Quality Assurance & Technical Management Lead

About the job

Job summary

For more information about our Directorates, Lines of Business and some of our roles, please visit the FIS Careers pages HMRC

HMRC - Fraud Investigation Service , Civil Service Careers

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The Cyber & Forensic Services (C&FS) team provides critical forensic support to HMRC investigations across Digital Forensics, Audio Visual (AV) Forensics, and Crime Scene Investigation (CSI). We are committed to delivering outstanding forensic services to our customers, maintaining the highest standards of quality, integrity, and professionalism, while striving to be a world-class forensic capability at the forefront of forensic best practice and innovation.

To support this ambition, we are seeking an experienced and motivated leader to join the C&FS Senior Leadership Team as the Quality Assurance & Technical Management Lead.

This pivotal role provides strategic and operational leadership for quality assurance, technical governance, accreditation, and compliance across HMRC forensic disciplines. Leading specialist teams, you will oversee the continual improvement of the forensic quality management system, ensuring compliance with the Forensic Science Regulator's Codes of Practice and relevant ISO standards.

The successful candidate will lead teams responsible for maintaining the quality management system, practitioner competency, technical validation, and forensic standards, ensuring regulatory and accreditation requirements are met across forensic services.

The role provides leadership and oversight of complex quality and technical decisions, ensuring compliance requirements are proportionate, effective, and aligned with operational needs and forensic service delivery.

Working closely with senior stakeholders, regulatory bodies, and the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), you will drive continuous improvement, manage organisational risk, and help shape the future direction of forensic quality and technical governance across C&FS and other areas undertaking forensic science activities.

Job description

Reporting to the Head of Forensics, you will act as HMRC's operational lead for Quality Assurance and Technical Management within Cyber & Forensic Services (C&FS).

You will lead, inspire and develop the Quality Assurance & Technical Management teams, providing strategic direction and oversight across accreditation, compliance, technical management, and quality assurance activities.

Through your teams, you will ensure forensic services continue to meet the requirements of the Forensic Science Regulator's Codes of Practice, relevant ISO standards, and wider regulatory obligations, whilst supporting effective operational delivery.

Working closely with operational leads, senior stakeholders, regulatory bodies, and external partners, you will provide leadership on quality-related risks, technical management, and accreditation matters, ensuring compliance requirements remain proportionate, practical, and aligned with business needs.

In addition, you will maintain awareness of developments in forensic science, accreditation, legislation, and regulatory requirements, ensuring HMRC remains well-positioned to respond to emerging challenges, changes in best practice, and future opportunities.

The role requires frequent travel to HMRC forensic locations, particularly Nottingham and Stratford, to provide visible leadership, support staff development, maintain effective relationships with operational teams, and oversee key quality assurance and technical management activities. Regular travel to other HMRC sites may also be required in line with business needs.

Person specification

In order to achieve this, duties will include, but are not limited to:

• Leading the Quality Assurance & Technical Management teams across multiple locations in London (Stratford), Nottingham, Dover and Belfast with frequent travel to other HMRC regional sites, ensuring forensic activities meet regulatory, accreditation, and business requirements.
• Setting the strategic direction for quality assurance and technical management, ensuring delivery of departmental objectives and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure the Quality Assurance & Technical Management teams are effectively led and managed, promoting a positive, inclusive culture that supports colleague wellbeing, professional development, talent management, and continuous improvement.
• Oversee the forensic quality management system, ensuring it remains effective, proportionate, compliant, and supportive of operational delivery.
• Will be the operational lead for quality assurance, accreditation, and compliance matters, ensuring HMRC meets its obligations under the Forensic Science Regulator's Codes of Practice and relevant ISO standards, whilst maintaining effective relationships with the Forensic Science Regulator, UKAS, and other external stakeholders.
• Establishing and promoting key objectives for the function, empowering teams to deliver whilst maintaining appropriate oversight of risks, resources, and priorities.
• Providing leadership and oversight of complex quality and technical decisions, ensuring a consistent and proportionate approach across forensic disciplines.
• Ensuring quality assurance, accreditation, compliance, and technical management considerations are fully represented and considered during strategic decision-making across C&FS.
• Leading teams responsible for maintaining the quality management system, practitioner competency frameworks, technical validation activities, forensic standards, and quality assurance processes.
• Acting as the point of contact for the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and overseeing the delivery of external assessments, audit activity, accreditation maintenance, and accreditation expansion.
• Providing oversight and direction in relation to internal and external audit findings, ensuring issues are appropriately addressed and opportunities for improvement are identified and delivered.
• Provide oversight of significant quality risks, non-conformities, and compliance issues, ensuring corrective actions are implemented and monitored to completion. Escalate high-risk matters to the Senior Accountable Individual (SAI) where required, providing assurance and recommendations to support informed decision-making.
• Leading on escalated quality-related risks and issues, taking appropriate action where required to safeguard accreditation, compliance, and HMRC's reputation.
• Developing and maintaining effective relationships with the Forensic Science Regulator, UKAS, law enforcement partners, and the wider forensic community.
• Leading a team remotely over a national spread or demonstrable aptitude to do so.
• Acting as an ambassador for C&FS within the forensic quality and accreditation community, representing HMRC at national forums, working groups, and industry events where appropriate.
• Leading on adopting and exploiting new technologies, systems, and digital solutions to improve service delivery and efficiency.
• Developing succession plans to safeguard specialist knowledge and capability and supporting recruitment, talent development, and workforce planning activities where required.
• Contribute to the strategic leadership of Cyber & Forensic Services as a member of the Senior Leadership Team, helping shape the future direction of quality assurance, technical management, accreditation, and compliance activities.

This role requires frequent travel to HMRC forensic locations, including Nottingham and Stratford, and this is an essential aspect of the role and will be required in order to fulfil the responsibilities of this role.

Essential Criteria

• Demonstrable experience of leading and developing teams, creating a positive and inclusive culture, and delivering against organisational objectives.
• Experience of working within a forensic environment operating under the Forensic Science Regulator's Codes of Practice and relevant ISO standards.
• Experience of contributing to quality management systems, quality assurance activities, validation, competency frameworks, or compliance-related processes.
• Experience of leading complex technical or operational decisions, balancing regulatory requirements, operational delivery, and business needs.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with experience of influencing, negotiating, and building effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience of managing risk, resolving complex issues, and providing clear recommendations to support decision-making in a regulated environment.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of working with law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, or other criminal justice partners.

Training Requirements:

Depending on existing experience, the successful candidate will be expected to undertake the following or equivalent training courses:

• ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Awareness
• ISO/IEC 17020:2012 Awareness
• Internal Audit (ISO/IEC 17025:2017)

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

For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations .

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.

The site is:

• Benton Park View, Newcastle - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle

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

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together

Benefits

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

Things you need to know

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
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

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. Please give details up of your last 3 roles. 200 words max for your latest role and 100 words max for roles previous to this.
• A 750-word Personal Statement evidencing your suitability for the role. Your Personal Statement should clearly demonstrate how your skills and experience meet the Person Specification and Essential Criteria.

Please complete a separate statement (Max 250 words) for the Desirable Criteria where applicable. This is not essential for the role but may be considered by the vacancy-holder where candidates have the same scores 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 the 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.

Interview

During the panel interview, you will be assessed on Experience, Behaviours and Strengths.

You will be required to deliver a 10 minute presentation with follow up questions. Details will be given to candidates who progress to interview to allow them time to prepare.

You will be assessed on the Behaviours listed on the advert to explore what you are capable of.

To help provide clear and effective evidence, it is recommended that responses to behaviour based questions are structured using the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) in accordance with the Civil Service Success Profiles approach.

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.

This is an example of a strengths-based question:

"It is often said that the customer's needs should come first. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?"

Interviews will take place face to face In Nottingham. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed. Please note that circumstances may arise that require the planned interview format to change. We will endeavour to provide you with as much notice of any change as possible.

Eligibility

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form . Mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we may not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, or have withdrawn yourself in error and need your application reinstated whilst the campaign is still live, please contact us via: unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk - Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example - 'Please re-open my application - [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]'.

To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application .

Exceptionally, candidates who are not successful at this grade may be considered for appointment to similar roles at a lower grade where the eligibility criteria are met. If this applies, we will contact you directly.

The HMRC app can help you with your application

The HMRC app can provide you with your past 5 years' employment history, making the process of filling in your application quicker and easier.

If successful in your application, you will need your National Insurance number for the onboarding process.

Download the HMRC app now and save your National Insurance number to your digital phone wallet.

How to download the HMRC app and sign up for an account

Download the free HMRC app from the App Store or Google Play store.

If you have an HMRC online account already, sign straight in using your ID and password. If not, you can prove your identity by answering some questions or providing your photo ID.

You'll then be able to access the app quickly and easily by signing in using a 6-digit PIN, your fingerprint, or facial recognition.

You can find guidance for technical issues on GOV.UK: Technical support with HMRC online services .

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles - if this applies to you, we'll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Merit List

After interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.

Criminal Record Check

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

Hybrid working at HMRC

HMRC is an office-based organisation, and colleagues are expected to spend 60% of their working time in the office. Our offices provide opportunity for interaction, collaboration which aids learning and development and a sense of community. Where the role allows it, and where the home environment is suitable, colleagues can work from home for up to 2 days a week, averaged over a calendar month (or a proportionate amount of time for colleagues who work less than full time).

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact the UBS Recruitment team via unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the "Assistance required" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Technical Support

If you are experiencing problems that cannot be resolved by our ' help ' section, then technical support is available. You will receive a reply in 2 working days.

Additional Security Information

Please note: in addition to the standard pre-employment checks for appointment into the Civil Service, all candidates must also obtain National Security Vetting at Security Check (SC) clearance level for this vacancy. You will normally need to meet the minimum UK residency period as determined by the level of vetting being undertaken, which for SC is 5 years UK residency prior to your vetting application. If you have any questions about this residency requirement, please speak to the vacancy holder for this post.

From 1 April 2026, applicants will be required to meet updated nationality and residency requirements so that National Security Vetting (NSV) checks can be conducted. If this affects you, we will give you more information at the appropriate time.

Important information for existing HMRC Contractual Homeworkers

Please note that this role is unsuitable for contractual homeworkers due to the nature and/or requirements of the role.

Terms and Conditions

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations .

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.

Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.

Please note that, if you are applying for roles on a part-time basis, the salary agreed will be pro-rata, reflective of the working hours agreed within your contract.

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

For more Information for people applying for, or thinking of applying for, roles at HM Revenue and Customs, please see link: Working for HMRC: information for applicants - GOV.UK .

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : CODE Resourcing
• Email : coderesourcing@hmrc.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@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 there has been a breach of the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly via ubsrecruitmentcomplaints@hmrc.gov.uk. Please note that we do not accept complaints or appeals regarding scoring of outcomes of campaigns, unless candidates can provide clear evidence that the campaign did not follow the Recruitment Principles. 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 website.