24/7 Major Incident Manager

Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Salary: 45,544 - 49,523 per year

Employment: Full time

Category: IT

Posted: 2026-08-05

Valid to: 2026-08-19

Employer: HM Revenue and Customs

Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC.

Are you passionate about ensuring seamless IT operations and ready to take on a pivotal role in a dynamic environment? Do you thrive in constantly evolving situations and are great at taking control, assessing and managing the situation? If so, continue reading to find out more about this fantastic opportunity to join HMRC - one of the largest and most dynamic IT infrastructures in Europe, and we are now one of the most digitally advanced tax authorities in the world.

The Team

Our role sits within Enterprise Live Services (ELS) which forms part of the Chief Digital & Information Group (CDIO). ELS are accountable end to end for HMRC’s IT Systems & Services, and our focus is ensuring a consistent, excellent Customer Experience. We work closely with the other product and platform groups and their partners to bring IT Systems and Services together.

HMRC is looking for a dynamic and proactive Major Incident Manager to join our team, playing a pivotal role in safeguarding the reliability and resilience of our IT estate. As a Major Incident Manager, you will be at the heart of our response to major IT incidents and escalations, working collaboratively across the organisation 365 days a year. You will champion rapid and effective incident management to restore services swiftly, minimising disruption to business operations and ensuring our colleagues and customers experience the highest standards of service quality and availability.

In this exciting role, you will:

• Assess complex situations and make decisive interventions to resolve major incidents.
• Rapidly coordinate resolution activities and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including 3rd parties.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and act as a trusted point of contact for business areas, translating technical information into clear, accessible language.
• Provide visible leadership, taking ownership of issues and inspiring teams to deliver outstanding incident management.
• Go beyond technical expertise, demonstrating initiative, adaptability, and a commitment to continuous improvement.
• Respond to IT incidents and flex to support higher organisational priorities as needed.

This post is not a highly technical role, and the ability to provide visible leadership, rapidly take ownership of emerging issues and proactively direct activities is critical to this role.

Due to operational needs, this post is full-time; however, applicants who need to work a more flexible arrangement are welcome to apply. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly as any agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate. Any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.

This role can offer hybrid working, but 60% of your time must be spent within our Newcastle bridge operations room. You must therefore be able to commute to the Newcastle location and initial training will be entirely office based in Newcastle.

You will be joining a team that provides round the clock cover and service, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.

This role attracts an Annual Attendance Allowance (AAA) payment which is typically a 26.11% monthly payment on top of your basic salary. This payment could vary to reflect the specific type and number of unsocial hours you are rostered to work.

You will perform your contracted hours on an annualised hours basis, working fixed shift patterns over a 4 week rostering period consisting of days, nights, weekends and public holidays. The total number of hours worked over the 4 week rostering period is 148 hours. This is not inclusive of breaks which are unpaid.

If the rostered shift falls on a Bank Holiday, colleagues are expected to work this. Typically, in 2 out of the 4 weeks, there is a requirement to work 52.75 hours per week, and in the other 2 weeks, a requirement to work 21.25 hours per week. This is subject to change in accordance with business needs.

Current (typical) shift patterns are as follows:

• Week 1: Monday 6:45am – 7pm, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 7am – 7pm
• Week 2: Wednesday 6:45am – 7pm, Thursday 7am to 7pm
• Week 3: Monday 6:45pm – 7am, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 7pm – 7am
• Week 4: Wednesday 6:45pm – 7am, Thursday 7pm – 7am

Please note that allowances paid within HMRC are subject to change in accordance with respective policy changes, the Annual Attendance Allowance is currently under review.

The team also operate a further out of hours on call rota which colleagues are expected to join once fully trained. Colleagues joining the rota will be reimbursed as per HMRC policy.

We are seeking a dynamic individual with extensive experience in handling Major Incidents within a large, multi-functional organisation. You should possess a deep understanding of both business and service impacts. A strong and effective leader, you are self-motivated, resilient, and confident in working both proactively and reactively. You are comfortable delivering reports and briefings to senior leaders. As an excellent communicator, you can set the right tone for both business and technical audiences. You thrive in a team environment and quickly build strong working relationships across multiple locations. Additionally, you are open minded, ready to consider the ideas of others, and readily accept feedback on your work.

Responsibilities:

• Facilitating and directing Major Incident resolution activity.
• Producing high quality communications for business and technical audiences within tight timescales.
• Challenging others to facilitate service restoration, while constantly reprioritising tasks and workload.
• Understand IT issues from a customer perspective, draw logical conclusions and make sensible suggestions whilst negotiating with suppliers.
• Proactively participating in post incident reviews and any residual recovery activity.
• Making critical decisions in relation to incidents/changes required out of hours.
• Working closely with partners to provide assurance of delivery to support Key Business Events.

Please note: Security Check (SC) clearance level, either already held or willing to obtain, is a requirement of this role.

Essential Criteria

• Proven ability to manage major incidents, including triage, escalation and resolution within a complex organisational environment.
• Capable of managing multiple incidents simultaneously, prioritising tasks effectively and maintaining focus in a constantly evolving environment to deliver rapid results.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey information clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences ensuring everyone is aligned.
• Uses strong and effective leadership to demonstrate a positive influence on teams and excels at building strong, collaborative relationships with stakeholders across all levels of the organisation.
• Able to work independently and make informed decisions when operating outside core hours.

Desirable Criteria

• Existing knowledge of how a business service is supported by the IT.
• Service Management experience within a large organisation and meaningful experience in IT Operational Management.
• Proven dedication to IT Service Management standard methodologies, along with a track record of delivering continuous improvement in a customer centric environment.
• ITIL Foundation V3 or V4 and a fundamental understanding of the Major Incident Management function and how to apply it.

For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

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.

To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.

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 Experience and Technical skills.

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.
• A 500-word Personal Statement, describing how your skills and experience would make you suitable for the role, and how you meet the Essential Criteria and Person Specification.
• Please complete a separate statement (Max 250 words) for the Desirable Criteria where applicable.

In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift may be held on your Personal Statement. At full sift your CV and your Personal Statement will be assessed, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.

During the panel interview, you will be asked Experience-based questions. There will also be a series of Technical Situational questions. Further details will be provided in the interview. Interviews will take place via video link.

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. Mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we may not be able to reopen your application for you.

We have assessed this role against both Home Office and HMRC criteria and we are unable to offer sponsorship for a Skilled Worker Visa. This means the vacancy is not open to applicants who require visa sponsorship.

The HMRC app can help you with your application. The HMRC app can provide you with your past 5 years' employment history, making the process of filling in your application quicker and easier.

If successful in your application, you will need your National Insurance number for the onboarding process.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

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 want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the UBS Recruitment team as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their website.