Senior Operational Leader

Job summary

Are you looking for a new challenge? Do you have leadership experience, great communication skills and enjoy coaching others?Do you have an accreditation in Criminal or Financial Investigations?

Then DWP may be the place for you. This is an exciting opportunity to join our Counter Fraud and Compliance Directorate (CFCD) on a team committed to tackling fraud encountered through our Economic, Serious and Organised Crime (ESOC) team. You will be at the forefront of tackling serious and organised crimes against DWP which often has links into wider criminality of modern slavery, human trafficking, and identity fraud. You will work with senior leaders across multi law enforcement agencies on high profile and serious fraud operations involving many suspects in multi-million-pound criminality.

As Senior Operational Leader, you will role model excellent senior management leadership, overseeing investigations into either criminal or financial teams, taking responsibility for the flexible, effective, personalised delivery of customer service, quality, and performance. You will provide transformational leadership to the site and beyond - leading through others, driving people engagement, and inspiring colleagues to deliver objectives.

CFCD is a great place to work where the leadership team are passionate about attracting the best talent whilst nurturing and valuing new and existing colleagues to be the best they can be. We are looking for people who can demonstrate our values and commitment to leadership which are based around collaboration, resilience, and inclusivity. We look for emotionally aware leaders who enable teams to be innovative, adaptable, and flexible. We want you to be comfortable challenging the norm and finding daring and dynamic solutions that support our values and enable colleagues to shine in whatever role they do.

Job description

As a Senior Operational Leader, you can expect to be involved in a range of the following:

• Report directly to the Grade 7, being fully accountable for the leadership of a large, geographically diverse team of Criminal or Financial Investigators, setting strategic business priorities for your areas of responsibility and driving performance against key objectives.

• Be a self-starter, able to use your own initiative and make sound, complex decisions at pace.

• Lead performance within your business area, undertaking regular face-to-face performance reviews with your direct reports, identifying risks to performance achievement, and driving forward continuous improvement.

• Have experience and knowledge of leading diverse teams in an investigation's environment, through effective coaching and mentoring, to improve service delivery.

• Work alongside multiple, senior representatives from other government departments/external bodies, building strong, collaborative relationships which enhance our reputation and achieve excellent outcomes.

• Provide visible, effective leadership through regular site visits, taking a personal lead in engaging with and communicating key messages with clarity and passion to obtain buy in.

• Motivate teams to operate flexibly, seeking feedback, listening, and acting on this, setting performance standards.

• Encourage creative thinking and collaborative working between teams and directorates to drive innovation and service improvements.

• Contribute to people planning activities, ensuring appropriate and effective deployment of people and resources within and between sites.

• Ensure all matters are dealt with promptly and sensitively, in line with DWP policies and procedures, and legislative frameworks, managing risk exposure by overseeing compliance.

Person specification

Key criteria

What we are looking for in our Senior Operational Leaders:

• Highly developed people management skills, with experience of leading diverse and inclusive teams to achieve criminal or financial investigation outcomes. Demonstrating how you set clear strategic directions and drive performance improvement through proactive leadership, confident to challenge and effectively monitor performance. Embedding an inclusive coaching working environment where people feel valued. (Lead Criteria)

• An ability to work at pace in a changing environment. Make sound strategic business decisions based on complex data, considering national business priorities. Act promptly to reassess workloads and resource when there are conflicting demands to maintain performance. Detail how you deployed resource to achieve successful delivery of an investigation to required quality and timescales. (2nd Lead Criteria)

• A strong record of building and maintaining professional capability for yourself and others. Demonstrate an ability to develop a coaching culture to support colleagues to achieve and maintain continuous professional development. Build capability to future proof service delivery, ensuring people have the right skills to overcome challenges and deliver quality business outcomes.

• Use sound analytical skills, effectively interpret and use a range of data including management information to deliver against performance objectives while maintaining quality. Demonstrate how you have engaged with stakeholders, to consider different options, risks and business impact. Articulate and justify difficult or unpopular decisions consulting others where appropriate to ensure the right level of decision-making.

Essential Security Criteria

Please note that the role that you are applying requires National Security Vetting (NSV) to the level – Security Check (SC). You can find more information at United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . If you are successful in your application, you will need to attain SC clearance before you can take up post. This is mandatory and is in addition to completion of Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS).

The purpose of the NSV process is to provide a level of assurance about an individual’s trustworthiness, integrity and reliability, and other factors that increase their vulnerability to corruption or risk of committing a security breach. It involves the investigation of an individual’s background and circumstances to achieve this aim.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance.

Applicants are required to meet the UK residency requirements so that National Security Vetting (NSV) checks can be conducted. You must have resided continuously in the UK for Security Check (SC): at least 3 of the last 5 years, 2 of which must have been the immediately preceding years from the point of applying for this job.

The application process will ask for personal details about you, your address history, previous relationships, your parents, your employment history, your financial circumstances, and details of any pending, spent or unspent convictions. This list is not exhaustive. Please view the Vetting explained - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information.

If you require any further information, please contact the vacancy holder – the details are on the jobs portal through which you made your application.

If you are successful in your application, we recommend that you familiarise yourself with the NSV process and advise that you collate as much information as you can prior to starting your Vetting application.

If you go on to attain Security Clearance, then you should be aware of the following:

Behaviours expected of you to maintain clearance

Keeping your clearance is dependent upon maintaining good security behaviours. You must:

• Not take any illegal drugs.

• Always act with honesty and integrity and, if you are a Civil Servant, adhere to the Civil Service Code.

• Always act in a way that will not put you at risk of being unduly influenced, exploited or blackmailed by people such as criminals and journalists.

Candidate Integrity Declaration

In addition to the above candidates who are successful will be asked about the following before we offer them a position. Candidates must declare to the best of their knowledge:

• Any disciplinary finding of guilt / failure to meet the appropriate standard of conduct relating to their employment they have ever had.

• Any charge of a disciplinary offence / notification of a failure to meet the appropriate standards they have ever had where the case has not yet been concluded.

• Any past convictions, criminal findings, or police cautions, regardless of whether they are ‘spent’, they have ever had.

The disclosure of this information will not automatically disbar the candidate from this role, but we need to be aware of any event or issue which could impinge on the candidate’s credibility if questioned in court.

What checks are Involved?

• Successful completion of the Baseline Personnel Security Standard.

• Completion, by the individual, of a security questionnaire.

• A departmental/company records check which will include, for example personal files, staff reports, sick leave returns and security records.

• A check of both spent and unspent criminal records.

• A check of credit and financial history with a credit reference agency.

• A check of Security Service (MI5) records.

• Exceptionally, if there are any unresolved security concerns about the individual, or if recommended by the Security Service, the individual may also be interviewed.

• In the event of any unresolved financial concerns, the individual may also be required to complete a separate financial questionnaire so that a full review of personal finances can be carried out.

• Checks may extend to third parties included on the security questionnaire.

Learning requirements

To apply for this post all candidates must already hold at least one of the following:

1. Accredited Counter Fraud Investigations Program (ACFIP).

1. Counter Fraud Investigator Apprenticeship (CFIA).

1. An equivalent such as PINs (Professionalism in Security).

1. SAO accreditation via the National Crime Agency.

Government Counter Fraud Profession (GCFP)

The DWP is committed to investing in people and ensuring their teams are a professional workforce. It is a requirement of counter fraud post holders within DWP to attain, and retain, membership of the Government Counter Fraud Profession (GCFP) at Practitioner level. This means if you are successful in applying for this role you will need to undertake an annual self-assessment to evidence your knowledge, skills, and experience within your role to attain and retain practitioner level membership. We provide post holders with a learning routeway to support them in achieving as well as any workplace adjustments they may require. Failure to attain membership of the GCFP at practitioner level may result in DWP seeking an alternative role for you.

In applying you will have indicated that you have read and fully understood the professional requirements for this Counter Fraud Investigator role.

Travel requirements

You are required to attend and oversee:

• Briefings and operational planning with external stakeholders such as Police, Lawyers, and Barristers.

• Participate in high profile arrests, search, and seizure exercises.

• Attendance at Court to support criminal or financial proceedings and hearings.

• Due to the nature of the role this could be at any location nationally and during unsociable hours (both night/day and weekends). A Departmental vehicle OR hire car may be made available if you hold a full UK driving license.

Further support

If you have questions or concerns at any point, please talk to the Vacancy Holder. It is much easier to discuss and address an issue at an early stage than after concerns have been raised.

Qualifications

To apply for this post all candidates must already hold at least one of the following:
1. Accredited Counter Fraud Investigations Program (ACFIP).
2. Counter Fraud Investigator Apprenticeship (CFIA).
3. An equivalent such as PINs (Professionalism in Security).
4. SAO accreditation via the National Crime Agency.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,447, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £12,876 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

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, Strengths and Experience.

**Please note the closing date for your full application is 23:55 on 07th of April 2026**

Stage 1 – Short Stage Application Form

Please complete the first stage short application form, which includes your personal details, eligibility to apply and any reasonable adjustments required.

Stage 2 – Written Application and Sift

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a personal statement in no more than 1250 words detailing the relevant skills and experience you can bring to the role, based on the key criteria listed.

Please read and understand the key criteria thoroughly, as this is what your written evidence will be assessed against. Pay particular attention to the lead criteria and second lead criteria as if you do not demonstrate these on your application, you will not progress to the interview stage.

Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. You may choose to address each criterion separately, however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several key criteria. You may not be able to meet all the key criteria, but please ensure you evidence the key personal requirements, what have you done that’s relatable to the requirements. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead criteria or lead and second lead criteria. If so, we will sift on:

• Highly developed people management skills, with experience of leading diverse and inclusive teams to achieve criminal or financial investigation outcomes. Demonstrating how you set clear strategic directions and drive performance improvement through proactive leadership, confident to challenge and effectively monitor performance. Embedding an inclusive coaching working environment where people feel valued. (Lead Criteria)

• An ability to work at pace in a changing environment. Make sound strategic business decisions based on complex data, considering national business priorities. Act promptly to reassess workloads and resource when there are conflicting demands to maintain performance. Detail how you deployed resource to achieve successful delivery of an investigation to required quality and timescales. (2nd Lead Criteria)

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to an interview.

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

You will also be asked to complete a CV with details of your job history, full qualification details, previous skills and experience.

In the previous skills/experience section you should detail your employment and/or education history relevant to this vacancy (we recommend a maximum of 500 words).

The CV will also cover your work history (we recommend you include up to the last 3 roles of employment history, plus any others that you feel are relevant) and your qualifications.

Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

In the event we don’t receive a high number of applications we may not undertake a sift and progress all candidate to interview. For these reasons, the timeline is subject to change depending on the approach we take.

**Please note the closing date for your full application is 23:55 on 07/04/2026**

The sift is scheduled to be held from 08/04/2026 to 08/05/2026. These dates may be subject to change.

Stage 3- Interview

If you pass the written application sift with the required score you will be invited to a blended interview and will receive an electronic notification to your Civil Service Jobs account.

The interviews will be conducted face to face. Where possible the interviews will take place at the locations listed in the Candidate Pack (slide 2), however candidates may be expected to travel to an alternative location as required.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend a face-to-face interview, please ensure you state those on your application form when asked to do so.

Interviews are scheduled to take place from 01/06/2026, please note that these dates are only indicative at this stage and could be subject to change. Interviews will be scheduled Monday to Friday, between 09:00 to 17:00.

Communications will be electronic and/or by SMS/telephone therefore it is important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder. Telephone calls may show as a withheld number, it is important that you answer so that your interview can be confirmed. If you wish to opt out of SMS messages, please email this address, including the vacancy reference and your candidate ID CFCD.RECRUITMENTINBOX@DWP.GOV.UK. As part of our commitment to improving the candidate experience, you may be contacted during the recruitment process to provide feedback.

Preparing for the Interview

The interview will take approximately 40 to 45 minutes and will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions. A blended interview aims to be more of a conversation offering a more inclusive approach. The behaviour and strength-based questioning explores what you, the candidate, can and have done, but also your potential.

Behaviours

You will be assessed against the Civil Service Behaviours listed at level 3.An example of a behavioural question would be “How did you lead by example to inspire and motivate your teams?”.

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:

• WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? or
• STAR - What was the ituation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?

Strengths

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this.

If you withdraw your application at any stage, it will not be progressed further.

Stage 4– Offer

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first based on your location preferences and the geographical requirements of the business. Dependent on your position on the merit list, if none of your location preferences remain at the point we make a job offer, we may offer you a role at an alternative advertised location. If we are unable to offer you a role in any of your preferred locations, and you are unable to accept a role at an alternative advertised location, we will add you to the reserve list if one is being held.

The successful candidates will be notified of a start date following successful pre-employment and security checks, which is likely to be during October 2026.

Important information

Visa Sponsorship

For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed.

Candidate pack

It is important that you take time to read the candidate pack which can be found at the bottom of this job advert. This provides further information about the role and working in DWP.

Location

Please see slide 2 in the candidate pack for list of possible locations.

You should only apply for suitable posts where you can travel to and from your home office location daily within a reasonable time. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas. Relocation costs will not be reimbursed. Make sure the location works for you before applying!

Hybrid working​

This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office. If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.

Hybrid working will not commence until any training and consolidation period has been successfully completed.

Working pattern​

Part-time, part-year, term-time compressed hours and job-sharing working patterns within working hours will be considered but must meet business needs. We will do our best to let people with existing part time contracts retain their contracted hours provided they are in line with current business needs. Please note that successful candidates with agreed alternative working patterns may be required to work full time for specific periods to complete all training and consolidation.

​​Hours of work ​

The full-time working week in DWP is 37 hours. You may be required to work at any time between the hours of: ​

• 7:45am and 8:00pm on any day between Monday to Friday, and​

• 8:45am to 5:00pm on Saturday.​

Managers will agree working patterns with successful applicants within these business hours and review these as appropriate. You will be given advance notice of your personal schedule.

Further Information

Diversity and Inclusion

At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note:

• If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual part time working pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in the case of serious ill health).

• If we make an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list.

Disability Confident Scheme

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

Reasonable Adjustments

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” 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 you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Integrity, Plagiarism and Civil Service Principles

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words.

Examples of plagiarism can include:

• Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own.

• Copying content or answers from an online or published source that is not your own.

Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks

To process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. I