This vacancy is only available to existing Civil Servant employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs). Please review the "Eligibility" section before you apply.
Salary
The national salary range is £71,381 - £80,419, London salary range is £75,674 - £85,257. Your salary will be dependent on your base location
Working Pattern
Full Time, Part Time, Part Time/Job Share, Flexible Working
Vacancy Approach
Cross Government
Location
Belfast, London
Region
London, Northern Ireland
Closing Date
20-Apr-2026
Post Type
Loan
Civil Service Grade
Grade 6
Number of jobs available
1
Reserve List
12 Months
Job ID
16452
Job description
Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.
The national starting salary is £71,381. The London starting salary is £75,674. Your salary will be dependent on your base location
Please note, if you choose Belfast as your location, you will be based at Bradford Court, not Erskine House.
BACKGROUND
The Omagh Bombing Inquiry was established in February 2024 to examine whether the tragic bombing in Omagh on 15 August 1998 - in which 31 lives were lost and hundreds were injured- could have been prevented by UK state authorities. The Inquiry is chaired by the Rt Hon Lord Turnbull, a former Scottish High Court judge.
Since its establishment, the Inquiry has held preliminary, commemorative and opening statement hearings. It will continue to take evidence in both public and private sessions in Belfast and Omagh over the coming months and years. The Inquiry’s work will involve the detailed examination of highly sensitive material and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including victims and survivors, government bodies and law enforcement agencies.
The Inquiry’s purpose is to establish the facts, consider whether the events leading to the attack could have been foreseen or prevented, and make recommendations.
ABOUT THE ROLE:
The Deputy Secretary is the senior operational and strategic deputy to the Secretary of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry. The role exists to provide leadership, oversight and coordination across the Inquiry’s policy, operational, communications, and corporate functions, ensuring the organisation delivers its statutory responsibilities effectively, transparently and with the highest levels of integrity.
You will support the Secretary in leading the Inquiry Secretariat, act as a key advisor to the Chair, and ensure that the Inquiry maintains a clear focus on its Terms of Reference, programme of work, and the needs and interests of victims and survivors. The role also carries responsibility for maintaining strong governance, effective resource management, and high‑quality organisational performance in a complex and sensitive environment.
You will deputise for the Secretary as required, representing the Inquiry in senior forums and ensuring continuity of leadership, direction and decision‑making.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The main responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to:
1. Leadership & Support to the Secretary
· Support the Secretary in providing strategic leadership across the Inquiry and act as their senior deputy when required.
· Lead cross‑secretariat coordination, ensuring alignment of policy, operational, communications and corporate activity.
· Provide senior advice to the Secretary and Chair on organisational issues, risks and delivery priorities.
2. Governance & Assurance
· Maintain effective governance and controls, ensuring decisions and processes are documented and transparent.
· Oversee organisational risk management, identifying issues early and driving mitigations.
3. Financial & Resource Management
· Support effective budget management, ensuring resources are allocated appropriately and monitored against spend.
· Ensure value for money, maintaining proportionate controls and compliant financial processes.
· Oversee procurement activity, working with commercial and finance colleagues to secure and manage contracts.
· Contribute to workforce and resource planning, ensuring the Inquiry has the capability and capacity to deliver its programme of work.
4. People Leadership & HR
· Provide visible, inclusive leadership for a multi‑disciplinary Secretariat team, setting clear expectations and supporting a positive, high‑performing culture.
· Lead recruitment and workforce planning, ensuring the Inquiry has the right skills and capacity at each stage of its programme.
· Oversee performance, wellbeing and development, ensuring staff receive clear objectives, constructive feedback and appropriate support.
· Foster an open, collaborative working environment, modelling Civil Service and the Inquiry’s values and promoting diversity and inclusion.
5. Stakeholder Engagement & Communications
· Support the development and delivery of strategic engagement with victims, survivors, government bodies and external partners.
· Support trusted engagement with the Inquiry’s Chairman and office holders, as well as senior stakeholders across Government.
· Build productive relationships with senior stakeholders, using strong influencing skills to support delivery.
ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:
The post holder will need to demonstrate the following in their application and at interview:
Leadership
You have proven experience of leading multi‑disciplinary teams to deliver at pace, creating a positive, inclusive culture and supporting people to perform at their best.
Communication and Influencing
You communicate clearly and confidently, building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and shaping decisions through evidence, insight and strong influencing skills.
Delivery and Programme Management
You have a strong track record of coordinating and delivering complex programmes of work, ensuring high‑quality outputs, effective resource use and timely delivery against priorities.
Financial and Commercial Acumen
You have experience managing budgets or resources, understanding financial controls, and working with commercial or procurement processes to secure value for money.
Relationship‑Building and Stakeholder Management
You develop and sustain constructive relationships across a diverse range of stakeholders, navigating sensitive or high‑profile contexts and maintaining trust over time.
Judgement and Problem‑Solving
You quickly get to the heart of an issue, resolving problems confidently and making sound, evidence‑based judgements. You identify emerging risks early and plan ahead to put effective mitigations in place.
Prioritisation and Resilience
You can manage multiple priorities simultaneously, working well under pressure while maintaining attention to detail and delivering consistent, high‑quality results.
Political and Organisational Awareness
You understand the wider political, organisational and stakeholder context — ideally including NI, ROI and UK dynamics — and use this awareness to navigate sensitivities and support informed decision‑making.
Desirable:
· Previous experience working on independent inquiries (or similar work)
· Previous experience in NI legacy work (or similar contexts)
· Previous experience working with legal professionals or within legal frameworks
We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at G6 level during the application sift and interview process
BEHAVIOURS:
● Leadership (lead behaviour)
● Communicating and Influencing
● Seeing the Bigger Picture
● Delivering at Pace
EXPERIENCE:
Please provide a work history and statement of suitability no longer than 750 words outlining how you meet the essential and desirable criteria. Both will be used in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.
Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role.
If you don’t have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.
You will also be asked to complete a CV with details of your education, professional qualifications, previous skills and full employment history. Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.
More information on behaviours and success profiles can be found here
Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the lead behaviour – leadership.
INTERVIEW:
You will be assessed against the same behaviours at the interview stage and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours.
It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:
● WHO- What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? or
● STAR- What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?
OFFER
Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.
The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks.
Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered. Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.
SECURITY CLEARANCE:
This role requires National Security Vetting given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role. You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:
United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The vetting charter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
In addition, there is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role.
This role requires CTC and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 3 years.
Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.
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
Further Information:
Further information about the post may be obtained from the Secretary to the Inquiry at: lynne.fleming @omagh.independent-inquiry.uk
All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.
This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment.
Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at the sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following the interview.
COMPLAINTS:
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles.
Please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@sscl.gse.gov.uk) in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages:
http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/
https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/code/
RESERVE LISTS:
In the event that the advertised post following interview, identifies more appointable applicants than available posts, we may hold applicant details on a merit/reserve list for a period of 12 months from which further future appointments can be made. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact
MoJ-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com to be removed from the reserve list.
Interview dates
Closing Date:
20 April 2026; 23:55 hours.
Additional Information
Working Arrangements & Further Information
The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.
Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.
For nationally advertised roles: All successful candidates will be appointed to the nearest viable office nearest to their home postcode and on its respective pay scale. This will be at either a HQ building (subject to desk allocation, a Justice Collaboration Centre (JCC) or a Justice Satellite Office (JSO) – See Map All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity).
For current MoJ employees, your base location will need to be changed to the nearest viable office (to your home postcode), either at a HQ building, JCC or JSO within the National Office Network and moved its location’s respective pay scale (any legacy arrangements/locations will need to be amended).
Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.
MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain their grade on lateral transfer.
All candidates who are currently in receipt of Mark Time / Pay Protection should ensure they are familiar with the new policy on permanent and temporary promotion which can be found on the employee intranet.
Flexible working hours
The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. MoJ welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.
Benefits
The MoJ offers a range of benefits:
Annual Leave
Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years’ service.
There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
Pension
The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.
Training
The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.
Networks
The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.
Eligibility
Staff on fixed term appointments must have been recruited through fair and open competition.
Vacancies advertised “cross-government” are only open to all Civil Service employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) who were appointed on merit following a fair and open competition; or were appointed to a permanent post through an exception in the Civil Service Commissioners' rules.
Support
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles Should you feel that the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you are able to raise a formal complaint in the following order
As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. MoJ are able to offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns.
You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form. If you need additional help completing the application form, please contact the TBS Recruitment Enquiries Team.
For more information on applying for a role as a candidate with a disability or long-term condition, please watch our animated videos
Diversity & Inclusion
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 Planand the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
Redeployment Interview Scheme
Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ is committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.
MoJ is able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidates will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.
Civil Service Nationality Rules
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules
Reserve list
A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles.
Contact Information
MoJ:
If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk
Please quote the job reference 16452
HMPPS
If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk
Please quote the job reference
Behaviours
A sift based on the lead behaviour, Leadership, may be held if a large number of applications are received. If a large number of applications remain after the initial sift, your application will be progressed to a full sift, where all behaviours will then be considered.
Behaviours Application Form Question Word Limit
250
Leadership
Communicating and Influencing
Seeing the Big Picture
Delivering at Pace
Experience
We will assess your experience for this role via the following methods
CV or Work History, Statement of Suitability
Evidence of Experience
CV or Work History, Statement of Suitability
Interview Dates
To be confirmed
Behaviours
Leadership
Communicating and Influencing
Seeing the Big Picture
Delivering at Pace
Level of security checks required
Counter Terrorism Check (CTC)
Use of Artificial Intelligence (Al)
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.
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