About the job

Job summary

HMRC is the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority and we have a vital purpose: we collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.

Cybercrime & Forensic Services (CFS) sits within HMRC’s wider Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) responsible for the department’s civil and criminal investigation work. FIS ensures that HMRC has an effective approach to taking on the most serious tax evasion and fraud.

Working across Law Enforcement and government, CFS provides Forensic and Cybercrime tools to front-line investigations and works with key partners to develop and provide access to new technology and systems to enable investigators to respond to serious and complex tax evasion and crime.

See what it’s like to work at HMRC: find out more about us or ask our colleagues a question. Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Job description

HMRC's CFS plays an integral role in Her Majesty's Government's fight against serious and organised crime, supporting investigations totalling hundreds of millions of pounds each year. This requires a specialist network and technology, which the Infrastructure team is responsible for supporting.

As CFS grows, so does the need for Infrastructure support. The Infrastructure Senior Officer role is an amazing opportunity for any forward thinking and focused individual who has a passion for technology.

The primary responsibility of this role is to support all technology underpinning CFS business as usual activity. This supports Investigators as they capture, investigate, and analyse forensic evidence, extracted from digital media devices that have been, or are suspected of being, used in the commission of crime.

Person specification

As a member of the HMRC Fraud Investigation Service, Digital Forensic Infrastructure Team, you will:

• Work in a team of infrastructure specialists and engineers, ensuring services are integrated, delivered, and operated as required.
• Provide direction and support junior engineers.
• Manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Work as part of a skilled team sharing ideas, but also take the initiative and work independently with little supervision.
• Play a leading role in the planning, designing, maintaining and improving Digital Forensic Infrastructure services and technologies.
• Work with and support third parties in providing infrastructure and work with technical architects to translate architectural designs into operations.
• You can break a problem down into its component parts to identify and diagnose root causes as well as troubleshoot and identify problems across different technology capabilities.

Training Requirements:

In this role you will have a chance to train and become qualified gaining industry leading infrastructure specialist certifications. You will achieve AWS Associate certification and have a pathway to AWS Professional certification as well as have exposure to relevant SANS training modules. 

Essential Criteria

• Experience with, or exposure to VMWare vSphere or similar.
• Experience with, or exposure to Microsoft Windows domains and associated services (A/D, GPOs, domain trusts, DNS, DHCP, PKI etc.)
• Experience with, or exposure to network technologies such as Cisco ACI or NXOS, Fortigate firewalls or similar, etc.
• Experience with, or exposure to supporting the planning, installation, maintenance and improvement of hardware services within a data centre.
• Exposure to, or awareness of scripting or programming languages (Powershell, Python, TypeScript, etc.)
• Awareness of public cloud technologies or an interest to learn more.
• Experience in providing support and guidance to other engineers.
• Ability to break a problem down into its component parts to identify and diagnose root causes as well as troubleshoot and identify problems across different technology capabilities.
• You can demonstrate an understanding of information security and the types of security controls that can be used to mitigate security threats within solutions and services.
• You must hold or be able to obtain SC security clearance.

Desirable Criteria:

• Degree or degree-level qualification in Information Technology or a related field and/or practical experience supporting an IT environment. Qualifications and certifications held may include (but are not limited to): MCSE, CCNA, SAA-C03, CompTIA A+, etc.
• ITIL Foundation Qualification or demonstrable understanding of ITIL Lifecycle Standards.
• Exposure to, or experience working with DevOps processes and practices.
• Experience working with Gitlab or other CI/CD tools.
• Experience working with programming/IaC languages (eg. Powershell, Python, Terraform)
• Exposure to, or experience working with project management tools (eg. Jira, MS Project)
• Exposure to, or experience with version control systems.

You will be required to complete 6 months Training Assessment Period (TAP) - document attached

Further Information:

Appointment will be conditional upon satisfactory conduct and discipline checks and security vetting.

Candidates must live within reasonable daily travel, which is usually an hour each way, of Nottingham Regional Centre.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,618, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £11,506 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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

All Criminal Record Checks applications are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete:

• A CV including education, professional qualifications and full employment history, giving details of key achievements.
• A Personal Statement. The Personal Statement should explain in no more than 750 words why you are suitable for this role and evidence the Essential Criteria for this role. The Personal Statement should therefore include details of the work and projects that you have been involved in, and your role therein.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

A sift will be undertaken on the CV and Personal Statement.

Candidates who are successful at sift will be selected for interview and further tested against experience, strengths, and technical skills.

We will also test your technical skills by way of a 10-15 minute presentation as part of the interview process. The presentation brief will be sent to those selected for interview. There will also be follow up technical questions.

Desirable Criteria will only be assessed in the event of tied candidate scores.

Interviews may be held by video, if not the location will be confirmed.

Interview dates to be confirmed.

We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process in order to manage numbers.

A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Eligibility

To check that you are eligible to apply, review this eligibility information.

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.

Reasonable Adjustments 

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition, or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate. 

If you need a reasonable adjustment or a change to be made so that you can make your application, review this information on reasonable adjustments, and contact hmrcrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible.

Diversity and Inclusion

At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues and creating an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We’re committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues here at HMRC. We want everyone to feel valued and supported to achieve their potential at HMRC.

For more information on how we make this happen, review this information on our culture and values

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible after considering operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process. 

The Civil Service runs 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. 

Locations 

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

Security Update

For more information on the level of security checks we will carry out, review this information on security checks.

Additional Security Information

Please note: in addition to the standard pre-employment checks for appointment into the Civil Service, all candidates must also obtain National Security Vetting at Security Check (SC) clearance level for this vacancy. You will normally need to meet the minimum UK residency period as determined by the level of vetting being undertaken, which for SC is 5 years UK residency prior to your vetting application. If you have any questions about this residency requirement, please speak to the vacancy holder for this post.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting.

Further Information

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application/s will be withdrawn from the process. 

Duplicate applications for the same vacancy will also be withdrawn.

Transferring into HMRC from Civil Service If you are currently working for an ‘Other Government Department’ (OGD) and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document "Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”, found at the bottom of this advert. Further information on staff transfers can be found on gov.uk

Problems during the application process 

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. 

If you think you’ve made a mistake on a short application form (e.g. you’ve ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact hmrcrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we won’t be able to reopen your application.   

Please use the subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application - 345997 & vacancy closing date 09/04/2024. Please note that we cannot amend or re-open your application if you have submitted your full application in the interests of fair and open recruitment.

For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details within reasonable adjustments section above.

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.