You will be comfortable working with technical specialists, interpreting service data and insights, and making informed decisions that support service stability and continuous improvement.

The ideal candidate will possess excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to build strong relationships across technical teams, suppliers, business stakeholders, and external partners. Above all, you will be a resilient and proactive leader, able to manage competing priorities while developing people, improving services, and delivering positive outcomes for customers and the organisation.

Key Accountabilities

• Lead and manage the delivery of External Test Services, ensuring services are stable, resilient, and aligned to business and customer needs.
• Provide leadership and line management for a multidisciplinary team, driving performance, capability development, and employee engagement.
• Maintain operational oversight of testing, assurance, analytics, reporting, governance, communications, and guidance services.
• Ensure effective service performance management through the use of data, monitoring, reporting, and operational insight to support informed decision-making.
• Manage operational risks, incidents, escalations, and service issues, ensuring appropriate mitigation and resolution activities are in place.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, suppliers, and delivery partners to support service delivery and organisational objectives.
• Oversee service assurance, release readiness, and governance activities to ensure services remain reliable, compliant, and fit for purpose.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance service quality, efficiency, resilience, and customer experience.
• Provide strategic and operational advice to senior leaders, using service data, performance metrics, and operational insight to support decision-making.
• Ensure effective resource planning and prioritisation across the service portfolio, balancing operational demands, business priorities, and future service requirements.
• Promote a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, innovation, and accountability across the team.
• Act as the senior operational lead for the service area, representing the function at governance forums, stakeholder engagements, and leadership discussions.

Essential Criteria

• Significant experience managing technical testing, assurance or pre-production services that support the delivery of complex digital platforms.
• Strong technical understanding of APIs, service integrations and operational service management.
• Experience using monitoring and analytics tools (e.g. Kibana/Elastic, Power BI) to drive service performance, incident management and data-led decision making.
• Demonstrable leadership and people management experience, including developing teams and delivering through others.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across technical teams, suppliers, business stakeholders and external partners.
• Proven track record of managing operational risk, service assurance and continuous improvement to deliver resilient, high-performing services.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience delivering operational efficiencies through automation, analytics, or process improvement.
• Relevant professional qualifications (e.g. ITIL, Agile, Service Management, Project Management, or Leadership qualifications).

Further Location Information

Please ensure that you only apply for a location that you are willing and able to work from, as we will only make one offer of employment. Any additional notes included in a ‘Further Location Preferences (optional)’ field within the application form, will not be considered. Please be aware that you cannot change your location preference after submitting your application.

Office Closures

If your location preference is for the following site, it’s important to note that this is not a long-term site for HMRC and we will require you to move to a new building in the future, subject to our location strategy and the applicable employee policies at that time.

For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations (opens in a new window)

This Site Is

Telford Plaza, Telford - moving to Parkside Court, Telford

You will be given more information about what this means at the job offer stage.

Leeds Location

Moves Adjustment Payment will be available for this role, provided the successful applicant is a current HMRC colleague in Bradford and meets the eligibility requirements outlined in the HMRC’s Moves Adjustment Payment guidance.

Alongside your salary of £58,541, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £16,959 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).

HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
• Family friendly policies.
• Personal support.
• Coaching and development.

To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service

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.

Selection process details

How To Apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

• A name-blind CV including your Job History and key achievements. Your CV is all about summarising your skills, knowledge and experience which reflect the key responsibilities of the role
• A 1000-word Personal Statement which should be used to describe how your skills and experience would be suitable for the advertised role, referring to the Essential Criteria.

Please evidence any Desirable Criteria where applicable (up to 250 words max). This is not essential for the role but may be considered by the vacancy holder where candidates have the same score at interview.

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

Sift

In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift may be held on your CV.

At full sift your CV and Personal Statement will be assessed, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.

We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.