About the job

Job summary

Establishing the Compliance Operations Directorate is significant in implementing the ambition of the CCG Target Operating Model.

This model aims to:

1. Improve our effectiveness and efficiency in sustainably reducing non-compliance, treating risk further upstream and intensifying our operational focus on deliberate and complex non-compliance, while keeping pace with changes in technology and customer behaviours.
2. Make a step-change in  meeting our professional standards, supporting customers, data security and transparency to improve customer experience and public trust.
3. Think beyond our revenue raising and protection role and collaborate across government to increase our impact in protecting society from harm.
4. Embed new norms of respect and racial equality, invest in our people and modernise tools and ways of working to improve colleague experience and make CCG a great place to work.
5. Increase our organisational resilience and agility to respond to new delivery demands while protecting our core tax and customs compliance mission.

The Compliance Operations Directorate (COD) will support CCG in joining up to increase its effectiveness in addressing non-compliance by increasing standardisation of processes, providing integrated business support and leading efficiency improvements across our operational directorates.

The successful candidate will be the head of and senior leader responsible for CCG Operations - Planning, Performance, Evaluation & Resourcing (COPPER) in the CCG Compliance Operations Directorate (COD) and reports to the Director of COD.

The role holder will work with colleagues across CCG to develop and hold a  single CCG’s compliance work programme to address compliance risks in the tax system. The role holder will develop CCG’s overall approach and activity, balancing strategic intent against current performance in the context of understanding the complexity of the UK tax system, wider political change and external stakeholders’ attitude to HMRC more generally. The role will monitor and evaluate performance and develop on behalf of CCG, in year resource plans to reach operational requirements. This will include operating and coordinating CCG’s recruitment activity.

Job description

Key Responsibilities: 

• Provide senior leadership and senior responsibility for CCG operational planning, performance, evaluation & resourcing.
• Chair cross-CCG groups covering the elements of their business areas.
• Co-ordinate and lead on cross-CCG operational planning across multiple years, to consistently optimise operational resource deployment, aligned to CCG priorities.
• Monitor, challenge and influence CCG’s operational performance against delegated measures aligned to operational plans.
• Evaluate insight, to create actionable activity to inform plans and improve performance.
• Understand and inform the recruitment pipelines for Managers and Tax professional roles in CCG, leading the team co-ordinating that activity. • Support the matching of displaced resource from large scale transformation activity into vacant roles.
• Provide operational requirements for the group's management information, ensuring we have a first-class planning hub to enable decision-making by CCG SLT.
• Provide complex and diverse information at a senior level with a focus on producing quality outputs for Senior Civil Servants and Ministers,

Key Interactions:

• CCG Director General
• CCG Finance and planning
• Director COD
• COD Deputy Directors
• COD HRBP, Finance BP
• Comms BP
• HMRC Transformation Programmes
• Tax Policy colleagues
• HM Treasury Other CCG Directors/SCS Other Lines of Business Product and Process owners

Person specification

We are seeking an experienced leader and tax professional with a demonstrable track record of success within operational delivery. We want to hear from candidates with a real passion for addressing compliance risk and how that is delivered within a large, complex and high-profile national body. We require someone who has the skills and experience to lead the compliance agenda in HMRC.

The successful applicant will need to demonstrate relevant experience and effective delivery of the following essential criteria.

Essential Criteria:

• Experience of taxation compliance activity and operational delivery expertise in deploying resource to address compliance risk.
• Demonstrable ability of using compliance professional and technical knowledge and expertise to influence peers and senior stakeholders up to Board level on the direction of the policy, design, and implementation.
• Strong stakeholder management skills to bring together different perspectives to achieve single outcomes, including providing challenge where required.
• Excellent leadership skills, including the ability to lead and develop a high-performing team.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to confidently communicate verbally and in writing.
• Resilient and able to work well under pressure to tight deadlines.

Desirable qualifications and professional memberships:

• Tax Professional

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £75,000, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £20,250 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Application:

To apply for this post, you will need to complete an online application by submitting the following:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
• A Statement of Suitability explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the criteria in the person specification.

Your CV and Statement of Suitability should reflect your most relevant and recent skills and experience in relation to the role. Therefore, we recommend that each document is no more than two A4 pages long.

By not submitting a CV and a Statement of Suitability will mean we only have limited information to assess your application against the person specification. Please ensure both documents contain your full name.

If you encounter any issues with your application or don’t receive an acknowledgement within 48 hours, please contact Robert Gavin at  scs.resourcing@hmrc.gov.uk 

Shortlist

An application pre-sift will be conducted by the SCS Recruitment Team followed by an in-depth review by the Vacancy Holder and Panel.

The panel will assess and select applicants who demonstrate the best fit with the role by considering the evidence provided against the criteria set out in the Person Specification. Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application. The closing date for applications is Tuesday 2nd April 2024 and a shortlist decision is expected to be made by w/c Monday 8th April 2024. All candidates will be notified of the outcome shortly afterwards.

All shortlisted candidates will be offered an opportunity to have an informal conversation with the vacancy holder, Janet Alexander. This is not an assessment phase but is an opportunity for each candidate to gain greater insight into the context of the role. This is optional, but highly recommended.

Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS)

Candidates applying under the Disability Confidence Scheme are guaranteed an interview if they meet the minimum criteria outlined in the person specification. 

This scheme works in conjunction with the Great Place to Work for Veterans, for former members of the armed services, and the Redeployment Interview Scheme for existing Civil Servants at risk of redundancy. Each scheme works in the same way.

Use of Data

As part of the recruitment process, we may share your data and assessment results internally with our SCS Talent team. 

This will provide insight into how to support your development and wider talent management, should you be successful in your application. 

If you do not want your data to be shared, please email Robert Gavin at scs.resourcing@hmrc.gov.uk 

Interview:

You will be asked to attend an interview for a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence. 

We will also ask you to prepare a 5-minute verbal presentation. Details will be issued in advance of your interview.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing w/c 15th April 2024 and will be held remotely on Microsoft Teams.

Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers

Please note that this role is unsuitable for contractual homeworkers due to the nature and/or requirements of the role.

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible once all interviews have concluded.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

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:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

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.