Head of Division

Job summary

As one of five operational Heads of Division you will be responsible for leading multi-disciplinary teams to ensure that the organisation is well placed to deliver its strategic objectives in a rapidly changing and challenging environment.

You will be expected to provide strategic direction and expertise to teams and be accountable for the effective and timely investigation and prosecution of around 6 to 8 high calibre serious and complex fraud, bribery and corruption cases that only the SFO is equipped to investigate and prosecute.

As part of the SFO’s senior management team you are charged with strategic decision-making including around recruitment, promoting a positive working culture, and encouraging innovation. You will be required to role model SFO values and behaviours, promote strong leadership demonstrating inclusivity and diversity, and to support career development and wellbeing.

You will also be an ambassador for the SFO speaking at high profile events and engaging with all sectors to convey important achievements and direction.

You will contribute to the delivery of corporate projects that aim to raise overall capability, inclusivity and performance and demonstrate visible commitment to the SFO’s strategy, mission and values.

You will be accountable for the management and control of divisional resources (financial and staffing), ensuring that they are governed efficiently and to demonstrate value for money.

There may be a requirement for travel in the UK and overseas, staying overnight as and when necessary.

This is a great time to join the SFO, and this role offers an opportunity to make a meaningful impact. We’re seeking a strong leader who thrives on collaboration and can inspire and engage the team, driving improvements in how we work and delivering positive results. If you have the leadership qualities and relevant experience, we want to hear from you.

As a condition of appointment, successful candidates must hold or be willing to obtain security clearance to Developed Vetting (DV) level before taking up the post. Failure or refusal to acquire the necessary level of clearance will lead to termination of the appointment.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. To be eligible you must meet the following residency requirements:

• DV: 10 years residency in the United Kingdom preceding this application.

Job description

As a Head of Division you will be responsible for:

• Providing leadership and strategic direction to case controllers and their divisional teams to achieve successful outcomes that are aligned with the SFO’s strategy and business plan.
• Acting as part of the overall governance structure in the management and direction of casework.
• Engaging as necessary with external stakeholders and building mutually beneficial relationships with law enforcement partners, legal bodies, the judiciary, civil society and the private sector in support of the organisation’s business plan and to enhance its reputational standing.
• Managing divisional performance to ensure a consistently high quality of delivery, meeting performance targets in line with agreed standards and guidelines.
• Promoting diversity and inclusion and role-modelling the organisation’s values and behaviours.

For more information about the role and for a full list of key responsibilities, please see attached Candidate Pack.

Person specification

See above and attached Candidate Pack.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Serious Fraud Office 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.

Option to join the Civil Service pension scheme. For further details, click here http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/pensions

Generous annual leave provision of 25 days which increases to 30 days after five years’ service plus an additional day in recognition of the King’s Birthday and the option to buy or sell up to five days’ leave per year. Different terms may apply if you are already a Civil Servant.

Discretionary performance-related bonus scheme.

Interest-free season travel ticket, bicycle loan and cycle to work scheme.

Access to the Rental Deposit Salary Advance Scheme which assists employees in meeting the costs of deposits for privately rented homes.

Opportunities for learning and development.

Flexible working arrangements and family-friendly policies.

Voucher for eye care and discounted spectacles.

Access to a range of discounts through membership of the Civil Service Sports and Social Club, CSSC Sports and Leisure. http://www.cssc.co.uk/

Maternity and paternity leave provision over and above the statutory entitlements.

Access to My CPS Rewards Gateway. My CPS Rewards offers staff a range of rewards and savings including:

• Discounts with high street retailers
• Savings on grocery shopping at a range of supermarkets
• Special salary sacrifice and recognition schemes
• Reloadable gift cards and e-cards
• Instant vouchers

Any move to the Serious Fraud Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Application stage

As part of the application process you will be required to provide:

• A personal statement of up to 1250 words that explains how your skills and experience meet each of the essential experience criteria and desirable criteria.
• A CV (max 2 pages or 1250 words) setting out your career history, covering key responsibilities and achievements and any relevant qualifications you hold.

The candidates shortlisted for the next stage of the selection process will be those who have clearly demonstrated that they meet the essential experience criteria for the role, supported by information provided in your CV. Please note, desirable experience will only be taken into account if there is a large volume of applications and there is a need for further shortlisting for interview. Shortlisted candidates will have their application scored and this score will contribute to their overall assessment score.

It will not be possible to provide feedback to applicants who are unsuccessful at the application stage.

Exercise

If you are shortlisted, you will be invited to take part in a practical exercise (via MS Teams) designed to assess your leadership and engagement skills. This will include preparing a 5 minute presentation to share with a cross section of SFO employees, followed by a Q&A session designed to assess your leadership and engagement skills. Full details will be provided to candidates invited to this stage. Scores and feedback collated at this stage will be shared with the interview panel and your score from this stage will contribute to your overall assessment score.

Interview stage

Candidates invited to the interview stage will be required to deliver a 5 minute presentation at the start of their interview. The topic will be shared with candidates at least one week prior to the interview and is designed to test your Experience. The presentation element will be scored separately to the interview and this will contribute to your overall assessment score.

Behaviours and Experience Criteria as outlined in the Candidate Pack will be tested through interview questions. The interview will be scored and will contribute to your overall assessment score.

For more information on scoring, please see page 13 of the attached Candidate Pack.

Full details of the Exercise, Presentation and Interview process will be made available to shortlisted candidates in the invite to interview.

Timeline

Sift to take place from w/c 2 February 2026.

Exercise to take place on Thursday 12 February 2026 via MS Teams.

Interviews are in person at the SFO and are expected to take place on Tuesday 24 February 2026.

All dates are indicative and subject to change.

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 developed vetting (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 theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

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 : People and Culture
• Email : People@sfo.gov.uk
• Telephone : 020 7362 8100

Recruitment team

• Email : People@sfo.gov.uk

Further information

For external competitions there is no appeal against the selection decision. However, individuals have a right to appeal if they feel that the principle of appointment on merit through fair and open competition and the Civil Service Commissioners’ recruitment principles have not been met. Individuals who want to appeal should do this by setting out their grounds for appeal in an email for the attention of Head of People to People@sfo.gov.uk. If, after an internal appeal, you still believe that the Civil Service Commissioners’ Principles have not been met, then you can contact the Commission directly: Complaints should be sent in writing to: Civil Service Commission, Room G08 ,1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ. Email info@csc.gov.uk

Attachments

SCS1 Head of Division Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 815kB)