HM Revenue & Customs
Location
Stratford Regional Centre
About The Job
Job summary
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.
Cybercrime & Forensic Services (CFS) sits within HMRC’s wider Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) responsible for the department’s civil and criminal investigation work. FIS ensures that HMRC has an effective approach to taking on the most serious tax evasion and fraud.
Working across Law Enforcement and government, CFS provides Forensic and Cybercrime tools 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.
See what it’s like to work at HMRC : find out more about us or ask our colleagues a question . Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Job Description
HMRC’s CFS plays an integral role in Her Majesty’s Government’s fight against serious and organised crime, supporting investigations totalling hundreds of millions of pounds each year. This requires a specialist network and technology, which the Infrastructure team is responsible for supporting.
As CFS grows, so does the need for Infrastructure support. The Infrastructure Higher Officer role is an amazing opportunity for any forward thinking and focused individual who has a passion for technology.
The primary responsibility of this role is to support all technology underpinning CFS business as usual activity. This supports Investigators as they capture, investigate, and analyse forensic evidence, extracted from digital media devices that have been, or are suspected of being, used in the commission of crime.
Person specification
As a member of the HMRC Fraud Investigation Service, Digital Forensic Infrastructure Team, you will:
- Work in a team of infrastructure specialists and engineers, ensuring services are integrated, delivered, and operated as required.
- Manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
- Work as part of a skilled team sharing ideas, but also take the initiative and work independently when required.
- Play a role in the planning, designing, maintaining, and improving Digital Forensic Infrastructure services and technologies.
- Work with and support third parties in providing infrastructure and work with technical architects to translate architectural designs into operations.
- You can break a problem down into its component parts to identify and diagnose root causes as well as troubleshoot and identify problems across different technology capabilities.
Essential Criteria:
- Knowledge or exposure to virtualisation technologies.
- Knowledge or experience of Microsoft Windows domains and associated services (A/D, GPOs, domain trusts, DNS, DHCP, PKI etc.)
- Knowledge or exposure to network technologies.
- Experience with, or exposure to supporting the planning, installation, maintenance, and improvement of hardware services within a data centre.
- Exposure to, or awareness of scripting or programming languages (Powershell, Python, TypeScript, etc.)
- Awareness of public cloud technologies or an interest to learn more.
- Ability to break a problem down into its component parts to identify and diagnose root causes as well as troubleshoot and identify problems across different technology capabilities.
- You can demonstrate an awareness of information security and the types of security controls that can be used to mitigate security threats within solutions and services.
- You must hold or be able to obtain SC security clearance.
Desirable Criteria:
- Degree or degree-level qualification in Information Technology or a related field and/or practical experience supporting an IT environment. Qualifications and certifications held may include (but are not limited to): MCSE, CCNA, SAA-C03, CompTIA A+, etc.
- Knowledge or experience of VMWare vSphere or Horizon.
- Knowledge or experience of Cisco ACI or NXOS, Fortigate firewalls.
- ITIL Foundation Qualification or demonstrable understanding of ITIL Lifecycle Standards.
- Exposure to, or experience working with DevOps processes and practices.
- Experience working with Gitlab or other CI/CD tools.
- Experience working with programming/IaC languages (eg. Powershell, Python, Terraform)
- Exposure to, or experience working with project management tools (eg. Jira, MS Project)
- Exposure to, or experience with version control systems.
Further information:
You will be require to complete 6 months Training Assessment Period (TAP) – document attached
Training Requirements:
In this role you will have a chance to train and become qualified gaining industry leading infrastructure specialist certifications. You will achieve AWS Associate certification and have a pathway to AWS Professional certification as well as have exposure to relevant SANS training modules.
This role requires security clearance to SC. Any job offer is conditional to the attainment of the security clearance to SC and thus, the security clearance is mandatory. Please be aware that those who do not attain one will not be allowed to carry on in this post. If you do not attain your security clearance subsequent to appointment, we will look to redeploy you to another role within HMRC.
Applicants who wish to work alternative working patterns are welcome to apply. The preferred working pattern may or may not be available, agreement will be subject to business need, and any request to work an alternative working pattern should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.
Appointment will be conditional upon satisfactory conduct and discipline checks and security vetting.
Candidates must live within reasonable daily travel, which is usually an hour each way, of an HMRC Regional Centre.
All applicants will be required to declare any past convictions, criminal findings, or police cautions, regardless of whether they are ‘spent’. You must also declare any disciplinary proceedings relating to previous employments. The disclosure of this information will not automatically disbar you from employment with FIS, but we need to be aware of any event or issue which could impinge on your credibility if questioned in court.
FIS may conduct background checks and any offer will be withdrawn if you fail to disclose any relevant material that causes conflict with you being able to complete the duties of the role.
Technical Skills
We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Technical test
- Technical strength-based questions at interview
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £39,893, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £10,771 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
- Digital Forensic Infrastructure is committed to providing development and training to all staff through industry recognised training courses such as Access to learning and development tailored to your role (What training – advancement with Cloud.
- A working environment that supports and continues to explore a range of flexible working options for infrastructure roles.
- A welcoming, working culture which encourages and supports inclusion and diversity.
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%.
- The pay advertised also includes an additional Level 2 Flexibility Payment (FP) that is paid monthly with salary. This supports Law Enforcement activity, by providing the business with the flexibility to meet business needs. Supporting a National Digital Forensic network, on site and in Cloud, you will be expected to work longer hours, weekends and bank holidays if required.
Find more about HMRC benefits in ‘Your little extras and big benefits handbook’ for further information or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service .
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.
How To Apply
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and 750 word Personal Statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
- A Curriculum Vitae including education, professional qualifications, and full employment history, giving details of key achievements.
- Personal Statement. The Personal Statement should explain in no more than 750 words why you are suitable for this role and evidence the Essential Criteria for this role. The Personal Statement should therefore include details of the work and projects that you have been involved in, and your role therein.
A sift will be undertaken on the CV and Personal Statement.
Candidates who are successful at sift will be selected for interview and further tested against experience, strengths, and technical skills.
We will also test your technical skills by way of a technical test as part of the interview process which will be followed up with technical questions at interview.
Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the vent of tied candidate scores.
We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process in order to manage numbers.
Interviews may be held by video, if not the location will be confirmed.
Sift and interview will take place within 5 weeks of the advert closing date.
Interview dates to be confirmed.
A reserve list may be held for a period of 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.
Eligibility
To check that you are eligible to apply, review this eligibility information
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.
Reasonable Adjustments
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition, or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.
If you need a reasonable adjustment or a change to be made so that you can make your application, review this information on reasonable adjustments , and contact [email protected] as soon as possible.
Diversity and Inclusion
We’re committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues here at HMRC. We want everyone to feel valued and supported to achieve their potential at HMRC.
For more information on how we make this happen, review this information on our culture and values
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.
We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible after considering operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.
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.
The Civil Service runs 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.
Locations
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 .
Security Update
For more information on the level of security checks we will carry out, review this information on security checks
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.
Further Information
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.
Duplicate applications for the same vacancy will also be withdrawn.
Transferring into HMRC from Civil Service If you are currently working for an ‘Other Government Department’ (OGD) and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document “Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”, found at the bottom of this advert. Further information on staff transfers can be found on gov.uk
Problems during the application process
If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.
If you think you’ve made a mistake on a short application form (e.g. you’ve ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact [email protected] at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we won’t be able to reopen your application.
Please use the subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application – 345975 & vacancy closing date 09/04/2024. Please note that we cannot amend or re-open your application if you have submitted your full application in the interests of fair and open recruitment.
For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details within reasonable adjustments section above.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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 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.
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 : Joanna Chadwick
- Email : [email protected]
- Telephone : 03000 579813
Recruitment team
- Email : [email protected]
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 Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned via [email protected] 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: Click here