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HMRC is the UKs tax, payments and customs authority and we have a vital purpose: we collect the money that pays for the UKs public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.
Covert Operations, Digital Exploitation (CODE) sits within HMRCs wider Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) responsible for the departments 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, 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 team are responsible for delivering and maintaining a specialist sensitive bespoke IT infrastructure and national network of services to HMRC investigators with a footprint in 24 geographical sites, providing the secure use of data to enable HMRC to deliver world class investigation services.
It is responsible for delivering a broad portfolio of change initiatives, both to sustain and transform FISs legacy sensitive technologies and to deliver innovative new solutions, designed around our customers needs. CODE works in a holistic way to combine digital and technology change, project deliver, business process, product management and cultural change to maximise impact and ensure sustainability., We are looking for an enthusiastic, resilient individual who can deliver in an impactful way within a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities.
This is an IT Technical role and you will already have an Infrastructure background with technical understanding of infrastructure (i.e., virtual machines, datacentres and environments).
You will be working in a team of infrastructure specialists and engineers, responsible for building, administering, supporting and maintaining solutions as directed and according to departmental policy.
Person specification
For this role you must be:
A UK national
Hold SC clearance or be willing to be SC cleared to take up duty and be prepared to attain DV clearance.
Technical
Aspects of the role include (but not limited to):
Overseeing the preparations, integration delivery and support of IT operations solutions and services - physical or virtual - according to industry and organisational best practices, and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) throughout the product life cycle.
Assisting in the provision of outstanding services and consistent levels of capability.
Working with technical architects and engineers to translate architectural designs into products and services.
Working with and support third parties in providing infrastructure services.
Providing input into overall management - workforce, budget, technology roadmaps, projects and tasks.
Provide direct support in the active management of strategic capacity planning,
Provide specialist technical support and assistance to projects, ensuring delivery of non-functional requirements and continual service improvement.
Responding to incidents and problems within agreed SLAs
Be thoroughly familiar with the installed hardware and software and the procedures in use in the IT Infrastructure area.
Leadership
Lead and direct infrastructure specialist teams in building, managing, supporting and maintaining solutions.
Develop and coach less experienced team members, sharing technical knowledge and best practice as well as line managing a small team.
Additional responsibilities - may include conducting technical workshops to assess business requirements to support upgrades or changes to existing services and provide management with recommendations and options on how to proceed.
Travel and On Call - Regular travel within the UK for meetings and infrastructure work will be required with occasional overnight stays. You will be required to work out of hours on an on-call rota, weekdays and weekends. Candidates must live within reasonable daily travel, which is usually an hour each way, of an HMRC Regional Centre., We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
+ Making Effective Decisions
+ Leadership
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
+ Technical Skills You will be asked 3 technical questions covering the following skills: Virtualisation Enterprise Hardware Operating Systems Security Disaster Recovery Network Administration Firewall Management, Any words over the 750 word limit will not be considered.
Personal Statement
Please explain in no more than 750 words your suitability for this role against the job description and essential criteria, including experience of technical solutions you have worked with.
Please refer to the candidate guidance attached.
We acknowledge that AI can assist you in your application. Find our guidelines here.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
2. Sift
A sift will be carried out on your CV and Personal Statement, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.
3. Interview
During the panel interview, your experience will be assessed, and you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of.
Behaviours:
+ Making Effective Decisions
+ Leadership
Please refer to the candidate guidance attached.
You will also be asked 3 technical questions covering the following skills:
1) Virtualisation
2) Enterprise Hardware
3) Operating Systems
4) Security
5) Disaster Recovery
6) Network Administration
7) Firewall Management
Interviews will take place via face to face at our Stratford Regional Centre.
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Eligibility
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example Please re-open my application [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]
To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles if this applies to you, well let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.
Criminal Record Check
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.
Merit List
After interview, a single merit list will be created and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.
Reasonable Adjustments
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
+ Contact the UBS Recruitment Excellence Team via unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the Assistance required section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional.
Additional Security Information
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.
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
Terms and Conditions
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.
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.
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.
Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.
Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicants details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.
If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
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., Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commissions Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel there has been a breach of the Recruitment Principles.
In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly via unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk. 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 website.
Strong background in Service Management and Operations (particularly Request Fulfilment, Incident/Problem/Change Management) with experience of Service Transition.
Experience of implementing, managing, and supporting on premises virtual infrastructure especially vSphere, ESXI.
Experience of implementing, managing, and supporting enterprise class server and storage infrastructure.
Experience of implementing, managing, and supporting the delivery of virtual desktops
experience of implementing backup solutions for virtual environments with products such as DataProtector or VEEAM.
Knowledge of best practices and design for virtualization, storage, and server configurations, identifying inefficiencies and providing recommendations for new service delivery.
Experience of taking full accountability of problems, and proactively resolving technical issues to meet business requirements.
Experience of ITIL based IT support and technical project delivery.
Experience in commercial and Government grade Cryptography devices.
A good understanding of the Government Security Classification system.
Experience of line management and coaching junior colleagues
UK national and Hold Security Check (SC) vetting or be willing to apply for it. Following a successful SC application and probation period you will be required to initiate DV vetting. see vetting details below
Desirable Criteria
Full UK Driving licence
ITIL 3 or V4 foundation
CompTIA Security+
Experience of working towards cyber security standards
Additional Information:
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., Key achievements
Alongside your salary of £44,110, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £12,778 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
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.
Flexibility Payment
This post attracts a Level 2 Flexibility Payment (FP) that is paid monthly with salary. This FP allows HMRC flexibility to change your work pattern, at short notice, to meet business needs. You will be expected to undertake periods of On Call. You will also be expected to work additional hours, at weekends and outside your normal working hours/days (including bank holidays).
In applying for a position and accepting the FP you agree that you can and will meet those attendance requirements.
FP levels are reviewed annually on a business need and personal basis and may be subject to change.
If you currently receive the Flexibility Payment, which may include Transition Protection and/or a Maintained Pension Value, moving to a new role may affect your payments.
Details of the Flexibility Payment can be found in the attached document.
To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what its really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.