NFI Senior Programme Specialist

Job summary

Fraud is a hidden crime that is increasingly diverse, complicated, and often perpetrated remotely. To address this, the government has invested in a Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA), which launched in August 2022. The PSFA brings together capability across government to bring a cohesive and collaborative approach.

The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is a remote/virtual team that forms part of the wider PSFA Data, Analytics and AI Team. The NFI Team members are located across the UK so they can be accessible to those that take part in the NFI. There will, however, be a requirement to be flexible with regard to working hours and with travel, as you will be required to attend in-person meetings across the UK. The majority of these meetings will be in Stoke on Trent, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, York, London or Glasgow.

Job description

Structurally, the NFI team is made up of the Operational Delivery (OD) Team and Business Development (BD) Team. This Senior Executive Officer (SEO) post is on the Operational Delivery Team. The post holder will contribute to the leadership, well-being and development of the OD Team.

The post holder will be responsible for the following areas of work:

• Supporting the Operational Delivery Lead with the delivery of data matches to 1,000 participants, including local government, NHS, and central government, private sector (including financial, insurance, utilities, and hire car sectors), in a timely manner, through biennial national matching, biannual mortality screening and the annual council tax single person discount exercise.
• Contributing to maximising the outcomes (value of fraud and error detected and prevented) reported by all NFI participants from match releases across the full suite of NFI products to achieve the target of up to £150 million per year. This is underpinned by a broad spectrum of data analytics, involving the extraction and manipulation of key management information reports containing metrics that allow effective programme management and profiling progress against targets.
• Working with the Operational Delivery Lead to plan and manage the work of the team using project management software to ensure the key deliverables and targets are met.
• Leading one or more complex dataset areas, that involves maximising outcomes specific to those dataset areas, the management of associated data matching pilots, associated improvements to the web application, and promotion of NFI services to existing and new participants.
• Project management of elements of the National exercise, including monitoring progress against PSFA deliverables. Lead the change control tool used to record developments to the NFI web application in line with agreed contractor KPIs. Coordinate the timing and delivery of NFI developments across OD and BD, assessing risks and balancing priorities to maximise efficiency and meet delivery targets.
• On-boarding new voluntary participants, including oversight of high-quality communications, preparation and delivery of workshops, presentations, and written guidance, and maintaining working relationships with these new participants such as new government departments and other public and private sector bodies to ensure the benefits of participation are maximised.
• Analysis and assurance of fraud and error outcomes of up to £150 million per annum, including monitoring and profiling outcomes against targets to underpin outcomes maximisation strategies. Assurance and development of management information reports to improve the accuracy and efficiency of reporting. Research and develop evidence-based methodologies to determine estimated preventative and detected savings for NFI matching and design and implement assurance processes that are subject to internal and external scrutiny.

Please note

Recruitment campaigns for the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government move of the PSFA to DWP. We will provide more information on any potential or future impact this will have on office locations and other elements if you are selected to interview. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

Person specification

Essential

• Experience of, and a high level of technical understanding of, complex and sophisticated data processing operations.
• A background in data and/or counter-fraud.
• Strong technical knowledge and skills in fraud prevention and detection techniques.
• Advanced data handling and analytical capabilities, with a proven ability to manipulate complex datasets to identify patterns, anomalies, and outliers, directly informing fraud detection and prevention strategies and programme performance.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent project management skills.
• Strong team-working skills, with the ability to work cooperatively to achieve corporate objectives.
• Strong interpersonal, influencing, and people management skills.
• Experience managing varied and challenging priorities through a team.
• Experience of using and developing management information reports.
• Experience in maintaining and developing relationships with key stakeholders at a senior level.
• Experience using project tracking and workflow management tools.
• Use of Google, e.g., Google Docs, Sheets, and Microsoft Office, in particular Excel.

Desirable

• Experience working as part of a virtual team and building or contributing to inclusive, psychologically safe virtual team environments.
• Experience with visualisation tools (like Power BI or Tableau).
• Experience in engaging with local government, NHS, or central government bodies.

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Work based technical exercise

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,292, Cabinet Office contributes £13,121 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

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. Please see our