Standards Manager

Reports to: Deputy Director of Governance & Technology

Salary: £37,500 – £40,000 per annum

Hours: Permanent, full time (37.5 hours per week)

Location: Flexible location with regular travel to London HQ required

Purpose of the Role

As Standards Manager, you will serve as the hands-on operational and administrative lead of our disciplinary and complaints function. You will directly manage complex, sensitive casework files while overseeing office workflows, mentoring the Standards Officer, and ensuring our published procedures are applied with total consistency and integrity. 

Working closely with volunteer adjudicators (SAT) and the Disciplinary Sub Group (DSG), you will ensure complaints are triaged and processed efficiently, and brought to defensible, audited conclusions. This role is ideal for a resilient, highly organised practitioner who excels at cutting through high-volume, contentious correspondence, establishing clear case boundaries, and turning operational data into actionable governance insights.

Key Responsibilities

• Casework Operations, Data & Tracking: Oversee the end-to-end complaints lifecycle. Establish clear triage tiers, manage backlogs safely, and balance thoroughness with efficient resolution SLAs. Maintain meticulous, real-time case tracking across Standards Office systems to ensure all stages of the casework pipeline are fully audited, compliant, and visible. 
• Procedural Leadership & Escalations: Act as the procedural custodian for complex cases. Manage hands-on administration for complex casework and ensure all decisions and notifications adhere strictly to published rules, natural justice, and defensibility under challenge. 
• Volunteer Partnership & Operational Alignment: Partner closely with volunteer adjudicators (SAT) and the Disciplinary Sub Group (DSG). Attend and co-ordinate a joint quarterly meeting with both DSG and SAT to review case throughput, address procedural friction, and ensure operational alignment across the entire process. 
• Governance Reporting & Performance Insights: Lead on all reporting and data provision for the Standards Office. Own the preparation of data required for quarterly and annual governance and conference reports.
• Systems & Continuous Improvement: Proactively identify procedural bottlenecks and workflow inefficiencies. Recommend and implement practical improvements to our case management tools and operational procedures.
• Team Leadership & Culture: Line manage and mentor the Standards Officer (and temporary peak-period staff), building a collaborative, positive, and high-performing culture focused on administrative accuracy, data discipline, and mutual support. 
• Appeals & Advisory: Act as Clerk/Registrar to Appeals Panels, coordinating hearings and advising panels on procedural steps. 
• Stakeholder Management: Manage sensitive communications with complainants, respondents, and statutory bodies with firmness, calm authority, and strict confidentiality. 
• General: Undertake any other reasonable duties as required by senior leadership.

Person Specification

Experience & Technical Capability

• Proven track record in managing formal complaints, regulatory casework, or administrative processes where adherence to policy, SLAs, and natural justice is essential. 
• Strong background in high-volume case triage, pipeline tracking, and producing accurate data reports/dashboards for boards, committees, or senior stakeholders
• Experience operating as a working casework lead or senior officer—comfortable balancing hands-on file handling with workflow oversight. 
• Experience delivering clear procedural support to independent volunteer panels, committees, or non-executive decision-makers
• Line management or mentoring experience within an operational, casework, or regulatory team. 
• Hands-on proficiency in using and optimising digital CRMs and case management software (e.g., Salesforce, Hoowla). 
• Experience navigating complex organisational structures, committees, or volunteer-led governance (desirable). 

Key Competencies

• A proactive problem-solver who takes initiative to streamline workflows, resolve bottlenecks, and clear backlogs efficiently. 
• High emotional intelligence, composure, and resilience when managing emotionally charged or sensitive correspondence. 
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey clear data insights to senior committees and constructively guide volunteers on procedural boundaries. 

Values

• Commitment to fairness, transparency, and natural justice
• Sympathy with the aims and values of the Liberal Democrats

How to apply
 

All applicants must have the unrestricted, legal right to live and work in the UK. Please note that we are currently unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. 

To submit an application, please email recruitment@libdems.org.uk, attaching:

1. A copy of your CV, including complete work history
2. A Covering Letter: no more than one page of A4 in length, indicating clearly how your experience and skills meet the criteria stated in the job and person specification
3. A completed diversity monitoring form
4. Please ensure we have the means to contact you by phone and email

We will be reviewing applications as they come in on a rolling basis. We will not notify applicants if their application has been unsuccessful at the shortlisting stage.

Applicants are encouraged to inform us if any reasonable adjustments are needed to be made during any part of the recruitment process.

Please let us have details of your current salary and two referees including one from your current employer – if you would prefer us not to contact them until a later stage of the selection process, please let us know.

We will not notify applicants if their application has been unsuccessful at the shortlisting stage.

The Party believes it is essential to foster equity, equality, diversity and inclusion within our workforce. We want our employees to thrive in an environment where everyone is welcome and supported to achieve their potential. It is important to celebrate what makes us unique and that you feel valued, appreciated and free to be who you are.