IT Service Owner - Personal Tax in East Kilbride

The Personal Tax Service Owner is a pivotal strategic leadership role, responsible for the technology products and services that support some of HMRC's most critical Personal Tax services. The portfolio spans multiple products, platforms and channels, and the role owns the technology strategy, roadmap and end-to-end performance of the service.

Working in close partnership with senior business leaders, you will translate Personal Tax priorities and customer needs into a coherent technology strategy, balancing the performance and resilience of today's services with the need to simplify, modernise and transform the technology estate. This is a particularly exciting time to take on the role as the Personal Tax technology landscape enters a significant period of change, including procurement/reprocurement and modernisation of the underlying technology estate.

You will provide strategic leadership through this transition, ensuring HMRC remains an intelligent client, shaping our future supplier relationships and ensuring investment and technology choices support HMRC's longer-term business and customer ambitions. The importance of procurement, modernisation, intelligent-client capability and supplier engagement is already reflected in the approved recruitment rationale for the post. As a senior leader within CDPO, you will lead Service Owners and Product Managers across the portfolio, working across HMRC and with industry and strategic suppliers to create modern, sustainable and customer-led services that deliver value for HMRC and the taxpayer.

Role Responsibilities

• Interpret and influence Personal Tax business strategy, translating business, policy and customer needs into a clear technology strategy that drives innovation, modernisation and improved customer outcomes.
• Own the strategic technology roadmap and end-to-end lifecycle of the Personal Tax portfolio, balancing the resilience, security and performance of critical live services with the longer-term transformation and modernisation of the technology estate.
• Influence and collaborate with senior business leaders, Service Owners and senior technology colleagues across HMRC, ensuring the portfolio is developed in line with business strategy, architectural direction and HMRC's future operating model.
• Provide strategic technology leadership through the procurement/reprocurement and modernisation of Personal Tax technology provision, ensuring HMRC maintains strong intelligent-client capability and that future commercial and technology choices support the long-term service strategy.
• Lead and mobilise Service Owners and Product Managers across a portfolio of IT products and services, owning roadmaps, investment and budgets and driving greater consistency, reuse and simplification across products and platforms.
• Own the delivery, optimisation and strategic performance of the end-to-end portfolio, making evidence-based prioritisation and investment choices that balance customer outcomes, business value, operational resilience, technical sustainability and affordability.
• Work across architecture, data, security, engineering and delivery leadership to shape the future technology landscape, managing dependencies and ensuring modernisation decisions support sustainable end-to-end services.
• Lead senior relationships across a complex supplier ecosystem, shaping supplier and commercial strategies, driving innovation and value from contracts and establishing effective strategic partnerships whilst maintaining accountability for service and delivery performance.
• Forge relationships across government and industry, bringing external insight, emerging technology and leading practice into the strategic direction and continuous improvement of Personal Tax services.
• Provide visible and empowering SCS leadership, setting a compelling direction for multidisciplinary teams, developing capability and creating a culture of accountability, collaboration, inclusion and continuous improvement.

Person specification

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate relevant experience and effective delivery of the following:

• Substantial experience operating at a strategic level within a large, complex and business-critical technology environment, setting technology direction and navigating significant complexity, ambiguity and competing priorities.
• A proven track record of safeguarding and leading critical live technology services whilst delivering major business and technology change and modernisation, balancing transformation ambition and pace with service continuity, resilience, security and performance.
• Significant experience of major technology procurement, commercial strategy and complex supplier ecosystems, with the ability to operate as an intelligent client, shape strategic supplier relationships and secure long-term value and outcomes.
• Strong product and service leadership, with experience of owning end-to-end technology strategy across multiple products, platforms and dependencies, translating customer and business priorities into roadmaps, investment decisions and measurable outcomes.
• Deep applied understanding of technology and emerging approaches, with the ability to make sound strategic choices that balance immediate business needs with longer-term modernisation, architectural integrity and technical sustainability across a complex technology estate.
• A strong track record of building influential relationships with senior business and technology leaders, operating effectively across organisational boundaries and achieving outcomes where direct authority may not exist.
• Proven experience of leading and prioritising a substantial and complex portfolio of technology change, managing competing priorities, dependencies, risks, investment and capacity while maintaining focus on customer and business outcomes.
• Outstanding leadership of large, multidisciplinary and geographically dispersed teams, setting a compelling strategic vision and creating an inclusive culture of trust, autonomy, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Significant experience of developing technical capability, professions and leadership, combined with strong product and delivery expertise, building organisational capability to support sustainable product, service and delivery performance.

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.

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.

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.

HMRC is a Disability Confident leader and guarantees to interview candidates applying under the Disability Confident Scheme who successfully meet the minimum selection criteria outlined in the person specification. Candidates should declare any perceived conflicts of interest at application, and this may be discussed with you at interview.

Informal Conversation

Shortlisted candidates will have the opportunity to speak to Sarah McMann prior to interview. This is an informal discussion to allow you to learn more about the role and is not part of the assessment process.

Assessment

If shortlisted, you will take part in the following assessments:

• Individual Leadership Assessment – a combination of psychometric assessments

Assessments are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for further exploration at interview and do not result in a pass or fail decision.

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 are expected to take place in person at HMRC, 7 & 8 Wellington Place, Leeds.