Senior Compliance Officer

Job summary

The Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA) is driven by its unparalleled access across government to build ‘better insights, better outcomes’ for our clients.

This role offers a strong platform for career progression within the Agency and the wider civil service, providing opportunities to develop leadership, stakeholder engagement and strategic relationship management skills across government.

The Agency’s unique access across the public sector exposes you to different risk and control environments, allowing you to gain insights, apply experience, contribute meaningfully, and continue developing professionally.

Job description

This role sits within the DVLA GIAA Compliance Officer team, delivering assurance audits to organisations that access DVLA data, including local authorities, parking enforcement organisations and financial institutions.
You will lead and oversee a varied programme of compliance audits, assessing whether customers have legitimate and evidenced reasons for accessing DVLA data in line with agreed permitted purposes. Working both independently and as part of a supportive, established team, you will build strong relationships with customer stakeholders while delivering robust, efficient audit activity across the UK. The role offers an interesting mix of compliance, assurance and stakeholder engagement, with some travel and overnight stays required

• Managing a team of circa 4 HEO Compliance Officers to deliver compliance audits for DVLA.
• Being an effective team leader, by working pro-actively, constructively and flexibly with colleagues and customers to deliver GIAA’s objectives and service commitments to DVLA;
• Managing your own and your team’s time and resources effectively and productively to ensure that DVLA demand is met, in order of priority - actively identifying, foreseeing and taking ownership of issues which may impact your delivery or that of your team; and offering solutions ahead of deadlines;
• Being accountable for delivering and managing a portfolio of audits, working on more than one assignment at once, possibly on different DVLA customers, to budget and quality expectations, complying with GIAA methodology, using our audit management software system (TeamMate+) where required;
• Being responsible for quality assurance of your team’s work to ensure delivery of clear and accurate audit reports, which meet agreed compliance audit objectives;
• Contributing to customer Audit Committee, Executive Team and Board reports with concise and accurate delivery progress data;
• Actively working with others to share expertise and experience, coaching juniors and peers, and helping the Agency develop its professional practice; and
• Ensuring that you and your team adhere to GIAA policies e.g. data protection, security, health and safety and time recording.

Person specification

1. Highly organised and methodical, with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple audits and competing deadlines, independently and as part of a team.
2. Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality, with experience leading, reviewing and quality assuring audit work and documentation.
3. Strong knowledge of data protection and information governance, including data sharing, with experience of assessing compliance and handling sensitive information appropriately.
4. Excellent communication, interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build effective relationships and communicate clearly with people at all levels.
5. Experience using data analytics to identify trends, inform decision-making and support continuous improvement of services.

To apply for this role, you will need to submit your employment history, personal details and provide a statement of suitability of no more than 750 words, referring to the person specification.

Please note only your statement of suitability will be assessed at the sift stage.

Interviews will be held on Teams.

Candidates invited to interview will be required to give a short presentation to the interview panel followed by questions. At interview you will be assessed on experience, strengths and the following technical skills:
• Data Protection Legislation
• Data governance and privacy frameworks
• Data analysis

Technical skills

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

• Data Protection Legislation
• Data governance and privacy frameworks
• Data analysis

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £48,889, Government Internal Audit Agency contributes £14,163 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Competitive salaries and in-year rewards
• Flexible working
• A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Discount on big brands
• Volunteering days
• Season Ticket Loan and Cycle to Work Schemes
• Free eyesight tests
• Family-friendly HR policies
• 25 days’ annual leave increasing by one day per year of service to 30 days after 5 years’ service
• Geographically based Agency

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 Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Recruitment Timeline

• Closing date: 27 September 2026
• Shortlisting: 09 October 2026
• Interviews: w/c 19 October 2026

This timeline is indicative and may be subject to change. We will inform you if there is a substantial change to the recruitment timeline.

If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs profile.

Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.

Eligibility Statement

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role in the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Checks will be performed as part of pre-employment checks in line with this. Please refer to the Candidate FAQ document attached to the advert for more information.

Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks. Additionally, individuals appointed to the Treasury group will be subject to National Security Vetting. The level of security vetting required for this role is Security Check (SC)

To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out, applicants will need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. In exceptional circumstances, for example if you have been working abroad on a government posting, a lack of residency would not be a bar to security clearance however the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case-by-case basis once the advert closing date has passed.

Please read the Vetting Charter for information on what to expect during the vetting process and what will be expected from you. Many areas of your life may be explored during your vetting journey, and it is important that every individual, regardless of their background and experiences, should feel comfortable going through this personal process, whilst having confidence that it is fair, proportionate, and inclusive.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

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 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 : Katie Woodhouse
• Email : giaarecruitment@giaa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : giaarecruitment@giaa.gov.uk

Further information

Complaints Procedure: The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact: GIAARecruitment@giaa.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

SEO-Senior Compliance Officer-Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 421kB)