Deputy Director Excise & Environmental Taxes

Job Details

There are six Deputy Director-led teams within BTILA (Business Tax & International Legal Advisers). Our work spans a broad range of business tax and international matters, including corporation tax, VAT, environmental taxes and excise, customs, business rates advice to the Valuation Office Agency, and international trade. Our lawyers advise on legislation, support HMRC’s operational delivery, provide policy advice to HMRC and HM Treasury, and work closely with ministers and legal colleagues across government.

The main areas covered by the Environmental Taxes work include,  Fuel duty, Aggregates Levy, Air Passenger Duty, Climate Change Levy, Landfill Tax, Plastic Packaging Tax and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. The areas covered by the Excise work, include, Alcohol duty, Gambling duties, Tobacco duties, and the new Vaping Products duty. This is a new team bringing excise and environmental together and there is an opportunity to shape the vision and direction of the team.

The work attracts stakeholder interest and plays an important role in supporting HMRC’s wider strategic objectives. The team regularly provides advice to Ministers, HMRC’s Commissioners and senior governance boards, requiring clear, practical and legally robust analysis.

You will work closely with policy and operational areas across HMRC, HM Treasury and other government departments, as well as colleagues across Legal Group and the wider Government Legal Profession. You will join BTILA leadership team alongside me and the other Deputy Directors. You will be a part of the wider team leading the advisory function (this is BTILA and the directorate advising on cross cutting and personal tax areas) as well as being a member of the Legal Enterprise Leadership Group.

Working across our five regional centres, we take a strategic approach to leadership, resourcing, risk management, capability building and professional development, while maintaining a strong commitment to diversity, inclusion and employee wellbeing.

Job description

• Leading the provision of timely, high quality, risk-based advice on public law, excise and environmental taxes to key stakeholders in HMRC and HM Treasury, facilitating creative and practical solutions that meet client priorities.
• Delivering effective primary, secondary and tertiary legislation required to make changes to the excise duty and environmental taxes regimes.
• Forming and managing highly effective working relationships with key stakeholders in HMRC and externally.
• Leading a team of 12 lawyers.
• Overseeing the allocation of work and resources to ensure effective delivery within available funding, meeting changing client needs through accurate management and reporting.
• Providing inspiring, confident and empowering leadership that is inclusive, supporting staff to improve their skills and performance, and offering support to career development. 
• Contributing to the development and sharing of legal knowledge and capability and best practice across the team, Legal Group and HMRC, and wider government.
• Contributing to the effective management and development of the directorate and advisory function as well as the wider leadership of Legal Group and enterprise leadership in HMRC.
• Promoting the use of digital tools, including the use of AI, and a new advisory case management system.

Person specification

• Excellent legal professional skills with knowledge and experience in delivering legal services, and the ability to command the confidence of senior officials and Ministers.
• Capability to lead and manage a team of lawyers: setting direction; managing performance, finance and risks; and embracing innovation to improve service delivery and value for money.
• Strong people leadership skills: promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace, alongside developing capability and professionalism.
• Demonstrable ability to work collaboratively and influence other senior leaders across HMRC Legal Group, HMRC, the Government Legal Profession and external stakeholders.
• Ability and enthusiasm to deliver the business of the legal group and to act as an enterprise leader.

Desirable criteria:

• An understanding of and some experience of the work of Government, including primary and secondary legislation.
• Experience and knowledge of tax and the tax system.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £86,000, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £24,914 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).

For full benefits please see attached Candidate Pack

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

For the full application process please see attached Candidate Pack

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 standard (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is  counter-terrorist 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

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 the  Civil 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 :Robert Gavin
• Email :View email address on taxation-jobs.co.uk

Recruitment team

• Email :View email address on taxation-jobs.co.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:

Attachments

Deputy Director Excise Environmental Taxes - Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1119kB)

Company

At HMRC our values are professionalism, integrity, respect and innovation. We listen to our people and are committed to being fair. We are kind and human. We include people, regardless of difference. We work together. We have honest conversations.

Our values and commitments help us to build a workforce that we can be proud of which gives us confidence that we are giving the best service to our customers.

Company info

Website