IDVA Senior Policy and Standards Advisor

Job summary

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Our team is rapidly growing as we invest in new technologies and capabilities, and we are in search of enthusiastic individuals who can help us in achieving our mission. We are continually improving the service we give to our customers and, in line with this, we are creating a new response and management team within the HMRC Fraud Prevention Centre.

The Fraud Prevention Centre (FPC) is a strategic capability within HMRC Security, designed to safeguard customers and the organisation against identity-related fraud and emerging threats. Its mission is built on three interconnected pillars: Protection, Detection, and Response, all underpinned by advanced threat intelligence and customer support. The Centre operates across multiple functional areas, including Proactive Protection, Customer Support & Response, and Strategy & Advisory, to deliver a holistic approach to fraud prevention.

Job description

You will play a leading role in the day-to-day delivery of HMRC’s identity policy and standards service within the Fraud Prevention Centre (FPC), reporting to the G7 Implementation Lead. Collaborating with senior leaders and partners across HMRC, you will help define, maintain, and improve the policies, standards, principles, and guidance that support the management of identity, access, and fraud risks. The role covers identity fraud prevention, identity verification and assurance (IDVA), and identity and access management (IAM), ensuring requirements are clear, proportionate, and capable of being translated into practical delivery across services, channels, customer journeys and enabling technologies.

You will function as an authoritative source of advice and good practice, helping policy owners, security, risk, assurance, implementation, and service teams understand and apply identity-related requirements. Working closely with the G7 Implementation Lead, you will support the implementation and embedding of identity-related change by identifying gaps, delivery barriers, and risks, and by providing evidence-based advice, challenge, and recommendations. You will also help maintain FPC and IDVA as a recognised centre of expertise for identity policy, standards and governance, supporting HMRC’s contribution to wider security, risk, compliance and cross-government identity standards activity, and helping ensure identity, assurance, access and fraud prevention requirements are reflected in relevant frameworks and governance products.

Person specification

• Ensure identity policy, standards and guidance are clear, current, and usable by leading the delivery, maintenance and continuous improvement of defined products covering IDVA, IAM and identity fraud prevention.
  
  
• Translate policy intent, standards and emerging requirements into practical delivery expectations that can be applied across projects, services, customer journeys, and live operational processes.
  
  
• Support the G7 Implementation Lead to embed identity fraud-related change into delivery and live operations, including readiness activity, adoption tracking, capability-building, and transition to business-as-usual.
  
  
• Provide authoritative, evidence-based advice and constructive challenge to help stakeholders make proportionate, risk-based, and defensible decisions.
  
  
• Strengthen stakeholder understanding and ownership of identity, access, and fraud prevention requirements, identifying gaps, blockers, or escalation points where requirements are not being effectively understood, implemented, or evidenced.
  
  
• Strengthen governance, assurance, and reporting by producing clear briefings, guidance, risk summaries and evidence of progress, adoption, risks, issues, and early benefits.
  
  
• Represent the identity policy and standards perspective in working groups, project discussions, governance forums and wider standards activity, preparing analysis, evidence and recommendations that help influence HMRC and cross-government standards and ensure identity, assurance, access, and fraud prevention requirements are reflected in wider security, risk, compliance, and governance frameworks.

Essential Criteria

• Strong understanding of identity policy, Identity and Access Management digital identity assurance, identity fraud prevention principles, standards, and governance. Experience developing, maintaining, or owning policy, standards, guidance, or assurance products in complex environments.
  
  
• Knowledge of relevant identity, access management, cyber security, and assurance standards, such as NIST 800-63, NIST 800-53, UK DIATF and Government Counter Fraud Standards, with the ability to apply them proportionately in FPC and IDVA policy, governance, assurance, and delivery contexts. Ability to interpret technical , policy, risk and operational requirements and translate them into clear, practical standards, guidance, and delivery expectations.

• Strong stakeholder engagement, written communication and influencing skills, with confidence to advise, explain, challenge, and produce clear products for senior and non-specialist audiences.
  
  
• Ability to use evidence, risk information, assurance findings, and management information to identify gaps, support implementation, track adoption and recommend improvements..

Desirable Criteria

• Familiarity with fraud prevention and cyber security identity assurance, or IAM frameworks and how they support proportionate policy and standards decisions.
  
  
• Experience supporting policy development, governance, assurance, or standards adoption within a regulated, security or public-sector environment.

• Relevant professional accreditation or equivalent experience in identity, security, information assurance, risk, data protection or change delivery. (e.g., CISM, CISSP, or IAM-specific qualifications).
  
  
• Understanding of digital identity technologies (e.g., MFA, federation, zero trust) and their relevance to practical policy implementation.

Further Location Information

Please ensure that you only apply for a location that you are willing and able to work from, as we will only make one offer of employment. Any additional notes included in a ‘Further Location Preferences (optional)’ field within the application form, will not be considered. Please be aware that you cannot change your location preference after submitting your application.

Office Closures

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.

For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations (opens in a new window)

These sites are:

• Benton Park View, Newcastle - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle
  
  
• Telford Plaza, Telford - moving to Parkside Court, Telford
  
  
• Trinity Bridge House, Salford - moving to an alternative office in Manchester/ Salford

You will be given more information about what this mea