This role is a critical role, providing strategic advice and counsel to an evolving senior leadership team and Director General (DG). Both the previous and the current Chief Executive want this role to provide a more senior strategic steer, to avert risk, build trust and reputation and deliver improved customer outcomes.

 

The challenge of this role is that it is a fast-paced and complex brief, requiring a confident thought leader who has a strong record of achievement and a diverse range of skills – in strategy, policy and campaigns; in writing impactful communications; reputation and relationship management; media management; social media and marketing; direct customer communications; internal communications; people management; and influencing at Executive and Board level.

The role acts in an advisory capacity, providing strategic communications recommendations within some of the most significant and challenging tax change programmes including Off-payroll Reform, Pensions Reform, Tax Administration Reform and Making Tax Digital, and tax issues including Benefits, VAT and Excise. Key to this is influencing, negotiating and moving communications up the value chain in terms of the level of influence and expertise in a Department where we don’t have Special Advisors of our own.

Supporting a large team of directors and deputy directors under the DG, the role must also quickly gain the confidence and act as an influencing force, supporting those responsible for multiple policy areas (Indirect taxes, Individuals, Tax Administration, Business, Assets and International) and requiring an understanding of each, factoring in reputational risks, customer impact and channels required to deliver on HMRC’s objectives.

The role is responsible for a high proportion of new, high-priority and high-impact work as new areas of work for HMRC more often than not originate as expressions of strategic direction and are made real through policy development and design, for example both Brexit and C-19 both started in CS&TD. As such there is a strong level of interaction needed with HM Treasury colleagues and ministers, as well as other government departments.

Responsibilities • Providing strategic communications leadership, support and advice to, and on behalf of, the Director of Communications and their Senior Leadership Team as well as being an active CS&TD Senior Leadership Team member, contributing to decision-making beyond communications

• An active, empowering and visible leader in HMRC, and externally, who provides strong leadership, values and culture change to deliver impactful communications.

• Responsible for horizon scanning, trouble-shooting and risk management of high-profile and high-impact issues and work closely with senior stakeholders to manage and mitigate them.

• Growing the Tax Policy Communications team in terms of impact and delivery, ensuring insight, evaluation and planning are at the heart of everything we do.

• Capability of managing (in conjunction with marketing colleagues) substantial campaign budgets, ensuring value for money, financial propriety and extensive evaluation.

• The role will require excellent presentational skills given the need to represent HMRC and directors at high level boards, while the ability to create strategy papers and present them to our most senior workforce is key.

• Ensure that internal and external communications are based on behavioural insight, supporting new policies and processes, doing more to deliver on upstream compliance and improving employee engagement.

For HMRC

• Leading and setting the new tax policy communication strategy for the department in order to deliver HMRC’s purpose and support our strategic objectives. This includes leading communications delivery of the C-19 tax policy measures and easements, the 2020 Spending Review and working towards the Healthy Tax Administration System ambitions.

• Establishing the right communication structures to deliver HMRC’s tax policy programme as an integrated part of HMRC and HMT’s broader communications strategies.

• Exerting appropriate influence over embedded communications, policy colleagues and external partners based outside of HMRC Communications to deliver strategic communications objectives.

• Highly attuned political awareness and detailed understanding of HMRC’s tax policy issues to inform strategic updates to the wider business.

Person Specification

As a senior leader in HMRC, you will play a key role in leadership, facilitating change and enhancing insight to improve decision making. You should be comfortable working at pace in a complex, fast-moving, multi-stakeholder environment with high levels of senior visibility. You will need to work collaboratively and be prepared to work confidently with ambiguity, able to range between low level data and strategic considerations, be a good communicator with strong interpersonal skills.

 

• You will be an experienced communications professional with demonstrable evidence of developing and leading communications teams that deliver excellent impact and outcomes.

• Confident and resilient, you will bring energy and drive to the role, but also manage your own time and that of your team well, protecting wellbeing and team resilience.

• Comfortable challenging the status quo, and being challenged. You will be an innovator with strong collaborative skills.

• You must be an experienced communications professional, who will endorse and advocate current GCS standards and professional development, and is keen to play an active role as a senior member of the GCS wider leadership team.

 

• Willing to undertake communications professional body membership and qualification once in post (if not already held).

• Membership of the Government Communications Service is expected on appointment.