Software Strategy and Policy Advisor in Preston

Join to apply for the Software Strategy and Policy Advisor role at HM Revenue & Customs. This range is provided by HM Revenue & Customs. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues; an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve. We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us, and we offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career at HMRC accessible to you. Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.

Intermediaries (individuals and organisations that act on the behalf of their customers) are an important part of the tax system and play an increasingly important role in tax administration supporting compliance, customer experience and efficiency. Millions of taxpayers already rely on intermediaries to perform key functions in the tax system. New ways of working and digital advances are likely to increase the importance of intermediaries. This is recognised in HMRC’s Tax Administration Strategy which sets out a growing role for intermediaries.

HMRC’s Intermediaries Directorate shapes and drives the delivery of HMRC’s Intermediaries Strategy. This includes setting the standards expected to ensure high levels of trust in intermediaries and the tax system. For some intermediaries this includes the design of the services HMRC provide to ensure intermediaries can interact with HMRC: fulfilling their role and maximising customer experience.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a small high performing team made up of a Grade 6, three Grade 7 leads and one other SO. The Software Strategy & Policy team has responsibility for enabling third-party software providers to support HMRC on delivering its strategic objectives and overarching vision to be a trusted, modern, tax and customs authority. We are a crosscutting team, working across HMRC, wider government, and with representative bodies to ensure the strategic development and implementation of tax software.

The successful candidate will need to be confident and self-motivated in managing senior stakeholder relationships and must be able to work flexibly and effectively under tight deadlines against a backdrop of changing and challenging priorities to deal with complex and urgent issues as they arise.

The Strategy Advisor’s responsibilities will vary, but will include:

• Undertaking research and analysis of policy options, including discussions with internal and external stakeholders to ensure strategy in the software space are aligned to HMRC’s strategic priorities.
• Leading horizon scanning activities to identify opportunities and risks in the tax software space, providing advice on next steps to a range of seniorities.
• Building and managing the evidence base required to inform software policy and strategy changes.
• Maintaining productive working relationships with stakeholders across government and industry to ensure that our policy and strategy approach meet stakeholder expectations.
• Drafting or coordinating briefing, correspondence, submissions, explanatory notes.

Our ideal candidate will be someone with knowledge and experience of policy or strategy development and delivery within the Civil Service or allied fields. We have a diverse set of experiences within the team, a common theme amongst our members, whatever their background, is a positive attitude towards new challenges.

• Ability to establish effective relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders to develop policy in a complex and fast paced environment.
• Strong analytical skills that enable you to quickly understand complex issues, gather and analyse information, develop a range of solutions, appraise options, and advise confidently about the right course of action, taking account of the wider context.
• Excellent drafting and verbal communication skills with the ability to present arguments and information persuasively, tailored to the audience and using the most appropriate method.
• Ability to take account of a range of views demonstrating an open, supportive, and inclusive attitude. You challenge where appropriate and are an advocate for your organisations position.
• Ability to understand how your work contributes to the bigger picture. Allowing you to prioritise effectively, manage conflicting demands, and overcome setbacks.
• Experience of or interest in working in a policy/strategy/tax systems and/or tax compliance environment.

If your location preference is for one of the following sites, it’s important to note that these are not long-term sites for HMRC and we will require you to move to a new building in the future, subject to our location strategy and the applicable employee policies at that time.

These sites are: Benton Park View, Newcastle - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle. You will be given more information about what this means at the job offer stage.

Moves Adjustment Payment will be available for this role, provided the successful applicant is a current HMRC colleague in Bradford and meets the eligibility requirements outlined in the HMRC’s Moves Adjustment Payment guidance.

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Alongside your salary of £45,544, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £13,194 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days. Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary. Family friendly policies. Personal support. Coaching and development.

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.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

• A name-blind CV including your job history and previous experiences. For CV please focus your most recent and relevant experience on how you meet the Person Specification part of the advert. Please also give outcomes or successes in each role and any tools or qualifications you have used or worked towards with no more than 200 words per role.
• A 1000-word Personal Statement to demonstrate with examples that show impacts and outcomes on how you meet the Essential Criteria.

Click apply to learn more before role closes 11:55pm 8/1/26.