Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
Deputy Director for Criminal Enforcement Unit
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Job Summary
The CEU’s approach gives equal weight to preventative and criminal justice-focused interventions - reflecting a clear understanding that long-term threat reduction requires a ‘whole-system’ response beyond prosecution. The unit works in cross-sector partnership at home and abroad to protect the public and maintain regulatory integrity.
The CEU’s mission is to prevent offending where it can, disrupt offending where it cannot, and to bring offenders to justice where it should. It does this by maintaining an accurate understanding of the nature and dimensions of the threat, and leading, supporting and coordinating innovative and impactful interventions to reduce it.
The CEU has seven teams, split between its Intelligence and Investigations Commands. The heads of Command report directly to the postholder as head of the unit.
Job Description
The purpose of the role is to provide strategic leadership for the unit, ensuring the Agency has an effective, intelligence-led and proportionate capability to address the most serious criminal breaches of medicines and medical devices regulations. The postholder is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the unit, ensuring its activity supports the Agency's wider regulatory objectives and contributes to protecting public health.
The role leads a multi-disciplinary team, fostering a culture of professionalism, continuous improvement and high performance, while ensuring that decision-making across the unit is robust, evidence-based and aligned with the Agency's priorities. The postholder represents the MHRA at senior levels across government, law enforcement and the wider regulatory community, building effective partnerships to strengthen the UK's response to criminal threats.
As head of the CEU, the Deputy Director for Criminal Enforcement is accountable to the Executive Committee and ultimately to the Agency’s Board for the unit’s overall delivery and performance.
Person specification
Please refer to the attached Candidate Information Sheet
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Leadership
- Changing and Improving
- Developing Self and Others
- Delivering at Pace
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- See Candidate Information sheet
- See Candidate Information sheet
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £86,000, Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency contributes £24,914 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
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Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.
Candidates will be subject to UK immigration requirements as well as Civil Service nationality rules. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
Any move to the MHRA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. Individuals appointed on level transfer will retain their existing salary and are responsible for ensuring they fully understand the financial implications of any potential move and the impact (if any) on their terms.
Staff joining on promotion will receive up to a 10% increase of their current basic salary, or the pay band minimum, whichever is the greater. The individual will not retain any allowances paid by the former department/Agency, unless there are special circumstances, such as a reserved right to those allowances on transfer.
Successful candidates may be subject to annual Occupational Health reviews dependent on role requirements. If you have any queries, please contact careers@mhra.gov.uk.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.
This role has a minimum assignment duration of 2 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.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
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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.
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.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact
Name: The Resourcing Team
Email: Careers@mhra.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Email: Careers@mhra.gov.uk
Further information
In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of selection for appointment on the basis of merit by a fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact the Resourcing team at Careers@mhra.gov.uk, in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk - info@csc.gov.uk - Civil Service Commission Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road London SW1A 2HQ
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