Deputy Director, Head of AI Assurance

HM Revenue and Customs is one of the UK’s largest and most important public organisations. We touch the lives of almost everyone in the country, and we are transforming the way we work so we can better support customers, colleagues and the wider economy. AI has the potential to help us deliver better services, improve productivity and tackle some of the most complex challenges facing the tax system. As our Deputy Director, Head of AI Assurance, you will play a pivotal role in making that transformation possible. This is not a role for a gatekeeper. It is a role for a leader who can build confidence, create practical assurance routes and help AI innovation move faster, safely and responsibly. What you will lead * A clear AI assurance operating model. You will shape and embed HMRC’s approach to AI assurance, ensuring central, local and federated AI activity meets a consistent and proportionate standard. * Safe acceleration of priority AI activity. You will establish assurance routes that support use cases from early idea through experimentation, deployment, scaling and live service. * Strong governance and decision-making. You will provide senior oversight of AI assurance decisions, ensuring risks, mitigations, dependencies and evidence are properly recorded and traceable. * Practical tools and reusable products. You will oversee the development of checklists, evidence packs, decision templates, guidance and playbooks that help delivery teams move quickly and confidently. * Cross-functional partnership. You will work closely with colleagues in security, privacy, data governance, legal, commercial, architecture, risk, ethics and audit to ensure AI is adopted responsibly. * A high-performing specialist function. You will lead a multidisciplinary team spanning AI strategy, policy and futures, AI assurance, briefing and submissions, portfolio and demand, and AI evaluation. * Cross-government influence. You will represent HMRC in wider government AI assurance and professional communities, helping shape emerging standards and best practice. What you will need * Experience of leading governance, assurance, risk, compliance or delivery functions in a complex organisation, with accountability for delivering effective outcomes in high-profile or sensitive environments. * Experience of AI, data science, digital transformation, automation or emerging technology governance, including applying proportionate assurance approaches to innovative and fast-moving technology delivery. * Strong ability to interpret complex policy, technical, ethical and risk issues, and translate them into clear, practical guidance that supports safe and effective delivery. * Demonstrable ability to build effective relationships across organisational boundaries, influence senior stakeholders, and align diverse interests to achieve pragmatic decisions and outcomes. * Excellent judgement and decision-making skills, including the ability to balance pace, innovation, risk, proportionality, regulatory requirements and public trust. * Proven leadership and communication skills, including the ability to build and lead high-performing expert teams and to communicate complex issues clearly and succinctly to senior leaders and non-technical audiences. This is an opportunity to shape how AI is adopted across one of the UK’s largest and most data-rich public bodies. You will help create the frameworks, confidence and capability that allow responsible innovation to scale across the organisation. You will be joining HMRC at an exciting point in our transformation. We are modernising our services, improving customer experience and investing in the technology and skills needed to deliver better outcomes for the public. If you want to make a lasting impact by enabling innovation while safeguarding public trust, we would love to hear from you. For any further information, please reach out to Daniel White or Mercedes Sargant on 020 8253 1806, or via email at HMRC-HOAI@global-resourcing.com.