy number: 17987
*We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your local office. Office locations can be found ON THIS MAP
Please note that unless you are an existing member of staff at Justice Digital, Data and Science, the only London location being recruited to is 10 South Colonnade, E14 4PU. We are no longer recruiting to 102 Petty France, SW1H 9AJ.
The Role
We’re recruiting for 3 Service Owners here at Justice Digital, Data and Science to be part of our warm and collaborative Prisons Digital team.
This role aligns against Service Owner from the Government Digital and Data Framework
These are exciting times at Justice Digital. We have a clear vision - to develop a digitally-enabled justice system that works more simply for users - and we’re looking for talented people to help us achieve it. We’re making things better by building adaptable, effective services and systems that are simple to use for staff and citizens. While the work can be challenging, it is important, impactful and hugely rewarding.
In Prisons Digital, we build and maintain digital products and tools that help to:
protect the public
provide decent and safe spaces in which to live and work
reduce reoffending by rehabilitating the people in our care through education and employment
You will work collaboratively with multidisciplinary digital teams and with stakeholders across policy and operations, delivering digital services for prisons that meet user needs and business requirements. You will use the knowledge you gain of how users work and the policy they must comply with to develop and maintain services that speed up complex processes and help prisons to run more efficiently.
You’ll receive a range of excellent benefits when you join our department, including:
A generous employer pension contribution of 28.97% through the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
25 days of annual leave, (increasing to 30 days once you have reached 5 years of service), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
Flexible working arrangements including hybrid working, working part time or compressed hours. Designed to support a positive work–life balance.
Employees are allocated 10% of their working time for personal and professional development.
A £1k per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best-in-class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms.
Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!
You can find more details of the Benefits we offer here. To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital, Data and Science please take a look at our blog.
Key Responsibilities:
Deliver services that meet the government Digital by Default Service Standard and are best in class for government meeting users’ raised expectations of technology.
Be outcome-focused and balance the needs of competing stakeholders, ensuring that services are valuable and effective for the organisation.
Create and communicate a compelling service vision and roadmap ensuring the right balance of meeting business/user objectives and managing technical risk.
Represent a service area to departmental board-level officials and senior stakeholders, using information from diverse user, commercial and service sources.
Embed digital culture with your stakeholders, the department and the wider civil service.
Be responsible for legacy technology which is part of the service area, and tackling the risks associated with this.
Lead and develop a high performing team that use service design and user-centred, data-driven, cloud-based delivery practices - most of which is focussed on replacing our legacy systems.
If this feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!
Person Specification
Essential
User focus - Gives direction on which tools / methods to use. Is experienced in meeting the needs of users across a variety of channels. Able to bring insight and expertise in how user needs have changed over time to ensure these are met by the business.
Strategic ownership - Able to develop a long-term vision and objectives. Discerning and disciplined in focusing on what is important and most relevant. Able to develop the capability of others.
Agile working - Coaches and leads teams in Agile and Lean practices, determining the right approach for the team to take and evaluating this through the life of a project. Is able to think of new and innovative ways of working to achieve the right outcomes.
Financial ownership - Able to develop a business case, own and iterate it throughout the lifecycle. Understands the granularity of financial costs per sprint and value delivered.
Lifecycle perspective - Able to apply experience of multiple parts of the life cycle, recognising when it is right to move forward and when it is right to stop. Able to recognise the appropriate deliverables and the right people to meet these. Able to work with other agile delivery operations throughout the product lifecycle to plan and engage with the appropriate stakeholders at a particular stage in the project.
Operational management - Keeps abreast of industry best practice and cascades ways of working. Knows how to make operations efficient. Is the escalation point for major operational issues and champions operational management across the community. Works closely with leaders of operational delivery teams in GDD
Problem ownership - Is able to anticipate problems and knows how to defend against them at the right time. Understands how the problem fits into the larger picture. Is able to articulate the problem and helps others to articulate the problem. Builds problem-solving capabilities in others.
Proven leadership of multidisciplinary digital teams to successfully deliver digital service across the whole lifecycle - discovery, design, delivery, growth, continuous improvement and retirement into the larger picture. Is able to articulate the problem and helps others to articulate the problem. Builds problem-solving capabilities in others.
Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for BPSS clearance
We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate based on culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.
Our values are Purpose, Humanity Openness and Together. Find out more here about how we celebrate diversity and an inclusive culture in our workplace.
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.
Salary Information**
Base salary for this role is from London: £75,674 – £85,257; National: £71,381 – £80,419
New entrants to the Civil Service joining the MoJ are expected to start at the minimum of the pay band.
Existing Civil Servants moving on a level transfer will retain their current base salary or move to the minimum of the pay band for the role, whichever is higher.
Existing Civil Servants who are promoted will either move to the bottom of the new grade’s pay band or receive a 10% uplift, whichever provides the greater increase.
Candidates may also be eligible for a non‑pensionable Government Digital & Data Allowance of up to £9,151 per year (London only). This is a temporary allowance, reviewed annually and may be retained, amended, or withdrawn.
The final offer will reflect the skills and experience you demonstrate during the assessment process.
How to Apply
In Justice Digital, Data and Science, we recruit using a combination of the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability and Success Profiles Frameworks. We shall assess a combination of your Experience, Technical skills and Behaviours during the assessment process.
Stage 1 - Application and sift:
To apply for this position, you must submit the following as part of your application:
A CV detailing your career history (including any relevant qualifications). Your CV will be assessed against the essential criteria outlined within the Person Specification of this advert.
A Personal Statement (no more than 500 words) which should outline your experience and skills, giving clear examples of work undertaken. It should specifically address the following 2 criteria listed below, using a separate paragraph for each.
Strategic ownership - Able to develop a long-term vision and objectives. Discerning and disciplined in focusing on what is important and most relevant. Able to develop the capability of others.
Financial ownership - Able to develop a business case, own and iterate it throughout the lifecycle. Understands the granularity of financial costs per sprint and value delivered.
A diverse sift panel will review the information in your CV and Personal Statement to assess the sift criteria specified above. We operate an anonymous shortlisting process. Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement do not include your name or any other identifying details.
Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift based on Strategic Ownership and Financial Ownership will be conducted before the sift.
Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply - Application Guidance
Stage 2 - Interviews:
Successful candidates who meet the required standard will then be invited to a panel interview held via Microsoft Teams. At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements - Experience, Technical and the following Behaviours:
Leadership
Changing and Improving
Seeing the Big Picture
Delivering at Pace
Making Effective Decisions
As part of your interview, you will be asked to deliver a presentation that will assess the following criteria and behaviours:
User Focus
Lifecycle Perspective
Problem Ownership
Making Effecting Decisions
Delivery at Pace
Further details will be provided if successful at sift.
Appointments are made strictly in merit order. In the event that two or more candidates receive identical interview scores, the Leadership Behaviour will be applied as the primary lead criterion to determine the final merit order.
Should you be unsuccessful in the role that you have applied for but demonstrate the capability for a role at a lower level, we reserve the right to discuss this opportunity with you and offer you the position without needing a further application.
A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, from which further appointments may be made.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Terms & Conditions
Please review our Terms and Conditions which set out how we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact digitalanddatarecruitment@justice.gov.uk
