Overview
Deputy Director Workforce Planning & Growth – Belfast
About the job
Job summary
HMRC is the UK’s tax and customs department. We collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and give financial support to people. Our work is central to the business of government and we’re proud of our track record. We’re an historic and yet modern department, undergoing ambitious transformation which affects all our colleagues and customers.
I am pleased to invite candidates to apply for this senior role in which you will have the opportunity to be at the heart of shaping and influencing work across HMRC Customer Compliance Group.
The CCG Compliance Operations Directorate (COD) is a foundation stone in our transformation journey. It paves the way for increased standardisation, integrated business support and efficiency improvements across our operational directorates. The directorate will serve the entirety of CCG, so we will all need to be committed to what it does and understand the respective roles and responsibilities of different teams.
This role leads the Workforce Planning & Growth function for CCG, including our location strategy, as we seek to grow our compliance operations by 5,500 new compliance officers by 2030.
As a member of CCG’s Compliance Operations Directorate senior leadership team in conjunction with your fellow deputy directors you will play a key role in supporting the director of COD in creating an effective central function ensuring the efficient delivery of compliance activities, priorities & shared services, fully aligned with the HMRC Charter & with HMRC and CCG strategic objectives.
Job description
This is a critical leadership role in HMRC, driven by the significant people investment in Customer Compliance Group (CCG) with a projected growth of 5,500 people over the spending review period. The successful candidate will lead the strategic and operational delivery of this major recruitment and onboarding programme.
Key Responsibilities:
Growth Delivery:
- Accountable for the end-to-end delivery of the 5,500 new compliance officers and consequential growth in supporting infrastructure (e.g., managers, coaches, analysts) for CCG.
Recruitment & Onboarding:
- Lead the CCG recruitment team and manage the relationship with UBS to deliver the significant recruitment targets.
- Ensure effective onboarding of new recruits, including putting the necessary infrastructure (people, processes, and products) in place to support them.
Workforce Planning:
- Lead on operational workforce planning for CCG, ensuring plans are realistic and deliverable.
- Make links between operational work programmes and wider CCG business planning to effectively deploy resources
- Develop change management plans to manage the impact of the growth in our workforce on existing resources.
Location Strategy:
- Lead the development and implementation of CCG’s location strategy, working collaboratively with estates colleagues to ensure we are well-placed to onboard the required numbers.
- Ensure the CCG location strategy aligns with the overall HMRC location approach.
Stakeholder Management & Reporting:
- Manage significant senior stakeholder engagement with CCG Senior Leadership Team (SLT), Executive Committee (ExCom), and XST.
- Provide regular, high-quality management information, reporting against plans, benefits, and investment.
- Ensure robust controls and risk management plans are in place to manage impacts on other departmental areas (e.g., CSG, DM, Sols).
Leadership & Autonomy:
- Operate with a high degree of autonomy, judgement, and decision-making at pace.
- Manage complex interdependencies and represent CCG on key cross-departmental initiatives.
Person specification
The successful applicant will need to demonstrate relevant experience and effective delivery of the following essential criteria:
- Experienced Senior Leader: Proven track record in operational and strategic management, focusing on delivering outcomes efficiently and mitigating risks.
- Business Acumen: Skilled in business planning with an understanding of how recruitment and onboarding impact daily compliance operations.
- Strong Interpersonal Skills: Excellent at stakeholder management, leading high-performing teams, and effective communication, both written and verbal.
- Analytical and Data-Driven: Highly analytical, capable of interpreting data from various sources to draw conclusions and take action.
- Leadership and Influence: Demonstrates strong leadership and the ability to bring together diverse perspectives to achieve a single goal, including providing necessary challenge.
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 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
This campaign is being managed by HMRC’s Executive Resourcing team. All applications should be submitted via Civil Service Jobs no later than 23:55 on Monday 6th October 2025 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.
For all campaign queries including assistance with your application or if you need to discuss a reasonable adjustment, please contact Sarah Hawes, Talent Acquisition Partner at scs.resourcing@hmrc.gov.uk
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.
Assessment
If shortlisted, you will take part in the following assessment:
- Individual Leadership Assessment – a combination of psychometric assessments
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 in person at our Manchester Regional Centre.
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).
IMPORTANT: Before applying for this role, please make sure you have the right to work in the country where the role is based. Unless it clearly stipulates within in the job advert above that the hiring company is looking to or able to sponsor applicants it is deemed that the hiring employer will only consider applications from those able to comply with and work in the country where the role is based.
