Job ref: 221832
TPR grade: 4 - Head of
About us
More than half the UK working population rely on The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to regulate their retirement savings. With a career at TPR, you’ll be joining an organisation that will impact on millions of lives for decades to come.
Everyone at TPR plays an important role in helping to keep more than £2 trillion of savings safe. We’re committed to bringing people into TPR who are ready to make a difference and put UK savers at the heart of what we do.
It is important to us that TPR remains a great place to work. We do all we can to help our people reach their full potential with learning, secondment, and development opportunities. We put our 900+ employees first, supporting flexible working and offer a diverse, lively, and inclusive environment. This includes our Disability Network, Family Network, LGBT+ Network (Proud), Minority Ethnic (ME) Network and Women’s Network, which offer spaces to connect.
Our new corporate strategy outlines a bold and challenging vision of how pensions regulation should evolve to keep pace with a change in the scale and nature of the industry. We are at the start of that journey. Join us to find out what part you can play.
We operate a hybrid working model, with regular attendance in our Brighton office to connect with colleagues across the business.
Role
We are looking for a Deputy General Counsel to support the General Counsel and ensure that TPR operates lawfully in delivering its strategic objectives.
Responsibilities
- Support the General Counsel in ensuring TPR operates lawfully in delivering its strategic objectives.
- Advise on and manage aspects of legal risk, compliance, and operational resilience.
- Provide expert technical input and advice to the COO, executive directors, and directors.
- Line manage seven lead lawyers for Legal Services.
- Develop and deliver a long-term strategy for the Legal Services team to achieve operational excellence.
- Align with the directorates the team predominantly supports and deliver their business plans.
- Lead culture change, performance, and capability within the Legal team.
- Manage the team budget and resource management decisions.
- Drive a culture of high-performance using coaching, influencing, and negotiating skills.
- Build a strong and inclusive team that attracts and develops diverse talent.
- Support TPR’s diversity, equality, and inclusion commitments.
- Champion the role of the legal team across the organisation.
- Support continuous improvement and operational excellence of legal services.
- Identify issues of strategic legal significance and escalate them as appropriate.
- Represent TPR externally in matters of strategic significance.
Essential and desirable criteria
Essential
- Professional experience providing legal advice up to board level.
- Current solicitor or barrister practicing certificate.
- Excellent stakeholder management skills to influence and gain trust of the board, peers, wider colleagues within TPR, and external lawyers.
- Significant leadership and management experience with exposure to the board, external partners, and a breadth of internal stakeholders.
- Experience in operational planning and ability to understand and support the needs and aims of an organisation.
- Extensive experience providing consistent, clear, audience-tailored risk-based advice.
- Ability to provide robust and constructive challenge and support.
- Comprehensive post-qualification experience in two or more areas: regulatory, pensions, litigation, and/or public law.
- High awareness of the pensions and regulatory environment, including public law issues, and its strategic trends and issues.
- Ability to manage competing demands across a broad range of complex areas.
- Ability to resolve competing views within the legal team and between teams.
- Ability to act autonomously, exercise sound legal judgments, and proactively identify strategic risks, issues, and opportunities.
Desirable
- Innovative thinker open to utilising the benefits of technology to improve ways of working across the function.
Person specification
- High level of personal resilience.
- Collaborative approach, working as a business partner across the organisation.
- Strong leadership and management capabilities.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Strategic and analytical thinking abilities.
- Proactive and autonomous working style.
Salary and benefits
As well as a salary from £107,744, we offer:
- Civil Service Pension arrangements, which are recognised as some of the best in the pensions world
- discretionary bonus arrangements
- access to performance related pay progression
- 25 days annual leave provision
- flexible working arrangements
- development opportunities
- enhanced parental leave arrangements
- a free employee assistance programme
- an excellent office location in Brighton
How to apply
To apply please email recruitmentteam@tpr.gov.uk quoting role reference number 221832 along with:
- a covering letter with details of how your skills and experience meet the role requirements of the role
- a copy of your CV
- details of your notice period
Current TPR employees in their first 12 months of employment who want to apply for this vacancy should first contact their line manager to discuss their application.
We are an inclusive employer and offer equal opportunities regardless of an individual’s age, disability, gender identity, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
As a Disability Confident employer, we’re committed to the recruitment, employment, retention and development of people with disabilities and to improving their employment opportunities. Candidates who declare that they have a disability and who meet the essential criteria for the job will be offered an interview.
Applications will be considered on a part-time or job-share basis. If you want your application to be considered as part of a job share, please apply with the hours you are available to work.
In accordance with Home Office guidance, the successful candidate will be required to provide their right to work in the UK before they start employment. Unfortunately, TPR is not able to offer sponsorship at the time. TPR is a UK-based organisation with a working location in Brighton, candidates must live in the UK to be employed by us.
TPR is an arm's length government body and part of the public service.
Any offer of employment will be subject to the receipt of satisfactory background screening checks and criminal record checks (BPSS).
Whilst it is our aim to respond to all applicants, if you have not heard from us within 21 days of the advert closing, please assume you have been unsuccessful on this occasion. Specific feedback will only be provided if you have attended an interview or assessment.
If you have any queries about this role, or if you have a disability and wish to request a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please email recruitmentteam@tpr.gov.uk.