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Discover what it’s like to work in a compliance role that makes an impact. Could you help us shape a stronger, fairer future? Your next career move starts here.

Rule keepers - begin your compliance journey

HMRC is the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority and we have a vital purpose: we collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.

HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) is responsible for the department’s civil and criminal investigations.

FIS provides HMRC with an effective investigation arm to enforce the Department’s compliance policies. This enables the Department to deliver against the strategic responsibilities across all the taxes and duties it administers. This includes complex offshore evasion, international smuggling of illicit excise goods, exports of controlled weapons and technology, labour market abuses, VAT and Self-Assessment repayment frauds and a host of other fraud attacks targeted at the tax system.

FIS is home to a wide range of people with a variety of skills and professional backgrounds – including accountants, cybercrime specialists, criminal justice professionals, tax professionals and operational delivery support teams to name but a few. We use a range of powers and approaches to protect funding for UK public services, investigating the most harmful tax cheats and ensuring nobody is beyond our reach.

Covert Operations, Digital Exploitation (CODE) sits within FIS. Working across Law Enforcement and government, CODE provides investigative tools and covert techniques to front-line investigations and works with key partners to develop and provide access to new technology and systems to enable investigators to respond to serious and complex tax evasion and crime.

The Technical Exploitation Development (TXD) team plays an integral role in His Majesty's Government's fight against serious and organised crime, supporting investigations totalling hundreds of millions of pounds each year.

The team manages a diverse and rapidly increasing product portfolio, ranging from development of covert tools for mobile device data acquisition, computer and network exploitation, building custom radio frequency hardware, to the implementation of cutting-edge data visualisation platforms.

Collaboration and capability sharing are critical to our mission so working alongside other Government and Law Enforcement agencies will ensure that no two projects nor two days are ever the same in this role. The team is recognised across the LE and UKIC community as deep matter experts in a range of complex technical specialisms including software engineering, hardware electronics, radio frequency, computer and network exploitation, and reverse engineering.

To enable the rapid prototyping and production of bespoke capabilities, the team is split into two distinct functions:

• Engineering: this function is responsible for managing the full stack development and testing of all bespoke solutions. This could include; developing tools to normalise, interrogate and visualise large datasets, command and control systems, to producing plugins and modules to extend functionality of commercial and in-house built tools.

• Exploit Development: this function is responsible for conducting security research before producing specialist tools that assist in the exploitation of digital devices, encrypted communications and networks.

As G7 Engineering Lead you will be responsible for leading an agile team in the delivery of secure, scalable, and high-quality software products, including the rapid development of new bespoke sensitive capabilities. This role involves close collaboration with stakeholders to develop innovative solutions while maintaining the highest levels of security, confidentiality, and compliance.

As the Engineering Lead within the Technical Exploitation Development team, you will:

• Support the Head of TXD in the design and commissioning of novel projects, ensuring that these fit within the team’s overarching portfolio. You will also support the Head of TXD in producing proposals for the acquisition of new tooling, capabilities and resource.
• Take ownership of engineering projects, which will include implementing project designs and managing the project team.
• You will be responsible for day-to-day management and prioritisation of the project teams work, including development, documentation, and testing.
• Manage technical risks and ensure robust documentation for projects, particularly those involving sensitive or classified information.
• Collaborate with cross-departmental stakeholders to identify, prioritise, and deliver technical solutions in high-pressure, time-sensitive contexts.
• Possess and maintain a cutting-edge technical skillset. You will be expected to directly contribute to the development of engineering projects as well as identifying and proposing new opportunities to the Head of TXD.
• Ensure that appropriate security controls are implemented within novel projects, to safeguard capabilities and promote technical security.
• Work with colleagues within the team as well as key customers, to ensure that projects are transitioned to a deliverable capability stage. This will include conducting project reviews and preparing Transfer To Ops (TTOP) documentation for Head of TXD sign-off – this may consist of technical documentation, user manuals, testing strategies and other supporting documents.
• Work with infrastructure teams to deploy novel capabilities to end-users, including ensuring adherence to Dev Sec Ops processes and defining code pipelines.
• Represent the department at cross-organisation events and working groups, showcasing the abilities and capabilities of the team and fostering strong community relationships.
• Mentor and manage a team of software engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. This will include direct line management responsibility, as well as upskilling initiatives deployed across the team.

Essential Criteria:

• Strong experience in designing and building software systems using modern programming languages and frameworks with at least one of the following programming languages: Java, Kotlin, Objective-C, C, C++, Go, Rust.
• Strong practical experience of at least one scripting language e.g. Python, Bash, Powershell.
• Substantial experience with the following tools and processes:

• Testing methodologies e.g. unit tests, functional testing, integration testing, regression testing.
• Containerisation technologies such as Docker.
• Agile programming methodologies.
• Business collaboration processes e.g. Kanban.
• Code repository management (e.g. Git).
• Secure Code Design practices (check wording).

• Knowledge of secure coding practices and security principles applicable to sensitive systems.
• Demonstrated experience delivering projects, ensuring compliance with government digital standards and accessibility requirements.
• Proven ability to lead teams in the rapid development and deployment of software solutions in high-pressure environments, particularly for sensitive or classified projects.
• Proficient in agile development methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) and DevOps principles.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and version control systems (e.g., Git).
• Knowledge of data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR) and security standards for handling sensitive information.
• Able to communicate complex topics to a high standard, in both written and verbal formats. This should ideally include experience of disseminating reporting/documentation to audiences of varying technical ability as well as seniority.
• Able to mentor and manage junior staff, including direct reports as well as temporary project teams.
• Capable of designing entire systems with minimal/no supervision and able to delegate components of systems to individual developers.

Desirable Criteria:

• One or more qualifications that supports your ability to manage projects and teams e.g. Certified ScrumMaster, Association of Project Management qualifications.
• Commercial qualifications in cybersecurity, digital forensics or software engineering e.g. SANS, Offensive Security.
• Experience working on government projects, particularly those involving the development of sensitive or critical systems.
• Familiarity with emerging technologies such as AI and machine learning.

Additional Information

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. Once in post you will be required to apply for Developed Vetting (DV) clearance which has a requirement for 10 years UK residency. If you have any questions about this residency requirement, please speak to the vacancy holder for this post. This post is open to ‘UK Nationals Only’.

CODE have a support network that can offer assistance to colleagues throughout the DV process. CODE understands the experience of obtaining DV clearance affects individuals differently with the process being in depth and intrusive. The network consists of CODE DV cleared volunteers who will be able to guide you through the process and systems and look to alleviate any concerns.

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

• Presentation - The presentation brief will be sent out to those invited for an interview. There will also be follow up technical questions.

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

Job contact :

• Name : Andrew Looker
• Email : andrew.looker@hmrc.gov.uk
• Telephone : 07766497919

Recruitment team

• Email : unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk