Director of Legal Services

Full Job Description

Executive Level 2 -  £95,000-£113,625

Contract Type:  Permanent

Closing date: 5th April 2024 at 11.59pm 

**Please do not apply via this website. For further information about the position, to receive a candidate pack and for details of how to apply, please email our recruitment partner at: 

Are you committed to helping us regulate health and social care within England?  

When thinking about what drives you every day in your job, what keeps you motivated and passionate about your work what comes to mind?  For 3000+ people at the CQC we end each day knowing that we have made a difference to the lives of those most in need in our communities.  We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.  We are looking for people who are caring, demonstrate integrity and work well as part of a team to join with us and share in this sense of achievement.  If you would like to help us, make a positive impact to health and social care within England, then read on.  
 
The Benefits 
 
- 27 days’ annual leave, rising with service to 32.5 days, plus 8 Bank Holidays 
- NHS pension scheme, with around a 14% employer contribution 
- Free employee assistance service 24 hours a day 
- Discounts to supermarkets, high street stores, electronics and fleet cars 
- Discounted gym vouchers 
- Cycle to work scheme 
- Internal reward scheme where you could win a voucher or two! 
- Equipment for homeworking 
 
Why this could be a great role for you 
 
This is the perfect opportunity for a Barrister or Solicitor with experience in providing public law services within a regulation context to develop their career with an organisation of national importance. 
 
Not only will your legal expertise and leadership be vital to our work, but this role will also offer plenty of chances for professional growth and development within an in-house capacity.
 
You will discover a proactive, engaged environment where every member of the team pulls in the same direction in order to make a positive difference to the care sector, and you will be able to bring your unique expertise and help build a stronger service for the people of England, together. 
 
So, if you’re ready to make an impact whilst advancing your portfolio of experience, we would love to hear from you. 
 
What you will bring

To be considered as the Director of Legal Services, you will need: 
 
- To be a qualified Barrister or Solicitor with post-qualification experience 
- Expertise and experience in the provision of public law services within a regulation context, providing legal advice at senior level 
- Proven senior leadership experience in an equivalent body or directorate within Legal Services environment 
- A demonstrable strong understanding of the relevant legislative context for CQC, and CQC’s enforcement powers 
- An understanding of public enquiries 
- An excellent understanding of legal matters 
- A strong, demonstrable understanding of risk models 
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills 
 
What you’ll be doing 
 
As the Director of Legal Services, you will provide strong and inspirational leadership to our Legal Services, Inquiries and Investigation teams. 
 
Specifically, you will set clear strategic direction and priorities for our legal functions, ensuring that there is expert advice, guidance and a formal, high-quality legal opinion. 
 
As an integral member of the Corporate Services senior team, you will act as Legal Advisor to the Board and report directly to the Deputy Chief Executive, meaning you will be working at the highest echelons of our organisation. 
 
You will ensure our strategic decision-making is underpinned by sound, robust and commercially-informed legal advice on a range of areas. These will include emerging government policy, new legislation, the use of CQC powers in new and novel situations, sensitive staffing matters and public inquiries, and high profile regulatory casework.

Individual adjustments... 

We are committed to being open and transparent around our processes and we endeavour to offer every candidate the opportunity to perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. We seek to support candidates to identify potential challenges and work with them to identify and facilitate reasonable adjustments as appropriate. Should you require assistance and/or would like to request a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please contact a member of the team via email:   

CQC is committed to promoting a fair and inclusive workplace where all our people can flourish and reach their full potential. We know diverse teams allow for a more creative and productive environment and therefore encourage applications from everyone regardless of: age, gender/sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

For this role, we are particularly encouraging people from ethnically diverse communities and people with a disability to apply, who are currently under-represented at this level in the organisation.

Our Values

Excellence – Meeting our challenge to be a high-performing organisation
Caring – Treating everyone with dignity and respect
Integrity – Demonstrating our passion for ‘doing the right thing’
Teamwork – Enabling us to be the best we can