Director of Adjudication and Quality Assurance

The role:

We are a public interest regulator, which means driving confidence and trust in legal services is core to everything we do.

We regulate more than 200,000 solicitors and 9,000 law firms in England and Wales. We make sure solicitors are working to high professional standards, support access to high quality legal services and step-in to protect the public when things go wrong.

It is important that the public and the profession can trust that our decisions are made on an objective and impartial basis, and our processes are fair and seen to be fair. One of the ways in which we do this is by separating our operational teams that investigate cases from our adjudication function.

We are looking for a Director to lead the effective delivery of the Adjudication and Quality Assurance function as a top performing and cohesive unit, with a focus on service excellence and continuous improvement. This high profile, prominent role has an important part to play in driving to deliver the SRA's overall strategic objectives.

As the Director you will be responsible for the successful strategic leadership and operational management of the Adjudication and Quality Assurance teams. In adjudication you will ensure that correct, robust and legally defensible adjudications are made across the SRA. For quality assurance, you assure confidence in our decisions and compliance with policy across business areas.

Reporting to the Chief of Staff, you will be responsible for around 20 staff, setting high standards to deliver efficient and effective services aligned with an excellence-orientated culture. We also have a pool of around a dozen external panel adjudicators. As Director, you will also be responsible for the panel adjudicators, which comprises a mix of lay and legally qualified adjudicators.

You will provide direction and oversight of Quality Assurance and Adjudication delivery, ensuring alignment with key service level agreements, performance indicators, and quality outcomes.

What's in it for you?

• Play a key part in delivering work in the public interest
• Lead with expertise - providing strategic direction and expert advice
• Drive operational success - work with dedicated, specialist teams
• Collaborate - build strong relationships with senior stakeholders

What we're looking for:

• Solicitor, legal executive, barrister or equivalent legal qualification with an entitlement to practise in England and Wales
• Substantial adjudication or regulatory decision-making experience
• Substantial experience of working within a quality framework
• Ability to develop and maintain a culture that supports team members to make robust and defensible evidenced-based decisions
• Experience in working with a senior leadership team, confidently presenting functional team profiles
• Experience in using metrics and data to support good operational delivery
• Ability to work in a high-profile environment
• Wide and deep legal knowledge of regulatory law, human rights, equality and diversity public law
• Legal drafting skills. Strong analytical skills. The ability to write clear, reasoned decisions applying the relevant legal and regulatory framework and making findings on disputed facts
• Ability to gain the respect of others, build and maintain relationships. Working collaboratively and influence others to reach sound decisions
• Commitment to protecting the public. Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion
• Communicating effectively with a wide range of individuals, varying the approach where necessary
• Ability to communicate complex adjudication issues/decisions and quality assurance findings to policy makers, team members, and other stakeholders in clear and accurate language.

There is a full role profile included at the bottom of this advert.

Interested candidates are welcome to request an informal chat with the hiring manager to learn more about the role, where feasible - just let us know, and we'll do our best to arrange it.

Useful and additional information

We have a hybrid working model with a blend of home and office working. You will be expected in the office at least two days a week.

This role is permanent, and the post-holder can be based from either our Birmingham, or London office. However, as the team is mainly based in Birmingham, there will be an expectation of the role-holder being in the Birmingham office regularly (at least once a week), particularly in the first year of the role.

The salary range we can offer is between £92,000 - £96,000 dependant on knowledge, skills and experience. London based salary range where applicable is £101,200 - £105,600. More information on our benefits can be found here.

If you have any questions that aren't answered in the advert, additional documents or on our website, please contact us via:

To apply

Please refer to the Role Profile for full role specification and use the apply button at the bottom of the advert.

You will be asked to upload a CV and Cover Letter to demonstrate your knowledge, skills and experience and how they specifically relate to the requirements of the role. Your CV and Cover Letter will be used to shortlist your application.

Deadline for applications is 9am on 24 March.

We expect first stage interviews to take place on 31 March and 1 April 2025 in our office in Birmingham. Please note these dates may be subject to change.