About HMRC

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is one of the largest Government Departments and one of the country’s biggest organisations. Almost every individual and business in the UK is a direct customer of HMRC. We collect in excess of £500 billion a year in revenue from over 50 million customers across the UK.

We are an effective, efficient and impartial tax and payments authority with a vital purpose: To collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.

About Fraud Investigation Service (FIS)

DSI sits within HMRC’s wider Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) which is broadly responsible for the department’ civil and criminal investigations. FIS ensures that HMRC has an effective approach to tackling the most serious tax evasion and fraud.

Digital Support and Innovation (DSI) is the specialist support business area responsible for the provision of enhanced digital and covert specialist technological support to FIS investigations. DSI works across Law Enforcement and government. DSI provides investigative tools and covert techniques 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.

Responsibilities & Tasks

The Cybercrime Team is responsible for tackling the ever-changing cybercrime threats to HMRC. We achieve this through our intelligence operations and relationships, criminal investigations, forensic analysis and cyber security expertise to provide data and actionable insight, informing system and process hardening and countermeasures to improve the resilience of HMRC digital services. We collect the evidence and data that enables confident decision-making, strengthening the security of the systems used by millions of people, which collect the money that pays for the UK’s Public Services. We also support interventions directly to undermine the most significant and influential criminal groups, and those that provide the technology and services that enable them.

The Head of Cybercrime Intelligence, Investigation and Engagement is a new role that will be leading the delivery of Cybercrime’s intervention and disruption operations, directing intelligence and investigation teams across both DSI & Organised Crime operations, including officers embedded across law enforcement and intelligence partner agencies.

You will be responsible for HMRC’s cybercrime intelligence and investigation strategy, delivering against FIS tactical priorities and directly supporting wider strategic outcomes. You will deliver through your leadership and networks, continuously developing our award-winning teams of talented cybercrime investigators, building on our strong relationships and reputation across law enforcement, intelligence, and industry sectors to support the HMRC cybercrime mission. You will energise and exploit those intelligence relationships through our embedded officers, acquiring insight into current threats to online services, often in the form of digital material. Working in partnership with the Cybercrime Technology and Strategy leads, you will ensure your teams leverage the wider technical expertise to maximise impact.

You will be directing the assessment of new intelligence received through the relationships you maintain, managing new investigative or disruptive opportunities through tasking & coordination prioritisation processes, and directing multi-agency cross-jurisdiction investigations through to their conclusion, supported by your relationship with the CPS Cyber leads. By ensuring insights into criminal techniques and vulnerabilities in HMRC systems are documented, the investigations directly inform corporate risk and mitigations. You will be carefully managing your resources, seeking alternative teams or disruptive outcomes where possible, to ensure your teams can focus on priorities.

Critical to your success are your people, and you will always be focused on maintaining a positive, inclusive, innovative and confident culture within your team. Drawing on your experience of the criminal investigation of technology-driven crimes and sensitive intelligence management, you will support and encourage proportionate use of every option available to disrupt cybercrime affecting HMRC

Essential Criteria

• A sound understanding of the use of digital evidence and intelligence, end-user devices, networks and internet services used in the commission and investigation of cybercrime, and applying that to direct and assure the work of specialist teams
• Success in leading teams across departments, across agencies and ideally internationally to tackle technology-enabled, financially-driven crime
• Demonstrable success in cultivating productive relationships across departments, across agencies and internationally, identifying common goals despite different missions
• Proven success in implementing strategy through tactical objectives and delivering measurable outcomes, leveraging your stakeholder relationships and political awareness
• Proven experience in criminal justice investigations, including use and oversight of sensitive intelligence powers, and assuring and developing that knowledge and expertise within your teams
• Be able demonstrate sound knowledge of the legislation that underpins the work of FIS in the criminal justice environment, in particular Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016, the Police Act 1997, Criminal Procedures and Investigations Act (CPIA) and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE), Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).
• National Security Vetting at Developed Vetting (DV) clearance level will be required for this role. Ideally you will currently hold this clearance level, or will begin the process on acceptance of the offer if successful.