Head of Transit, Special Procedures and Customer Function

About the job

Job summary

Customs Policy and Strategy (CP&S) is responsible for policy development, implementation, maintenance and improvement of the UK customs regime in line with Government priorities and Ministerial objectives.

This is an exciting and high-profile leadership role in CP&S. You will lead a large team responsible for customs policy across transit, authorisations and facilitations alongside delivering customs GOV.UK guidance and stakeholder engagement.

You will also lead and embed a new customer function for B&T, ensuring that customer insight is reflected in policy development and decision-making.

We are looking for a strong and collaborative leader with experience of leading complex policy portfolios, building relationships at senior levels and managing large, multidisciplinary teams.

Job description

The Transit, Special Procedures and Customer Function (TSP&C) team acts at the policy and regime owner for customs authorisations, special procedures, customs reliefs, duty deferment and guarantees and is responsible for making sure these policies achieve their objectives and meet the needs of our customers.

The team is also responsible for the strategic questions relating to Trust and contributing to the development of the Customs Vision for the future. The team is also responsible for delivering our customs GOV.UK guidance content and delivering customer management for the Borders & Trade business group, including leading and launching a new 'customer function'.

• Strategy and policy leadership as well as delivery oversight across a wide range of priorities.
• Leadership and management of 9 Grade 6 led teams.
• Shaping and launching a new customer function for Borders & Trade to give greater focus to the customer in B&T decision making and problem-solving and ensuring that customer insight is underpinning B&T activities.
• Representing HMRC with key internal and external stakeholders including being the HMRC Chair for the Joint Customs Consultative Committee (JCCC), our primary customs stakeholder forum, and working with the industry chair on agendas and issues - to enhance HMRC's reputation and credibility for effective stakeholder engagement.
• Bringing forward well-developed customs policy measures for fiscal events to meet Ministerial and HMRC strategic objectives. Being the Deputy Regime Owner (DRO) for Transit and Special Procedures, with responsibility for convening activity across the Borders & Trade Group and wider HMRC to build consensus on the vision for the sub-regime, the health and performance of the sub-regime, and its priorities for change -driving forward priorities, escalating to the Customs Regime Board as needed.
• Close working with other parts of the Borders & Trade Group to ensure customs policy objectives are reflected in and aligned to wider Group and Departmental strategies - including working collaboratively with other parts of B&T to make the case for investment (including at enterprise level) in sub-regime priorities such as EORI, policy assumptions underpinning Trust and Transit Risking.
• Working as part of the wider CP&S senior leadership team to lead the Directorate and make CP&S a great place to work.

Management of People

• This role involves the management of a team of around 70 staff, which is split between a policy function and customer management specialists.

Person specification

The successful applicant will need to demonstrate relevant experience and effective delivery of the following essential criteria:

• Policy & Strategy Leadership: Proven experience leading complex policy or strategy portfolios, ideally with expertise within or of government.
• Collaborative Stakeholder Management: A track record of building influential relationships at all levels, and a proven ability to manage large stakeholder forums with senior leaders across government and industry.
• Inspirational People Leadership: Excellent leadership skills with experience managing large, multi-disciplinary teams and a commitment to nurturing capability and motivating staff toward stretching objectives.
• High-Level Communication & Briefing: Strong oral and written communication skills, with the ability to confidently brief ministers and senior officials and communicate complex ideas with clarity and conviction.
• Strategic Delivery & Change: Ability to drive delivery outputs and secure timely decisions to unblock impediments, working effectively with change partners and technical teams (such as CDIO) to maintain momentum.

Desirable Criteria:

• Fiscal Process Experience: Previous experience navigating the fiscal event process and delivering policy measures within that framework.
• Trade Expertise: Technical knowledge of customs regimes, authorisations, or international trade mechanics.

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 Joining the Pension Scheme for more information.

Annual Leave and Bank Holiday Allowance

25 days annual leave, increasing 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.

We embed inclusion in everything we do. Senior Civil Servants play a crucial role in promoting and maintaining inclusive behaviours, addressing disparities and reporting progress.

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

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 campaign is being managed byHMRC's Executive Resourcingteam. All applications should be submitted via Civil Service Jobs no later than 23:55 on Monday 8th June 2026 and must include:

• A CV detailing your career history, key responsibilities and achievements accounting for any employment gaps within the last two years.
• A Statement of Suitability (no longer than 2 pages) demonstrating how your experience meets the essential criteria.

Your CV and suitability statement will be assessed against the criteria set out in the person specification. Please include your full name on both documents.

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 Confident Scheme who successfully meet the minimum selection criteria outlined in the person specification.

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 virtually via Microsoft Teams.

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 : Louise Nisbet
• Email : scs.recruitment@hmrc.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scs.recruitment@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 Transit, Special Procedures and Customer Function - Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1120kB)