Head of Operations and Live Services – Tax, Benefits & Enterprise Operations

Job summary

This is a critical SCS1 executive leadership role within HMRC’s Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO) group, positioned in the Tax, Benefits and Enterprise Operations (TB&EOps) practice. The role provides the strategic vision and technical authority required to evolve HMRC’s most vital platforms, including the Enterprise Tax Management Platform (ETMP).

The post‑holder will balance the demands of high‑stakes Live Service operations with the ambition of large‑scale digital transformation, leading major initiatives such as the migration to SAP S4/HANA and Sovereign Cloud.

You will lead a multidisciplinary team and act as the bridge between complex engineering and change delivery, ensuring HMRC’s services remain secure, reliable, innovative and resilient in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Job description

Strategic Leadership & Vision

• Define and execute the multi‑year strategy for the Tax and Benefits Platform, aligning it with HMRC’s operational and policy goals.
• Drive innovation and “Big Thinking” across SAP Technology, Sovereign Cloud, and SAP S4/HANA migration and alignment.
• Unify platform services across Cloud and Integration landscapes to increase speed‑to‑market while maintaining security and reliability.

Technical Oversight & Delivery

• Act as the accountable owner for the Enterprise Tax Management Platform (ETMP), ensuring technical services meet organisational and user needs.
• Oversee platform performance, lifecycle management, patching strategies, and the security of BAU services.
• Lead complex migrations and technical service designs, bridging the gap between legacy systems and modern cloud architectures.

Operational Excellence & Live Services

• Provide expert leadership of Live Services, ensuring high availability and robust performance for HMRC’s Critical National Infrastructure, including ETMP.
• Own and mature the Service Management strategy, including Service Transition and Live Operations processes.
• Enforce operational governance by managing SLAs/OLAs, leading high‑impact incident and problem management.

Stakeholder & Supplier Management

• Influence at Executive Committee (ExCom), Director and Senior Leadership Team levels on complex technical issues and platform strategies.
• Oversee third‑party “Run” suppliers, ensuring contractual compliance, security audits, patching standards and business continuity exercises.
• Collaborate with cross‑government IT leaders to shape shared standards and strategic approaches.

People & Practice Leadership

• Lead and develop diverse teams of service managers, platform engineers and operational specialists, fostering high performance and technical excellence.
• Drive alignment between Change Delivery, Techno‑Functional teams, Live Services and wider CDIO stakeholders to ensure seamless end‑to‑end service experiences.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Expertise in Live Services & Operations: A proven track record of managing complex, large-scale IT operations and live services, with experience of serving a massive customer base with a focus on reliability and security.
• Strategic SAP & Platform Leadership: Extensive experience driving technology roadmaps and innovation to meet evolving business needs.
• Commercial & Supplier Management: Substantial experience in operational contract management, ensuring third-party "Run" suppliers deliver against SLAs, OLAs, and rigorous security/audit frameworks and building partner relationships to encourage transparency and closer ways of working
• Senior Stakeholder Influence: The ability to provide clear, expert advice on complex technical issues to both technical and non-technical audiences, including Executive Committees (ExCom) and cross-government IT leaders.
• Technical Governance & Risk: Strong grip on IT service management principles, including Incident and problem management, Continuous improvement, Release planning, patching strategies, Key Business Events, Business Continuity Planning (BCP), and Disaster Recovery (DR).
• Collaborative People Leadership: A seasoned leader capable of managing and developing diverse, high-performing teams (direct and indirect) while fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and professional growth.

Desirable Criteria:

• Government Context: Experience navigating the specific governance, financial principles (cross-charging), and policy strategies inherent to a large government department or the wider Public Sector.
• Transformation Delivery: Previous experience supporting the transition of SAP services to modernS4/HANA and Sovereign Cloud (SovCloud) environments.

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.​​

We embed inclusion in everything we do. Senior Civil Servants play a crucial role in promoting and maintaining inclusive behaviours, addressing disparities and reporting progress.​

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

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 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 30th March 2026 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.

Selection Panel​

Deepanshu Chauhan, Deputy Director, Platform Service Owner – Tax, Benefits and Payments and vacancy holder, HMRC

Ian Smith, Head of Operations & Live Services, Tax, Benefits and Payments, HMRC

A third panel member is to be confirmed.

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.

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 will take place virtually via Microsoft teams.

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 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 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 : Callum Lawn
• Email : scs.resourcing@hmrc.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scs.resourcing@hmrc.gov.uk

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 requirement of the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned. 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: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

Attachments

SCS1 - Head of Operations and Live Services Tax Benefits Enterprise Operations Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1043kB)