HM Revenue & Customs
Director of Resilience
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Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Croydon, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Stratford, Telford, Worthing
Job Summary
Reporting to the Director General, CDIO, the Director of Resilience provides enterprise leadership across HMRC, ensuring that resilience, business continuity, contingency planning and crisis management are embedded within governance, operations and decision-making across the department. Working closely with the Chief Security Officer, the role forms part of HMRC’s wider Security and Resilience leadership arrangements.
The Director will lead the Resilience Directorate, responsible for enterprise resilience, business continuity, crisis management and organisational preparedness across HMRC.
Job Description
Strategic Leadership & Accountability
- Lead and Mature the Operating Model: Provide strategic leadership for business continuity, crisis management and resilience arrangements, ensuring governance and accountability remain effective.
- Strengthen Organisational Capability: Develop the processes, tools, systems and professional expertise needed to support preparedness and response.
- Drive Continuous Improvement: Use insight, threat intelligence and lessons learned to strengthen resilience capability and address emerging risks.
- Promote a Culture of Resilience: Lead engagement and awareness activity to ensure resilience ownership and accountability is embedded across HMRC.
- Provide Assurance of Maturity: Oversee internal and external assurance activity, including alignment with ISO 22301 and other recognised standards.
- Crisis Management Leadership: Provide strategic leadership during crisis situations, ensuring effective activation of business continuity, recovery and response arrangements.
- Command Arrangements: Maintain, develop and oversee Gold, Silver and Bronze command structures, ensuring clear responsibilities, escalation pathways and effective mobilisation of resources.
- Integrated Resilience Framework: Lead the continued development and embedding of contingency planning, business continuity, disaster recovery and crisis response arrangements.
- Scenario Planning and Testing: Oversee resilience exercises, playbooks and assurance activity to strengthen organisational readiness and response capability.
- Business Continuity Assurance: Ensure critical business services are supported by effective and regularly tested continuity arrangements.
- Strategic Leadership: Provide expert advice and assurance to Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, ExCom and the HMRC Board on resilience risks, preparedness and organisational capability.
- Strategic Influence and Collaboration: The Director of Resilience operates at the strategic centre of HMRC’s resilience capability, providing expert advice and assurance to senior leaders and governance forums.
- Internal Influence: Work with Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, ExCom, the HMRC Board and senior leaders across lines of business to embed resilience within strategic planning, operational delivery and enterprise risk management.
- External Collaboration: Represent HMRC in cross-government resilience and crisis management forums, building trusted relationships with government departments, agencies, suppliers and delivery partners and contributing to wider resilience capability across government.
- Communication and Impact: Translate complex resilience issues into clear, credible advice that supports effective decision-making before, during and after disruption.
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Person specification
Qualifications
The successful applicant will need to demonstrate the right senior-level experience, relevant qualifications and effective delivery against the following essential criteria:
- Strategic Leadership and Delivery: Proven ability to lead complex organisations through change and deliver sustainable outcomes across organisational boundaries.
- Resilience, Crisis, Contingency and Continuity Leadership: Experience of leading resilience, crisis management, business continuity or recovery arrangements in a complex operational environment.
- Building Organisational Capability: Experience of strengthening organisational capability through planning, preparedness, assurance, continuous improvement and organisational learning.
- Stakeholder Engagement and Influence: Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the ability to build credibility and secure commitment from Ministers, boards, senior leaders, operational teams and external partners.
- Government and External Collaboration: Experience of building effective partnerships across government, industry and external organisations to deliver strategic outcomes.
- Qualifications, Frameworks and Assurance: Relevant professional qualifications, or equivalent expertise, and knowledge of recognised resilience, continuity, risk management or assurance frameworks.
Salary and Benefits
- Salary: £105,000
- Pension: HM Revenue and Customs contributes £30,418 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
- Annual Leave and Bank Holiday Allowance: 25 days annual leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years’ service (allowance pro-rata for part-time colleagues).
Selection process details
Selection Panel
- Tony Poulter: Civil Service Commissioner & Chair
- Daljit Rehal: HMRC Director General CDIO / vacancy holder
- Helen Pickles: HMRC Chief People Officer & Director General, People and Place Group
- Myrtle Lloyd: Director General, Customer Services Group, HMRC
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Shortlist
The panel will assess the evidence provided in your CV and statement. Candidates whose applications best meet the essential criteria will be selected for interview.
Assessment
If shortlisted, you will take part in the following assessments:
- Individual Leadership Assessment: a combination of psychometric assessments.
- Staff Engagement Exercise: a presentation and Q&A with a representative staff group from across HMRC.
Interview
You will attend a panel interview for a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence. This will include a 5-minute verbal presentation; further information will be issued in advance.
Offer and Feedback
Unfortunately, due to the anticipated number of applicants for this role, we are unable to provide feedback to those not successful at shortlist stage.
Candidates who are shortlisted and attend an interview will be offered feedback from a member of the interview panel. We will also send you a copy of the report for any assessment you have undergone.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check and meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check. See our vetting charter.
Nationality requirements
Open to UK nationals only.
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 and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact
- Name: Louise Nisbet
- Email: scs.resourcing@hmrc.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email: scs.resourcing@hmrc.gov.uk
Further information
Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/
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