About the job

Job summary

The Tax Administration Directorate is a team with, currently, over 400 people; it contains a rich seam of professional skills and knowledge. We liaise closely with colleagues in all business areas of HMRC and HM Treasury.  We seek and act upon the views and feedback of internal and external stakeholders.  We are key players in large transformational projects including the Tax Administration Strategy and Making Tax Digital.

TALA provides expert technical advice, guidance and support to colleagues across HMRC on the interpretation and application of Tax Administration Framework legislation; and leads on responding to litigation challenges to the legislation.

Job description

Key Responsibilities ​

• Providing senior oversight and strategic direction to support decision making on the more strategically or reputationally significant technical work, litigation cases and policy advice. ​
• Understanding strategic developments and emerging issues in TAD and elsewhere in HMRC and proactively considering dependencies, opportunities and risks relating to the Tax Administration Framework (TAF), to identify wider operational, policy or strategic impacts. ​
• Working collaboratively with policy owners to support current policy and the development of future policies and processes that are technically well designed and operable by HMRC and by customers.  ​
• Working collaboratively with HMRC stakeholders including Tax Academy and professionalism teams, to build HMRC’s operational capability in the interpretation and application of the TAF, to support excellent customer service and the delivery of HMRC’s Compliance Professional Standards.​
• Representing TAD and TALA through clear and influential communications and engagement with senior stakeholders across HMRC and externally. Working with key stakeholders to ensure alignment with HMRC strategy and transformational change, adopting an agile and flexible approach to respond to external and internal drivers.
• Representing TAD as a member of various senior Governance Boards (and / or as deputy for the TAD Director when required), including the Contentious Issues Panel, Customer Experience & Professionalism Committee, HMRC Litigation Board, Tax Assurance Stakeholder Group etc.  ​
• Development of and accountability for team objectives and key team performance measures; ensuring optimal use of resources. Appropriate management of a delegated budget, reporting on performance against forecast and delivering agreed objectives within HMRC budget forecast tolerances.  ​
• Promoting a culture of personal and professional development to build capability and enable colleagues to fully contribute to delivering key objectives.   ​
• As a senior tax professional, working across HMRC to link with other technical teams and stakeholders to ensure best practice, developments and intelligence are pooled and shared. 

Person specification

We are seeking a collaborative leader and manager with deep direct tax knowledge and a demonstrable working knowledge of a range of tax regimes. We want to hear from experienced tax professionals who are passionate about strengthening professionalism and the reputation of the tax system and the Civil Service. ​

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

Essential Criteria:​

• Able to expertly combine excellent technical knowledge and skills with the proven ability to think strategically and align outcomes to HMRC’s strategic objectives, policy aims and operational demands. This requires the ability to apply insights from operational, litigation and policy work to identify and address wider dependencies, risks and opportunities. ​
• The jobholder will be an experienced tax professional with strong direct tax knowledge and experience, a good working knowledge of a range of tax regimes and is required to have successfully completed and passed the HMRC Tax Specialist Programme or a predecessor qualification (FT2, TPDP, ITS2 etc.), or an external equivalent qualification incorporating direct tax modules. ​
• The ability to analyse, explain and discuss the interpretation of complex tax technical issues to engage with both highly qualified internal and external tax professionals, and stakeholders with a non-tax technical background.  ​
• Strong track record of providing visible leadership with ability to develop a motivated, engaged and high performing team. ​
• Ability to manage a range of senior stakeholders across a large and complex organisation. ​
• Resilience, including the ability to cope confidently with ambiguity and make sound judgements in a complex and fast-moving environment. ​​

Desirable Experience:​

• Knowledge of the Tax Administration Framework and its application to complex cases, gained through previous operational compliance, policy or technical experience. 

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

All Criminal Record Checks applications are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.  See the candidate pack for the selection process.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.