Head of Development & Test Functions

Who we are

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) is an independent body who provide administrative support to the Scottish Courts, devolved Tribunals and the Office of the Public Guardian. We believe that an efficient and effective courts and tribunals system is a vital part of any healthy community. Thanks to the people, buildings, and services we provide, our hard work means that people can continue to assert their rights and seek support from the justice system whenever they may need to. We are building a system based on trust, communication, and confidence, and with your help we can continue to nurture an environment where justice is done and can be seen to be done. 

About the role

This is an exciting strategic role within the Criminal Justice setting. The role involves interfacing, influencing, delivering and providing thought leadership to some of the most senior stakeholders across the Scottish Justice System.

This is a strategic transformational role, leading our communities of Developers and Testers which carries the key responsibility of understanding, communicating and, most importantly, delivering the modern digital environment of the future.

As a Community of Practice Lead within SCTS you are accountable for the Development and Test functions utilised by all LABs and functions across CDI. Delivery will be achieved by managing across functional teams as well as both internal and external key stakeholders and suppliers.

This a leadership level role for an individual who will blend both deep domain and technical expertise across CDI and who has the gravitas to lead, coach and develop people in a “player-coach” model to bring senior stakeholders with them on the transformational change journey.

You will have direct line management responsibility for a number of cross-functional posts comprising permanent and contractual posts.

You will directly report to the Director of Change LABS and Business Architecture within the Change and Digital Innovation (CDI) Directorate.

Key responsibilities

In this role, you will support the Director of Change Labs and SCTS Executive Directors by overseeing the delivery of both the vision and key objectives for the various change programmes and the further development of CDI. You will also lead, support and coach the Communities of Practice for both Developers and Testers. You will also work closely with the Heads of LABs and their respective teams to support the delivery of key change programmes. 

Typically, you will:

·        support delivery of a portfolio of projects to Time, Cost and Quality

·        have an in-depth knowledge and practical experience of Agile and other methodologies

·        deliver the highest quality customer driven software whilst continually challenging, motivating, mentoring and supporting teams

·        developing teams against key industry benchmarks, best practices and tooling

·        remove blockers and manage risks, commercials, budgets and people

·        manage dependencies of varying complexity, potentially planning and feeding into larger programmes and portfolios

·        balance objectives and redeploy people and resources as priorities change

·        be responsible for understanding, managing and communicating to complex stakeholder groups

·        be the initial escalation point for the test and development functions

You will need the following skills for this role

·    Key tools and industry practices. You know about and can lead on a range of pragmatic Agile, Development and Testing tools and techniques, with an ability to coach within and outside of your team. You can represent and be an advocate for these tools and techniques. You are innovative and ensure that you are up-to-date with the latest trends. You can establish a feedback loop for teams. You can take responsibility for the translation and measurement of value (what you put in and what you will get out) and ensure this relates to practical government objectives and the user needs. You can ensure the team has a situational awareness of work and priorities across the team.

·        Financial & Commercial management. You can support effective budget management within the constraints of the project. You know how to monitor projected budgets against expenditure.

·        Communication skills. You know how to communicate effectively across organisational, technical and political boundaries, understanding the context. You can advocate and communicate what a team does to create trust and authenticity. You know how to successfully react and respond to challenge.

·      Community collaboration. You can contribute to the work of the community, building successful teams through understanding team styles and influencing as well as motivating team members. You know how to give and receive constructive feedback, facilitating the feedback loop. You can facilitate conflict resolution within teams, ensure the team is transparent and that the work is understood externally. You can help teams maintain a focus on delivery while being aware of the importance of professional development.

·      Lifecycle perspective. You understand the different phases of product delivery and can contribute to, plan or run these. You can maintain a product or process through the delivery phases, into live and then into ‘Run’/Service Support. You know how to lead a team through the different phases of the delivery product life cycle. You can maintain and iterate a product over time to continuously meet user needs. You understand incident management and service support so that products are built effectively.

·      Maintaining delivery momentum. You know how to solve issues and unblock problems. You can drive teams and set the pace, ensuring teams are working towards delivery commitments. You know how to engage in elements of risk management, such as effectively managing and tracking the mitigation of risks. You can manage various dependencies across teams, departments and government as a whole.

·      Making the process work. You focus on the outcome. You can challenge and improve disproportionate organisational processes where it impacts the pace of the team. You can identify what works best for the team and when to utilise certain processes. You understand that all steps in a process must add value. You can influence and make positive changes to the organisation.

·      Planning. You can take a consistent and ongoing approach to planning, forecasting, estimating, managing uncertainty, metrics and measurements, contingency planning and roadmapping. You know how to communicate plans, planning assumptions and progress to a range of stakeholders. You can maintain the cadence of delivery and manage the relationships between different people within and across teams

The above lists are not exhaustive and the job holder may be required to undertake such duties as may reasonably be requested within the scope of the post.

Some of the benefits our employees can access include:

·      An award winning approach to being a family-friendly employer, supporting you to create a healthy work-life balance

·      A generous pension scheme

·      Flexible working arrangements

·      Generous annual holiday entitlement on entry (25 days leave + 11.5 public & privilege days)

·      Learning and development opportunities including funded learning

·      Vision care

·      Discounts and offers

·      Free and confidential Employee Assistance service.

If you are interested in this challenging and rewarding opportunity, you may apply online by clicking the apply button, where you will also find a link to the full job description.

Please note that this role is based in Edinburgh with options for remote working.

The closing date for the post is 10th May 2024

Interviews will be held WB 28th May 2024

By virtue of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exclusion and Exceptions) (Scotland) Order 2013 (as amended), the protections of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974) are disapplied to this appointment in the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. This permits us to ask applicants to disclose details of all unspent convictions, unspent cautions (from England, Wales and Northern Ireland) and spent convictions for an offence listed in Schedule A1 of the 2013 Order but only if: 15 years have not elapsed since the date of your conviction if you were aged 18 or over on that date; or 7 years and 6 months have not elapsed since the date of your conviction if you were under 18 on that date. Any spent conviction that is a ‘protected conviction’ does not require to be disclosed. Individuals without existing security clearance will require a standard level Disclosure check completed before employment can commence.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union work in partnership so we have open, collaborative and positive working environments, that make SCTS a great place to work, learn and develop, engaging fully with fair work principles and encouraging membership of our recognised trade union PCS.

Further Information

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service is a non-ministerial department established by the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008. Our statutory function is to provide administrative support to the Scottish Courts, devolved Tribunals and the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG).

With over 2000 staff in Courts, Tribunals and business units across 50 locations across Scotland, we have an annual expenditure in excess of £150m

An efficient and effective courts and tribunals system is one of the cornerstones of modern society. It allows people to assert their rights if they have been infringed; to be reassured that allegations of crime will be pursued fairly and openly; and to seek the support of the system at key points throughout their lives, should the need arise. In any modern society the administration of justice must be trusted by the people and organisations depending on it. It will only keep that trust if it keeps pace with the times.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service plays a key role in the administration of justice. We touch the lives of many people across Scotland administering justice the length and breadth of the country. We provide the environment in which justice is done – and seen to be done. As society develops we must keep that environment under review. Whilst significant cases will always involve formal hearings in a court or tribunal people increasingly expect us to work flexibly and transact digitally. Those using the system will struggle to understand if simple administrative business is carried out on paper alone or if routine steps in cases can only proceed if a wide range of people attend a hearing at a particular place and time.

The ability to improve the system using digital technology, coupled with a growing uptake of that technology across society, provides a unique opportunity to improve the administration of justice. We can make justice more accessible and efficient; make the experience of appearing in court less stressful and collaborate with other agencies to improve the quality and efficiency of what we do.

The case for making greater use of technology to improve the administration of justice is compelling and our Digital Strategy set outs how we will choose the right developments for the right reasons; how we plan and invest in them properly so they will succeed; and how we will implement them in a way that they are understood, adopted and used to their full extent.