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About the job
Job summary
HMRC is the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority and we have a vital purpose: we collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.
Digital Support and Innovation (DSI) sits within HMRC’s wider Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) responsible for the department’s civil and criminal investigation work. FIS ensures that HMRC has an effective approach to taking on the most serious tax evasion and fraud.
Working across Law Enforcement and government, DSI provides investigative tools and covert techniques to front-line investigations and works with key partners to develop and provide access to new technology and systems to enable investigators to respond to serious and complex tax evasion and crime.
See what it’s like to work at HMRC: find out more about us or ask our colleagues a question. Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Job description
We are looking for a cybercrime and digital forensics analyst to join our growing team.
The cybercrime team is a small team of around 25 staff who are specialist technical analysts and investigators. We gather intelligence and investigate online fraud against HMRC. We provide evidence to support criminal investigations and insight to shape the security of HMRC’s online services.
You will work collaboratively as part of the team, assisting in the forensic analysis of seized devices, utilising your technical knowledge to add value to investigate the impact of cyber-crime on HMRC systems and services.
Person specification
Assisting senior colleagues with the cybercrime aspects of HMRC criminal investigations by collating analysing and explaining a variety of internal and external data sources to support criminal justice outcomes.
Providing expert witness statements and attending court in support of Criminal investigations as required.
Assist in the forensic examination of relevant devices, including malware and intrusion analysis. This may include both on site examinations and laboratory-based acquisitions as well.
Help test new forensic methodologies as required, carry out experiments to validate forensics findings and results.
Keeping abreast of emerging technologies and methodologies that impact the work of the cybercrime team.
Assist colleagues acting as a technical consultant assisting operational, policy and software development teams with advice on defensive and detective methods to counter cyber-crime threats.
Assist in the analysis and manipulation of large complex data sets, devising new methods as required.
Maintaining knowledge on cybercrime and cyber security through personal development and research.
Essential criteria:
The successful candidate will be able to evidence a number of skills from the following:
Cyber Crime - Demonstrate experience in a cyber security/incident response field with a sound technical understanding of the current cyber threat landscape, threat intel and opens source relevant to the threat against financial institutions, UK business and criminal tools tactics and techniques.
Computer Forensics skills - Proven ability to perform digital forensic analysis from various devices, platforms and operating systems, both in the lab and field, interpret complex forensic artefacts relevant to cybercrime and being fully compliant with ACPO Principles and quality frameworks (ISO17025).
Data Manipulation - Experience in manipulating and analysing large data sets, utilising basic scripting and/or data visualisation tools.
Reporting - Proven Experience in authoring technical reports for different stakeholders with varying levels of technical knowledge and where appropriate writing witness statements and presenting findings in court.
Security Vetting - This post requires you to achieve National Security Vetting at Developed Vetting (DV) clearance level and you must be willing to apply for DV vetting if not already held.
Desirable Criteria:
- Technical experience of one or more: Scripting/Programming; SQL; Malware Analysis; Data Analysis tools – Splunk/Neo4j/Maltego
- Industry recognised certifications e.g SANS GIAC, CompTIA, OSCP, CISSP & Digital Forensic Vendor specific.
- Membership of professional bodies, e.g CIISec or ICDIP.
- Knowledge of relevant UK law enforcement legislation would be helpful (CPIA, PACE, IPA, RIPA, CMA)
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Presentation Interview questions
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
- Flexibility Payment - This post attracts a Level 2 Flexibility Payment (FP) that is paid monthly with salary. This FP allows HMRC flexibility to change your work pattern, at short notice, to meet business needs. You will be expected to undertake periods of On Call. You will also be expected to work additional hours, at weekends and outside your normal working hours/days (including bank holidays).
In applying for a position and accepting the FP you agree that you can and will meet those attendance requirements.
FP levels are reviewed annually – on a business need and personal basis – and may be subject to change.
If you currently receive the Flexibility Payment, which may include Transition Protection and/or a Maintained Pension Value, moving to a new role may affect your payments.
Details of the Flexibility Payment can be found in the attached document.
Find more about HMRC benefits in 'Your little extras and big benefits handbook' for further information or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and Personal Statement.
CV – please complete the job history, qualifications and previous skills and experience sections (max 250 words per section). Please ensure you have provided reasons for any significant gaps in employment history within the last two years.
Personal Statement – in no more than 750 words, please provide examples of how you consider your technical and personal skills, qualities and experience define your suitability for the role against the job description and essential criteria.
Please note that the personal statement is an important part of your application and is as much the means by which you will be assessed as your CV.
A sift will be undertaken on the CV and Personal Statement.
In the event of a large number of applications an initial sift will be carried out on the CV. If you progress to full sift, we will then review your CV and Personal Statement with successful applicants progressing to interview.
Interview Process Details
Candidates who are successful at sift will be selected for interview and further tested against Experience, Technical skills and the Behaviours; Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing and Delivering at Pace .
Questions will be based on the essential criteria that are detailed in the advert.
We will test your technical skills by way of a 10 minute presentation delivered at interview, followed by 5 minutes of questioning from the panel. The presentation brief will be sent out to those invited for interview.
There will also be a series of technical questions asked at interview
Sift and Interview will take place within 5 weeks of the advert closing date. The interview will be face to face – location to be confirmed.
Further information:
You will be expected to pass a SANS or Firebrand Security Course and demonstrate compliance with Civil Service and HMRC behaviours as part of a 6 month Training and Assessment Period.
This role requires security clearance to DV. Any job offer is conditional to the attainment of the security clearance to DV and thus, the security clearance is mandatory. Please be aware that those who do not attain one will not be allowed to carry on in this particular post. If you do not attain your security clearance subsequent to appointment, we will look to redeploy you to another role within HMRC.
Applicants who wish to work alternative working patterns are welcome to apply. The preferred working pattern may or may not be available, agreement will be subject to business need, and any request to work an alternative working pattern should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.
Appointment will be conditional upon satisfactory conduct and discipline checks and security vetting.
Candidates must live within reasonable daily travel, of an HMRC Regional Centre.
We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process in order to manage numbers.
A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.
Please note that this vacancy consists of several linked adverts for the same roles but in different locations. The references of which are as follows:
288333
If you apply for more than one of the linked adverts above, your test and interview scores from your first submitted application will be automatically carried across to any other applications you make. This means you will only be invited to attend one interview.
After interview, separate merit lists will be created for each advert (i.e. location) and appointments will be made in strict merit order. If you are successful and accept an offer, all other linked applications will be withdrawn.
Eligibility
To check that you are eligible to apply, review this eligibility information
Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:
This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need, so please review the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you are able to travel to.
Reasonable Adjustments
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition, or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.
If you need a reasonable adjustment or a change to be made so that you can make your application, review this information on reasonable adjustments, and contact [email protected] as soon as possible.
Equality and Diversity
We’re committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues here at HMRC. We want everyone to feel valued, supported and comfortable being their true self at work.
We’re proud to be a diverse and inclusive employer, supporting social mobility by giving opportunities to people from all walks of life. We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us and offer a range of flexible working patterns and support. Our aim is to make a fulfilling career at HMRC accessible to you.
For more information on how we make this happen, review this information on our culture and values.
Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.
We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible after considering operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.
Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.
The Civil Service runs 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.
Locations
HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.
Security Update
For more information on the level of security checks we will carry out, review this information on security checks
Please note: in addition to the standard pre-employment checks for appointment into the Civil Service, all candidates must also obtain National Security Vetting at Developed Vetting (DV) clearance level for this vacancy. You will normally need to meet the minimum UK residency period as determined by the level of vetting being undertaken, which for DV is 10 years UK residency prior to your vetting application. If you have any questions about this residency requirement, please speak to the vacancy holder for this post.
Further Information
The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.
Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application/s will be withdrawn from the process.
Duplicate applications for the same vacancy will also be withdrawn.
Transferring into HMRC from Civil Service If you are currently working for an ‘Other Government Department’ (OGD) and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document "Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”, found at the bottom of this advert. Further information on staff transfers can be found on gov.uk
Problems during the application process
If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
If you think you’ve made a mistake on a submitted application (e.g. you’ve ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact [email protected] at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we won’t be able to reopen your application.
Please use the subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application - 288340 & vacancy closing date 06.06.2023.
For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details within reasonable adjustments section above.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
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Working for the Civil Service
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).
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
Recruitment team