This pivotal SCS1 role demands an exceptional leader to drive HMRC's Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) agenda, ensuring we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right places, to achieve our ambitious long-term objectives. You will lead the Centre of Expertise for SWP, translating strategic ambitions into actionable workforce solutions.

Key Accountabilities:

1. Leadership of Strategic Workforce Planning Service & Outcomes:

• Develop & Implement the Strategic Workforce Strategy: Drive a data-driven workforce strategy that anticipates future needs, identifies critical capabilities and capacity, supports the Government's place agenda, and enables HMRC's evolution.
• Lead the SWP Function: Utilise data and insights to respond to macro trends, future of work shifts, internal drivers and long-term challenges, aligning with HMRC's strategic objectives.
• Deliver the Strategic Workforce Capability and Capability Plan: Establish HMRC's workforce baseline, quantify skill and capacity demands, and identify supply solutions in collaboration with partners.
• Develop Workforce Location Strategy: Design and implement HMRC's approach to workforce location.
• Lead Scenario Planning: Assess workforce risks and opportunities to ensure adaptability and resilience.
• Enhance SWP Tools & Methodologies: Develop enterprise-level, data-driven approaches for insight generation, translating strategic objectives into evidence-based workforce choices. This includes:
• Defining and implementing capacity/capability baselining and demand forecasting.
• Leading the design and implementation of Position Management.
• Proactively contributing to tooling design for capacity and capability across the Department (e.g., SAP, Government Skills Campus, Org Visualisation).
• Utilising workforce data and analytics for actionable insights and tracking.
• Establishing metrics and reporting frameworks to measure effectiveness.
• Presenting clear and compelling workforce insights to leaders to drive choices and action.
• Increase organisational SWP capability: Elevate internal expertise in strategic workforce planning.
• Integrate SWP with Business Planning: Ensure seamless connection between SWP and in-year planning, integrating workforce considerations into strategic and tactical business cycles (+5 years).
• Visualise Workforce Data: Work with partners to develop visualisations that surface and manage workforce opportunities, risks, and issues.

2. Leadership of Teams & Relationships:

• Build & Lead High-Performing Team: Develop and inspire an effective Strategic Workforce Planning core team in addition to vital delivery partner teams.
• Cultivate Key Partnerships: Build trusted relationships with critical partners (e.g., Capacity and Workforce, Finance, Workforce Transformation, Organisational Design, People Analytics, Learning, Talent Acquisition, Heads of Professions, Business Groups) to ensure alignment and drive outcomes.
• Lead Stakeholder Engagement: Engage senior stakeholders, including HMRC's Executive Committee, in the development and implementation of the strategic workforce plan.
• Chair SWP Boards: Lead HMRC SWP boards, collaborating with workplace and finance colleagues.
• Review SWP Operating Model: Identify and implement high-level design recommendations for the SWP operating model as part of wider HR Transformation.
• Contribute to People Strategy: Actively contribute to HMRC's people strategy and other departmental programmes and priorities.

Person specification

We're looking for a highly capable and experienced leader who can demonstrate:

• Strategic Delivery & Impact: Proven ability to think strategically, considering the entire organisational ecosystem and long-term implications, with a strong track record of translating strategic thinking into practical, large-scale delivery.
• SWP Leadership Expertise: Extensive experience leading a strategic workforce planning service or function, including the successful development and implementation of strategic workforce plans with a focus on capability, as well as capacity.
• Balancing Strategy & Delivery: A demonstrable ability to effectively balance long-term strategic priorities with the demands of practical delivery.
• Influential Leadership & Collaboration: Excellent leadership, collaboration, and influencing skills, with a strong history of driving and delivering successful cross-functional initiatives and projects.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Exceptional skills in leading teams that use data for decision-making, coupled with the ability to communicate and present complex workforce insights into clear, actionable strategies.
• Operating in Complexity: Proven experience successfully leading within large, complex organisations with a significant national or international footprint.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Pension

Your Civil Service pension is a valuable part of your total reward and is one of your biggest benefits.

When you join the Civil Service, you get access to the alpha pension with a generous employer contribution of 28.97% and some of the lowest member contributions in the public sector.

Please visit Civil Service Pension Scheme for more information.

Annual Leave and Bank Holiday Allowance

25 days annual leave, increasing one day per year, up to 30 days after 5 years' service (allowance pro-rata for part-time colleagues).

This is complemented by one days paid privilege leave to mark the King's Birthday and is in addition to your public holidays.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

The Civil Service values and supports all its employees.

At HMRC we want to create great places to work that are welcoming to all - where there is a strong sense of belonging and community.

Our HMRC equality objectives 2024-2028 describe how we are working to become a more inclusive and representative organisation reflective of our values.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Shortlist

The panel will assess the evidence provided in your CV and statement. Candidates whose applications best meet the essential criteria will be selected for interview.

HMRC is a Disability Confident leader and guarantees to interview candidates applying under the Disability Confidence Scheme who successfully meet the minimum selection criteria outlined in the person specification.

Assessment

If shortlisted, you will take part in the following assessments:

Individual Leadership Assessment - a combination of psychometric assessments

Staff Engagement Exercise - a presentation and Q&A with a representative staff group from across HMRC.

Assessments are designed to support the panel's decision making and highlight areas for further exploration at interview and do not result in a pass or fail decision.

Interview

You will attend a panel interview for a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence. This will include a 5-minute verbal presentation (further information will be issued in advance).

Interviews are expected to take place on Microsoft Team.

All Criminal Record Checks applications are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

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

This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist 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 : Robert Gavin
• Email : scs.resourcing@hmrc.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scs.resourcing@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 a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned. 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 web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/

Attachments
Head of Strategic Workforce Planning Opens in new window (pdf, 1046kB)