Deputy Director, AI Enablement - MoJ - SCS1

Location

East Midlands (England), East of England, London (region), North East England, North West England, Scotland, South East England, South West England, Wales, West Midlands (England), Yorkshire and the Humber

About the job

Job summary

This is a Nationally based role

Job description

Reporting into the Director of Justice AI Unit you will:

Strategic Leadership:

• Lead AI enablement across the MoJ, with a focus on cutting-edge LLM adoption, driving scalable and ethically grounded transformation aligned with the AI Action Plan for Justice.
• Oversee and deliver two priority workstreams: AI Assistants at Scale and Enablement, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and broader transformation initiatives.
• Own execution of the roadmap for AI enablement and AI assistants at scale, balancing immediate operational needs with long-term workforce transformation objectives.
• Maintain deep expertise in cutting-edge developments in foundation models, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Microsoft, and Google DeepMind, to inform strategy and ensure the MoJ remains aligned with the latest capabilities in the market.
• Translate advances in large language models into actionable opportunities for the department, supporting staff, services, and policy.
• Shape the future direction of AI-enabled government services, identifying long-term opportunities for transformation beyond existing plans and infrastructure.

Senior Stakeholder Engagement:

• Act as a trusted advisor to the Director of AI, Director General for Service Transformation Group and senior leadership team, providing evidence-based recommendations on AI roll out, adoption and enablement strategy.
• Build exceptional relationships with SCS colleagues across the MoJ to integrate AI tools into existing operational frameworks, ensuring consistency and alignment across departments.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with unions, addressing concerns related to job redesign and workforce transformation with transparency and strategic foresight.
• Leverage strong relationships with leading AI research labs and commercial providers to accelerate access to talent, tooling, and thought leadership. Act as an ambassador for MoJ within the UK and global AI ecosystem.

Team Leadership and Coordination:

• Attract talent to a leading AI enablement team and leading a team of c.10 high performing staff, providing clear direction, coaching and performance management.
• Ensure effective coordination of strategic workstreams and teams, including private sector partners, to deliver measurable outcomes.
• Design, execute and champion AI enablement initiatives, ensuring that staff across the MoJ and our agencies are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to leverage AI effectively.

Operational Excellence:

• Design and implement clear evaluations of AI roll out and enablement activities, such as efficiency and service quality improvements, to support strategic decision making and investment decisions
• Lead the safe and ethical rollout of AI solutions to staff and service users, balancing innovation with organisational sensitivities.
• Oversee resource planning, budget allocation, and risk management for AI Enablement, ensuring all initiatives are delivered on time and within scope.
• Evaluate open source, commercial, and proprietary models and tools, supporting architectural and implementation decisions.

Deputising for the Director of AI:

• Represent the Director in strategic forums, including cross-government AI working groups, high-level stakeholder engagements, and external conferences.
• Provide leadership across all AI Action Plan for Justice workstreams in the Director’s absence, ensuring continuity and progress on key initiatives.

Person specification

Please view our candidate information pack for full details about the role, key responsibilities person specification, and the criteria you will be assessed against throughout the recruitment process. If you are interested in this exciting opportunity, and feel that you meet the criteria, we would welcome your application.

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

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 Plan and the  Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace
• Changing and Improving