Job summary
When it comes to improving the property market and supporting economic growth, few organisations can match HM Land Registry. We play a role in every single purchase of land or property in England and Wales: maintaining registers for properties valued at around £8 trillion and ensuring that the right information is made available to buyers and conveyancers. In order to achieve our goal of becoming an entirely customer-focused and data driven organisation, we will be leveraging technology, including across the use of AI and data to support the property market, helping everyone to work more effectively.
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HMLR Deputy Director Recruitment
Job description
As Deputy Director Legal Services, you will lead a team of c. 40-50 staff, including c. 30 lawyers, all specialists in differing areas of law and land registration practice. Working to the General Counsel (who is also the Director of Data & Register Integrity), your role will ensure trust and confidence in the property market and support efficient and effective conveyancing in England and Wales through expert and timely legal advice, and the nuanced leadership you will offer your team. You will be an active member of the Data & Registry Integrity leadership team and Senior Executive Leadership Team (SET), and a highly visible corporate leader.
Person specification
To be successful in this post you will be a qualified barrister, solicitor or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives with significant post-qualification experience in one of the following specialisms: land law legislation; contract law and public procurement law; digital assets, artificial intelligence and intellectual property rights; together with an in-depth understanding of land registration legislation. Highly collaborative with experience of leading a dispersed professional team to deliver at pace, you will bring the ability to build and maintain strong relationships based on trust and integrity, with a track record of providing risk-based advice on complex and high profile legal matters.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £90,000, HM Land Registry contributes £26,073 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
#WeAreHMLR
At HM Land Registry our vision is a world leading property market as part of a thriving economy and a sustainable future. We are unique in terms of the economic and social impacts of our work, our ability to make a positive difference to the lives of our customers, our sense of mission, and our great people. They are the foundation of all we have achieved and all we aspire to in the future. We want our people to feel proud to work for HM Land Registry and able to fulfil their full potential.
We have a strong and positive culture, a commitment to inclusivity, an emphasis on continuous learning and development, and flexible ways of working. We offer competitive pay and annual leave, attractive pension options and a wide range of other benefits.
You can find more information on our rewards package on our website.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (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
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
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).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance to the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, please email hrresourcingteam2@landregistry.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from HM Land Registry then you may take your complaint to the Civil Service Commission: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/making-complaint/
This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
To view the job description and person specification, please scroll to the bottom of the page, tick to agree to the privacy policy, then click 'Continue to full details'.
For further information or for an informal discussion about the role please contact our advising consultants at GatenbySanderson:
Louise Bickley: louise.bickley@gatenbysanderson.com
To apply for this post, you will need to submit the following application documents by no later than 23:55 on Friday 1 August 2025:
We highly value diversity in all its forms and welcome applications from all sections of society. We’re committed to implementing and monitoring our equality and diversity policies with the aim of recruiting, retaining and promoting staff regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. You will be asked a number of diversity related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say', but this information is very important to the Civil Service as we seek to build organisations and develop policies that reflect our society. Any information you provide is confidential and will not be used during the selection process or to inform decision making.
All applications will be acknowledged.
Failure to submit your CV and Statement of Suitability will mean the panel have only limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification. Please ensure that both documents contain your full name.
Please refer to slide 12 in the attached candidate pack for full information on the selection process which will include a longlist/shortlist, staff engagement exercise and face to face interview.
The recruitment timeline is on slide 10 in the attached candidate pack.
Should you encounter any issues with your online application please contact: devon.coates leaning@gatenbysanderson.com
HMLR is accredited to the Disability Confident Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.
If you require the panel to consider a reasonable adjustment or there is anything else you would like the panel to take into consideration, you are asked to notify us of this at application stage where possible or during the process as soon as it becomes a requirement.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.