About the job

Summary

About HM Treasury

If you’re interested in making a difference to people’s lives across the country, the Treasury is the department for you! We sit at the centre of everything that the Government does and have provided advice on economic policy and decisions that affect the public finances throughout the country’s history. A Treasury career continues to offer an exciting opportunity to be part of the decision making that affects the whole of the UK.

Working at the heart of government, we collaborate with other departments to ensure public money is spent well and to drive strong and sustainable economic growth. Our work ranges from protecting customers through to the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, supporting people across the country through the COVID 19 furlough scheme and Plan for Jobs as well as helping first time buyers buy their first home.

HM Treasury is proud of a diverse and inclusive work environment, committed to fairness and the promotion of equality of opportunity for all. We know that having a range of experiences, ways of working and thinking makes us a stronger organisation, better at developing policy that is reflective of the communities we serve. We embrace different views and experiences and value the fresh perspective that people from a variety of circumstances bring to the work we do. We welcome applications from candidates who have not previously worked for the Civil Service, mid- and late-career changers with transferrable skills, people from all backgrounds and circumstances regardless of disability, gender, age ethnicity, LGBT+ identity and socio-economic status.

Job description

Business and International Tax

The Business and International Group (BIT) is one of 14 groups in the Treasury. The aim of the BIT Group is to provide strategic oversight of business, environmental, transport, property, VAT, excise taxes and customs duties that together raise revenue of over £250 billion a year. The Group works closely with other government departments and is outwards facing towards key stakeholders, including business, industry, interest groups and international counterparts, and there are opportunities to be part of this engagement at all levels.

The work of the Group is vital to fund essential public services, while working with other Treasury Groups to support the Government’s wider agenda – including supporting economy as it recovers from the impact of COVID-19; developing and negotiating new customs arrangements following the UK’s departure from the EU; levelling up opportunities across all parts of the United Kingdom; and delivering “Net Zero” carbon emissions by 2050.

The Group’s high-profile portfolio make it a highly dynamic, flexible and interesting place to work. BIT is committed to diversity and is proud to support a friendly and inclusive working environment. BIT values each individual and encourages development for all roles. Our work offers a range of opportunities to develop and we are increasingly working in a more flexible way, creating opportunities for staff, such as supporting those that want to undertake tax qualifications.

By joining BIT, you will become part of a team that value and encourage the best in one another, whilst tackling some of the most pressing and interesting policy questions on the Government’s agenda.

International Tax Strategy and Co-ordination

The International Tax Strategy and Coordination team is a friendly team that is responsible for the UK’s international and EU tax strategy. We shape the international rules based system on tax to support the UK’s economic and financial objectives; develop the over-arching strategic policy approach to the full range of international and EU tax issues; and drive work on tax following the UK’s exit from the EU, working closely with HMRC. We influence a range of high profile and politically sensitive tax issues in the G20, OECD, UN and EU, and lead policy development on tackling offshore tax evasion, boosting capacity on tax in developing countries, advising on state aid, and a range of cross-cutting policy issues to ensure that our international tax agenda supports the government’s objectives.

Key accountabilities

Tax transparency is about putting an end to bank secrecy and tax evasion through global tax co-operation. This role spans exciting policy areas across tax transparency including negotiating new and innovative global tax reporting rules and agreements to enable the sharing of tax information, and tackling offshore tax evasion. The postholder will lead HMT’s strategy on tax transparency negotiations, covering core tax transparency agreements and inputting into wider negotiations/policy work across international tax. This role will, therefore, be strongly outward facing: the postholder will represent HMT in a variety of forums including in OECD negotiations and wider international institutions on tax transparency standards, such as the G20 or UN. In doing so, the postholder will lead negotiation teams across HMT and HMRC to maximise outcomes for the UK. The postholder will also drive forward strategic thinking on tax transparency policy, bringing their expertise and experience to develop thought-leading policy ideas and initiatives.

The ideal candidate is someone who can grip technical issues, demonstrate good judgement and decision making, and work with a wide range of stakeholders to strategically drive forward policy outcomes. We are looking for an individual with an international tax background. This could include having experience working in international tax policy roles, or professional experience in the tax and accounting sector. A professional tax qualification (e.g. CTA, ATT), accountancy qualification (e.g. ACA, ACCA) or broader academic international tax experience would be helpful in demonstrating this experience, but is not a specific requirement. As this role will involve team leadership and policy judgement, we are looking for someone who can also demonstrate these skills.

Due to the nature of this work the postholder must be willing to undertake occasional international travel.

The specific accountabilities of the role are:

1. Represent the UK in OECD multilateral negotiations. Develop a strategic approach to tax transparency negotiations at ‘Working Party 10’ leading the development of a UK position bringing together views across the UK Government and stakeholders. Effectively advocate for the UK position in negotiations with over 100 different jurisdictions, representing the UK ‘in the room’ and influencing negotiation partners through informal engagement.

2. Lead tax transparency input across HMT Business and International Tax Group, and International Group negotiations, ensuring co-ordination and coherence. Work with different teams across HMT to deliver optimal outcomes for tax transparency. This will involve setting a consistent strategic direction across policy teams, providing technical input, supporting negotiations and developing policy/proposals.

3. Develop new tax transparency policy and initiatives. Lead the policy development of new ‘blue skies’ tax transparency measures that might be taken forward as international initiatives or UK unilateral measures. This will require leading virtual project teams, in particular working in partnership with HMRC, and undertaking stakeholder engagement with business and experts to build a strong evidence base.

4. Provide technical views and input across the Tax Transparency team. Support across the team’s work, inputting and providing advice to ensure optimal policy outcomes. This might cover advice on how agreements are implemented or how the UK responds to particular initiatives.

5. Support branch management and provide team leadership. As a deputy head of team, you will play an active part of the leadership of the Tax Transparency and broader ITSC team working collaboratively with other branches. The postholder will matrix manage junior staff and lead virtual teams across organisations.

Responsibilities

Required Skills, Experience and Behaviours:

The below criteria will be assessed in your application form.

1. The lead criterion is: Making effective decisions. Ability to take clear judgements, balancing technical considerations against wider strategic considerations.

If we receive large volumes of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the first criterion only, which will usually be a behaviour. This may be an experience or technical skill, but only where critical to the position.

We will assess the below further criteria in your application form;

2. Communicating and influencing. Strong communication and influencing skills, showing a track record of building positive relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders to deliver outcomes.

3. International Tax experience. This could be demonstrated by having a background in international tax including international tax policy roles, or professional experience in the tax and accounting sector.

Qualifications:

A professional tax qualification (e.g. CTA, ATT), accountancy qualification (e.g. ACA, ACCA) or broader academic international tax experience would be helpful in demonstrating this experience and expertise, but is not a specific requirement.

Candidate Guidance on Completing your Application Form

Where will we assess success profiles across your application form:

• Behaviours â€“ these will be assessed individually with a 250-word statement per behaviour. The application form will indicate which behaviour is being assessed each time you provide a statement, and we are ideally looking for an example using the below STAR method to demonstrate this behaviour.
  
• Experience â€“ this will be assessed individually with a 250-word statement per experience criteria. You will give the answer in the personal statement section under “statement of suitability” using the below STAR method, and be given direct guidance at this stage on the experience we are looking for you to demonstrate
  
  All elements of the success profiles will be linked to a defined criterion that demonstrates the behaviour, experience or technical skills. It is beneficial to ensure your answer focuses on the full criteria, and not just the related success profile, to give you the best chance or providing the evidence the panel wants to assess
  
  In your statements, it is best to focus on one example in each section to allow you to provide enough detail in your answer and use all the words you have been allocated. Examples from a range of roles across your application will demonstrate that you have the skills, experience and behaviours we are looking for. We would also advise you to use examples that best meet the criteria, even if it is a few years old
  
  How to Structure your Answer
  
  Please use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach when writing your application answers.
  
  
• Situation â€“ Describe the situation you found yourself in and what happened.
  
• Task â€“ The Hiring Manager will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation that you found yourself in.
  
• Action â€“ What actions did you take and how did you do it. Make sure to use “I”, not “we” to explain how your actions lead to a result.
  
• Result â€“ Use facts and statistics to demonstrate the results that your actions produced. Explain whether it was a successful outcome, and if not, what you learned from the experience.