Principal lawyer

Location Belfast, London*, Warrington. Successful applicants currently employed by NCA for this post may request to remain in their current contractual location. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment checks. Please note this is dependant on business needs, please commence discussions with the hiring manager at the earliest opportunity.

• For London based roles your contractual place of work will be Stratford. It is likely that site will be operational from Summer 2025, in the interim period you will be required to carry out your contractual duties from Vauxhall, or such other reasonable location, on a temporary basis. For the avoidance of doubt as your contractual place of work is Stratford, the move from any temporary place of work will not give rise to any entitlement to payments for travel time or costs under the Relocation and Excess Travel Policy.

About The Job Job summary We are looking for a principal (team leader) lawyer to lead one of the Agency’s in-house legal teams, ensuring the delivery of high quality, timely and fit for purpose legal advice to support the NCA in its mission. Would you like to learn more about the role? If you would like to find out more about the role and the application process, we will be holding a virtual open evening via MS Teams on the Tuesday 21st January 2025 from 18:00 to 19:00. This event is by invitation only. If you would like to receive an invite please click through to the link below - you will be asked for your name and email address. Click here to attend information session. Please ensure you register your interest no later than Monday 20th January 2025 at 12:00 pm . You will not be able to complete this form after this date and time. Job Description Vacancies may arise in any of the following teams: Data and Operational Advisory Team - advising operational teams to ensure NCA operations are conducted lawfully through the use of covert and overt investigatory powers including the compliant exploitation, retention and deletion of data. Civil Litigation Team - defending the NCA against civil actions and conducting litigation arising from the NCA’s involvement in Inquests and Public Inquiries. Financial Disruptions Litigation Team - conducting asset denial litigation (including the use of the Proceeds of Crime Act) in order to disrupt serious and organised crime through preventing criminals and their enablers profiting from crime. Employment and Commercial Team - advising our HR and Commercial Teams to ensure that decisions about the NCA’s people and contracts are made lawfully and in a way which minimises the risk of legal challenge. Disruptive Actions Litigation Team - driving alternative disruptions to organised criminal groups where criminal justice outcomes are not possible, such as recommendations on immigration status or civil prevention orders. Grade 1 Team Leaders can be deployed to lead any of these teams. The process will enable you to express a preference in respect of posting but successful candidates will be offered a role on the basis that they may be posted to lead any of the teams, depending on current business needs.

• To be considered, you will need to successfully complete DV clearance before commencing the role.***

Person specification Main Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the relevant legal team.
• Play a key role in the Senior Leadership of the Legal Department as a whole, including assuming lead roles as required for responsibilities that sit across teams such as acting as Training Principal or measuring performance.
• Work alongside other Grade 1 and SCS officers in the wider Agency to ensure the Legal Department is fulfilling the overall objectives of the Agency and providing a high quality legal service.
• Maintain effective working relationships with our external partners including the CPS and other operational agencies.

Qualifications The following qualifications/skills are essential to the role and proof will be required at interview: You must be a solicitor or barrister qualified to practise in England and Wales with sufficient PQE to satisfy this senior role. Or if qualified in Northern Ireland to be prepared to cross-qualify on appointment Please ensure the dates of any accreditations you are relying on, are entered on to the CV. Should you progress to the assessment stage of the process, you will be required to provide a copy of the original certificate. Failure to provide evidence at interview may result in your application not progressing to the next stage. Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Developing Self and Others

Technical Skills We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• An aptitude to lead a team of lawyers. (This need not be demonstrated by formal line management experience but might for example include other activity which demonstrates leadership aptitude such as mentoring, coaching or leading a project).
• The ability to build credible relationships with senior leaders, internally and externally, by giving authoritative, risk-based legal advice that enables the Agency to effectively manage its legal risk and achieve its strategic mission
• The ability to pick up new areas of law as required to support the Agency to meet its objectives.
• Experience in advising on novel or complex cases with national impact.
• Legal Professional Skills - Sound understanding of public law, reliable judgement and appreciation of legal risk. The ability to think strategically and creatively, seeing legal issues in their wider context and advising accordingly

Benefits Alongside your salary of £78,847, National Crime Agency contributes £22,841 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. All officers in the NCA are members of the UK Civil Service. You will be eligible for:

• Civil Service pension scheme
• 26 days annual leave rising to 31 on completion of 5 years continuous service
• If qualifying criteria is met new joiners to the NCA from UK Police Forces or UKIC will have service with those employers taken into account for continuous service purposes for Annual Leave entitlement only, this will be up to a maximum of 31 days leave (including 1 privilege day)
• Training and development opportunities
• Special leave
• Flexible working and family friendly policies
• Cycle to work scheme
• Blue Light scheme

For further details on benefits please visit Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills. If you wish to apply for this vacancy, you must submit your application by 23:55 on Sunday 26th January 2025. Sift Process You will be asked to complete a CV as part of the application process. Your CV should set out your career history including training and qualifications, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure that each entry of your career history also has a few sentences outlining a description and the key elements of that role, and that you provide reasons for any gaps within the last two years. Please ensure the dates of any accreditations you are relying on are entered onto the CV.

• CV – Your CV will assess:
  • Legal Professional Skills - Sound understanding of public law, reliable judgement and appreciation of legal risk, and t he ability to think strategically and creatively, seeing legal issues in their wider context and advising accordingly.
• Personal Statement – 1250 word statement evidencing the following criteria:
  • Legal Professional Skills - Sound understanding of public law, reliable judgement and appreciation of legal risk, and the ability to think strategically and creatively, seeing legal issues in their wider context and advising accordingly.
  • An aptitude to lead a team of lawyers. (This need not be demonstrated by formal line management experience but might for example include other activity which demonstrates leadership aptitude such as mentoring, coaching or leading a project).
  • The ability to build credible relationships with senior leaders, internally and externally, by giving authoritative, risk-based legal advice that enables the Agency to effectively manage its legal risk and achieve its strategic mission
  • The ability to pick up new areas of law as required to support the Agency to meet its objectives.
  • Experience in advising on novel or complex cases with national impact.

For further application guidance please visit Once submitted your application will be acknowledged by the Government Recruitment Service. Please note depending on the volume of applications a Longlist at sift may be conducted on following criteria :

• Legal Professional Skills - Sound understanding of public law, reliable judgement and appreciation of legal risk, and the ability to think strategically and creatively, seeing legal issues in their wider context and advising accordingly.

Candidates must pass this criteria for their application to be progressed. A panel will then assess your application to select those demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence you have provided against the criteria set out in the Entry Criteria section. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application. Sift results are expected to be released w/c Monday 17th February 2025. Interview Details You will then be asked to attend an interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence. There will be one round of interviews where you will be required to give a presentation before your interview commences which will assess Seeing the Big Picture and Leadership. Presentation details will be provided to candidates prior to interview. At the interview you will also be assessed against the above mentioned Behaviours and Technical skills. Interviews will take place throughout March 2025 - locations to be confirmed. Please be advised that the type of interview (eg. virtual/face-to-face) may be subject to change and successful candidates will be notified of this prior to attending. However the interview is conducted, the interview criteria will remain as detailed within this advert. The above sift and interview dates are an indicative timeline. Should you be successful at sift but cannot attend on the interview date(s) listed the recruitment team cannot guarantee an alternative date. Please contact the recruitment team. Full details of the assessment process will be made available to shortlisted candidates. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Any instances of plagiarism including copying of examples/answers from internet sources will result in a withdrawal of your application. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving internal candidates. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants. Interview Outcome Candidates will be alerted of the outcome of their interview via their CS Jobs Portal. We will be retaining a candidate pool of successful applicants to draw from as vacancies arise for up to 12 months. If your application is successful and we are unable to offer you a post immediately, you will be invited to join our reserve list. If over the next 12 months we are able to offer you a position, we will contact you as soon as possible. Once we make you an offer you will then go through our vetting and pre-employment checks processes. All Appointments will be made in location merit order. Internal Applicants Successful applicants currently employed by NCA for this post may request to remain in their current contractual location. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment checks. Please note this is dependant on business needs, please commence discussions with the hiring manager at the earliest opportunity. Multi-Location Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be appointed in merit order for each location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application. Please be aware that you can be posted to any location that you put in your preferences. If you would only like to be posted to one location, please confirm one location only. If you are posted to a location that you have requested and you do not accept that location, you may not be offered another role. Please note, only advertised location can be offered. Notes populated in a free text box will not be taken into consideration. Hybrid Working Here at the NCA we have a hybrid working arrangement in place enabling officers to work a proportion of their role remotely. Eligibility and the degree of home working will vary depending on the requirements of the role. Further details can be discussed at offer stage. Reasonable Adjustment We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. As part of our application process you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process that you may need. If you have a disability or long-term condition (a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long term effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities , we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via ncarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional. Inclusion and Accessibility We are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we are committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process. For details of the available group please visit In order to monitor the effectiveness of the National Crime Agency’s Diversity & Inclusion strategy, the NCA require certain personal details about you on submission of your application. Please note that this will be treated in confidence and will not impact your application. You will be asked to complete an E-consent survey asking for permission to share this data with the NCA to be used for statistical/monitoring purposes only, refusal of consent to share the information will not impact your application. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact ncarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk Additional Information

• The NCA is a 24/7 organisation, and working patterns must support business requirements. Some roles may require you to respond at short notice or outside of core hours.
• Individuals will be required to undertake and pass a substance misuse test as part of pre-employment checks.
• Successful candidates may be required to undertake a medical. If required, the medical will take place in either London or Warrington. Unfortunately, travel costs will not be reimbursed.
• If you are an internal candidate who has passed interview but is undergoing an internal investigation or have a written warning in place preventing a post move you may not be able to be posted until this investigation is concluded or restriction lifted. You will remain on the reserve list for a max of 12 months.
• All Civil Servants are subject to rules on accepting outside appointments for up to two years after leaving Crown service. More information can be found at: Advisory Committee on Business Appointments - GOV.UK

If you are currently in receipt of a public sector pension (including a police pension) you should review the recruitment FAQs to understand how abatement may apply to your pension or salary on joining/re-joining the NCA. Vetting Requirements Sc All security clearances require you to provide evidence of your UK footprint where you have been physically present in the UK. The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected. If you require SC clearance you will need to provide evidence of the below requirements. Checks will be made against:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Vetting Requirements - Dv All security clearances require you to provide evidence of your UK footprint where you have been physically present in the UK. The requirement for DV is to have been present in the UK for at least 7 of the last 10 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected. If you require DV clearance you will need to provide evidence of the below requirements. Checks will be made against:

• successful completion of the BPSS
• UK criminal record and identity checks
• credit reference checks
• relevant personnel and medical checks (if required)

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page We encourage all candidates to visit the NCA careers page for further information please visit If you have any specific queries about the role that are not covered above please contact: ncarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk This role is being advertised on a permanent basis. If preferable, Loan or Secondment options will also be available for existing Civil Servants (Loan) and applicants from accredited NDPBs or any other employer (Secondment). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window) . See our vetting charter (opens in a new window) . People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Nationality Requirements Open to UK nationals only. Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window) . The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. Diversity and 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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) . Apply and further information This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Contact point for applicants Job contact :

• Name : NCA Recruitment Team - GRS
• Email : ncarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : ncarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint in relation to any stage of the recruitment and selection process please email Central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk . please ensure that you refer to the campaign reference number. If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of your complaint you have the right to contact the Civil Service Commission to pursue it further. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: