Senior Project Manager (Ref: 22171)

Job summary

Job description

JOB TITLE: Senior Project Manager

Grade: SEO

LOCATION: Buchanan Wharf, Glasgow City Centre

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). We receive over 40,000 applications a year for compensation, from people who have lost loved ones or have been injured as a result of violent crime. We know financial compensation can never fully redress what they have suffered. Nevertheless, what we do is an important part of providing justice for victims and we take pride that the compensation we pay helps people move forward with their lives.

We employ around 350 people and are based in Glasgow city centre, with excellent transport links. We are a small, engaged, productive workforce with a real sense of corporate community. We want to keep improving our services and the way we work to best serve the public, meet new challenges, deliver value for money and ensure CICA is a great place to work.

This position is based at Buchanan Wharf, 10 Clyde Place, Glasgow, G5 8AQ. We currently operate a hybrid working business model, where you will be expected to work 50% of your time in the office and the remainder at home.

Job Summary

This role sits within the newly established Directorate for Modernisation Strategy and Implementation. This Directorate will play a key role in delivering CICA's, modernisation and transformation agenda, building on existing business change and continuous improvement work. The successful candidate will help identify opportunities to improve services, processes and ways of working, supporting better outcomes for victims applying for compensation while improving organisational efficiency and effectiveness.

Working closely with operational teams, MoJ Digital colleagues and wider MoJ partners, you will support the design and delivery of initiatives that are evidence-based, user-focused and aligned to CICA's strategic priorities. Using data, insight and stakeholder engagement, you will help shape solutions, support implementation and ensure the benefits of change are embedded and sustained.

We are seeking an individual with experience of project delivery, service improvement or organisational change within a complex environment. You will build strong relationships with stakeholders at all levels, helping to drive adoption of new ways of working and contributing to CICA's ambition to deliver a modern, efficient and victim-centred service.

The successful candidate will be both role model and an advocate for professional development and continued learning as we strive to provide the best possible service, in the most efficient manner possible by encouraging learning and ensuring the team stays at the forefront of new techniques and methods.

Does this sound like the right opportunity for the next stage in your career? If so, we will be delighted to hear from you.

Role and responsibilities

• Own and deliver large to medium scale change and continuous improvement projects.
• Support the Director with strategic business change priorities and projects.
• Support Project Managers with medium to small scale change and continuous improvement projects.
• Develop and draft business cases for business change projects, working alongside subject matter experts, key stakeholders and business leaders as appropriate.
• Build and maintain project plans and apply appropriate project principles to deliver stated objectives.
• Provide effective controls to track and report delivery against milestones, engaging with local and contracted subject matter experts to deliver change and new capabilities within CICA.
• Conduct day to day management and leadership of projects and project teams to deliver agreed outcomes and benefits.
• Identify and monitor project risks and issues. Develop mitigating actions and escalate as appropriate.
• Ensure benefits are identified, understood, measured, tracked and owned. Ensure appropriate Benefits Realisation Strategy is in place, and monitor longer term delivery of benefits against the original project objectives.
• Lead the change management lifecycle, coach, guide and support colleagues as required.
• Provide bespoke reports as required to support effective governance and decision making.
• Provide regular project reports for dissemination to Transformation Change Committee (TCC) supporting effective governance.
• Create, develop, and manage effective stakeholder relationships across CICA and with relevant stakeholders from wider MoJ and other parties as required.

Essential Criteria

• Demonstrable and practical experience of delivering business change through partnership and collaborative working, with proven capability in managing programme governance and reporting.
• Ability to gather and analyse stakeholder information, together with other sources of management information, to derive credible insight which soundly informs short, medium and long-term service improvements and cost efficiencies.
• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, capable of engaging successfully with a wide range of stakeholders and providers to define requirements and translate these into projects.
• Competent working through financial implications of change and continuous improvement proposals to accurately assess the cost and benefits of proposals, to ensure any activities are delivered within available budget and achieve the projected savings.
• Proven ability to lead, coach and continuously develop direct reports.
• Excellent verbal and written presentation skills, confident and credible when presenting to varied audiences including internal audiences, senior stakeholders and external suppliers.

Desirable Criteria

• Formal project delivery qualifications. (Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or above, Prince2, Agile)
• A track record of exploring and delivering new and innovative approaches to improvement.

How to Apply

For stage 1 of the process, you must provide a personal statement (max 750 words) providing evidence of the essential criteria. Where you can also demonstrate that you meet the desirable criteria, please include that evidence in the statement. Your personal statement should make clear your personal skills, qualities, experience and suitability for the role.

If successful at stage 1, you will be invited to interview (Stage 2). At this stage you will be tested on the following behaviours as set out in the Civil Service Success profiles. Please ensure you understand the behaviours required for SEO roles.

Behaviours

We will assess you against the following behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decision
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace

During the panel interview, you will also be asked Strengths based questions.

Interviews are expected to take place in early October 2026.

We will be conducting all interviews at our office at 10 Clyde Place, Buchanan Wharf, Glasgow G5 8AQ.

Apply and Further Information

Once the application deadline has passed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may wish to save a copy for your records.

A reserve list will be created and will be valid for 12 months. If further vacancies arise for this or similar roles at Senior Executive Officer Grade, candidates may be appointed from the reserve list in order of merit.

We offer flexible working 7am – 7pm, Monday to Friday. This role is offered on a full-time (37 hours