HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) ensures money is available to fund public services throughout the country and assist people with targeted financial support. With expanding amounts of intelligence and data, it is a very exciting time to join us!

Within HMRC, our analytical community offers a diverse set of opportunities. These may include: tax compliance risk; identifying threats to UK PLC; and equipping our compliance colleagues with the data and intelligence needed to investigate and tackle avoidance of taxes and duties.

In Profiling and Case Delivery (PCD) we prepare around 500,000 compliance interventions every year. This work helps HMRC reduce the tax gap, by targeting and directing our resources to combat tax fraud.

In Projects and Profiles (P&P) we analyse high-risk taxpayers and develop projects to meet the needs of a wide range of partners across HMRC.

Customs and International Trade leads PCD on the analysis of cases for Customs Compliance partners to enable HMRC’s preparation for the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

Our business provides analytical expertise to policy and compliance partners. We interrogate complex data to understand it, develop insight on it to identify where risk lies and what the riskiest populations are. We prepare and deliver these cases to our customers across HMRC.

PCD use data analytics for a variety of tasks:

• Identifying and predicting patterns of customer behaviour.
• Identifying and prioritising risks to the tax system to inform strategic and tactical decision making.
• Identifying individual cases for potential enforcement and compliance interventions.
• Providing analysis, helping decision makers understand emerging trends and changes to customer bases.

We need our Senior Data Analysts (SDAs) to have a genuine passion for analytics, an innovative mind-set, the ability to lead, communicate effectively and they need to question our current methods of delivery to improve processes, and to offer a different perspective.

Demonstrate high levels of experience and ability when using a range of cutting-edge analytical tools and software to manipulate complex datasets to develop insight and risk. SDAs lead on our technical standards of analysis and are responsible for the quality of our analytical products, ensuring standards are upheld and improved.

Provide leadership for our data analysts by working with them on complex projects and finding new and innovative ways of working; supporting them when they engage with new customers or undertake larger programmes of analytical work with a wider business or reputational impact.
Build capability of the team and wider by developing effective approaches to complex analytical problems.
Train and mentor our data analysts, building their confidence and capability when their analysis requires deeper technical understanding or when new datasets are developed and introduced.
Employ advanced analytical skills to design and deliver products that identify individuals, businesses and customer behaviours of greatest risk to the UK economy

Use new tools and techniques to develop your expertise for manipulating large datasets, including a range of taxpayer, government, public and commercially available information

Initiate and undertake complex and accurate analysis

Responsibilities As an SDA your responsibilities are:

• leading and overseeing the work of our data analysts, however, there are no line management responsibilities
• leading on the development of complex and high-profile analytical products
• identifying and sharing best practice
• building capability within the team and wider, developing effective and efficient working processes which encourages our people to flourish
• ensuring products meet our quality standards.

Person Specification

You will:

• be able to effectively communicate using verbal, written and presentation skills
• have experience of working with challenging, non-analytical stakeholders, often across multiple lines of business
• have a proven ability to be flexible, manage conflicting demands and deliver to tight deadlines
• be comfortable learning to use new tools to manipulate large and diverse datasets, which can include taxpayer, government, public and commercially available data.

Essential Criteria

Applicants must meet the essential criteria detailed below:

• Demonstrate high levels of experience and technical ability when using bulk data analysis tools or languages, such as SAS Enterprise Guide (or similar)

• Work with business partners to capture their requirements to develop and deliver analytical projects; and demonstrate a capability of effectively communicating project changes, progress issues and results to partners

Relevant previous experience of working in an analytical role where the skills you have developed can be transferred to this Senior Data Analyst role

Desirable Criteria
• Experience of training, mentoring or developing others in the use of data analytics tools or techniques

• A high level of technical ability and effective use of 2 or more bulk data analysis tools and languages such as R, Python, SPSS (or similar)

Qualifications

A first or second-class honours degree (2:2 minimum) or higher in a subject containing formal mathematics and / or statistical training (for example, Statistics, Mathematics, Economics, Sciences, Business Studies, Psychology, Geography, Computer Science or similar).

Candidates may apply in their final year of study whilst they are still awaiting their degree result, however, job offers will not be made until we receive confirmation of your degree result

Or

Membership of a Government Analytical Service such as the Government Statistical Service, Government Operational Research Service, Digital, Data and Technology Profession (or similar)

All candidates will be required to demonstrate in their application form and at their interview their continuing professional development that would demonstrate knowledge and experience of using software packages and tools to analyse and manage data at the same level as a foundation degree / HND (Level 5).

Qualification certificates will be checked before your blended interview stage of the recruitment process.