Overview
Director of Adjudication and Quality Assurance at GatenbySanderson. This role is with the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA).
Location
Location: Birmingham, Cardiff or London. 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.
Salary
Salary dependent on experience: £92,300 - £100,900 if located from the Birmingham or Cardiff office; £101,600 - £111,000 if attached to the London office.
Deadline
Deadline for applications is 17.00 on Monday 6 October 2025.
What the role is
The Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA) is a public interest regulator. We regulate more than 200,000 solicitors and 9,000 law firms in England and Wales. We ensure solicitors work to high professional standards, support access to high quality legal services and step in to protect the public when things go wrong. We aim for decisions to be objective, impartial and fair, and we separate our operational investigation teams from our adjudication function.
We are looking for a Director to lead the delivery of the Adjudication and Quality Assurance function as a top performing unit, focused on service excellence and continuous improvement. This high-profile role contributes to delivering the SRA’s strategic objectives.
As Director you will lead the strategic and operational management of the Adjudication and Quality Assurance teams, ensuring correct, robust and legally defensible adjudications across the SRA. For quality assurance, you will assure confidence in our decisions and compliance with policy across business areas.
Reporting to the Chief of Staff, you will lead around 20 staff and manage a pool of external panel adjudicators. 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 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 – strategic direction and expert advice
* Drive operational success – work with dedicated, specialist teams
* Collaborate for impact - build strong relationships with senior stakeholders
What we’re looking for
* Solicitor, legal executive, barrister or equivalent legal qualification with entitlement to practise in England and Wales
* Experience of developing and embedding quality assurance frameworks that support regulatory decision making
* Leading the development of training, guidance and support to deliver ongoing learning within an organisation
* 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
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.
GatenbySanderson is supporting this recruitment process. To apply and for further information please click on Apply.
Deadline for applications is 17.00 on Monday 6 October 2025
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