Overview
Deputy Director – Enterprise Live Service – Belfast
About the job
Job summary
The SCS1 Deputy Director – Enterprise Live Service is a critical leadership role responsible for the entire live service operation of HMRC’s IT estate. You will be a central figure in a once-in-a-generation transformation, balancing the need to build a modern, digital tax system with the imperative to maintain a stable, secure, and available service for millions of users. This role requires a leader who can define and implement an enterprise-wide live service strategy, drive a step change in operational processes and governance, and champion a reliability-focused culture. You will direct a large team, own key technologies like ServiceNow, and act as a strategic advisor to the highest levels of leadership, ensuring that every decision supports an ‘always on, always working’ digital experience.
Job description
- Develop & Manage Live Service Strategy: Accountable for defining, communicating, and managing the strategic vision for HMRC’s entire live IT service estate. This includes setting the direction for operational processes, governance, and controls to ensure the availability and performance of critical digital infrastructure.
- Drive Operational Excellence: Lead the Enterprise Live Service (ELS) function, a team of ~200 FTE, to ensure high standards of live service. You will use and create metrics to hold directors, service, and platform owners accountable for operational performance, balancing traditional approaches for legacy systems with modern practices like Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) for digital platforms.
- Champion Modern Practices: Drive agile principles and an outcome-driven culture within ELS. The role requires an understanding of modern change practices (e.g., canary deploys, feature flagging) to increase speed while managing risk. You will also own and direct the ServiceNow platform roadmap, promoting ‘citizen development’ and effective IT Asset Management (ITAM).
- Influence and Advise Senior Leadership: Advise the CDIO Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the CIO Director General on investment decisions to balance project delivery with the need for a stable and effective live service. You will engage with senior stakeholders across HMRC and the Cabinet Office to manage enterprise-level risk and secure funding for improvements.
Person specification
- Strategic & Operational Leadership: A leader with the ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on operational management. You should have a proven track record of developing and delivering a vision for live services, and managing a large, diverse function to achieve key operational outcomes and performance targets.
- Expert in Modern Service Management: Possess a deep understanding of industry-leading IT Service Management concepts, moving beyond traditional ITIL to embrace principles of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), modern change management, and a focus on observability and cultural change.
- Influence and Stakeholder Management: An expert-level ability to engage, influence, and build relationships with senior stakeholders, including Director Generals, senior directors, and external government departments. You must be able to hold peers accountable while providing support to drive high standards of reliability.
- Change Management and Cultural Drive: The capacity to drive a step change in how live services are managed within a large, transforming organisation. This includes a proven ability to promote positive behaviours, foster a culture of reliability, and implement agile principles to focus on outcomes and deliver value frequently.
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £95,000, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £27,521 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Please see Candidate Pack for details of role benefits.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Please see Candidate Pack for details of how to apply.
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 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.
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).
