Deputy Director, Operational Assurance (Border Force)
Job description
- Job grade: SCS Pay Band 1
- Contract type: Permanent
- Business area: HO - Border Force
- Type of role: Operational Delivery
- Working pattern: Full-time
- Number of jobs available: 1
Location
About the job
Job summary
About Border Force
Border Force is a law enforcement command within the Home Office. We secure the UK border by carrying out immigration and customs controls for people and goods entering the United Kingdom.
Our people work across airports, seaports, rail terminals and postal hubs, as well as in intelligence and central operational functions. Together, they protect national security, facilitate legitimate travel and trade, and help keep the public safe.
Why this role matters
This is a rare opportunity to lead one of Border Force's most influential corporate and operational functions. Operational Assurance provides the Director General and Border Force Board with confidence that risks are being understood and managed appropriately, that operational controls are functioning effectively, and that lessons are translated into meaningful improvements. This is not a traditional compliance role. At its core, this role is about making Border Force better: improving operational professionalism, strengthening public confidence and supporting better outcomes for border security.
The role comes with a permanent seat on the Board and is line managed by the Director General.
Job description
Key accountabilities
You will:
- Lead and develop a geographically dispersed Directorate of approximately 100 colleagues, creating a high-performing and inclusive culture.
- Provide assurance to the Director General and Border Force Board on the effectiveness of key controls, organisational performance and risk management arrangements.
- Set the strategic direction for assurance activity across Border Force and ensure a consistent, risk-based approach is embedded throughout the organisation.
- Lead Border Force's second-line assurance function, ensuring assurance findings are evidence-based, proportionate and focused on improving outcomes.
- Oversee the development and effectiveness of first-line assurance arrangements across operational and enabling functions.
- Own and maintain the Border Force Strategic Risk Register on behalf of the Border Force Board.
- Lead Border Force's approach to integrity, ethics and professionalism, promoting the highest standards of conduct and organisational behaviour.
- Oversee the Insider Threat Programme and associated interventions to identify, assess and mitigate corruption and integrity risks.
- Provide leadership for misconduct management, ensuring investigations and casework are managed consistently, fairly and effectively.
- Manage Border Force's relationship with external audit, inspection and scrutiny bodies, ensuring recommendations are addressed and improvements delivered.
- Oversee public correspondence functions, ensuring concerns are handled effectively and lessons are identified and acted upon.
Person specification
Essential Criteria
Applicants will need to demonstrate substantial experience of:
- Driving organisational improvement through assurance, risk or governance- Using assurance, risk management, inspection, audit, compliance, investigations, governance or related disciplines to identify issues, strengthen controls and improve organisational performance.
- Providing challenge and influencing at senior levels- Building effective relationships and providing confident, evidence-based challenge to senior stakeholders, influencing decisions and driving change across organisational boundaries.
- Leading through sensitive and complex people issues- Leading teams responsible for handling sensitive, confidential or high-profile matters involving integrity, conduct, professional standards, workforce risk or organisational culture.
- Strategic leadership and delivery- Setting direction, prioritising resources and delivering outcomes across a broad portfolio while ensuring value for money and effective management of public resources.
- Communication and judgement- Communicating complex and sensitive issues clearly to diverse audiences and exercising sound judgement in environments where decisions can have significant operational, reputational or organisational consequences
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Selection process details
How to apply
Please follow the Job Advert instructions on the Civil Service Jobs website to apply online by 23:55hrs on Monday 23rd November 2026.
You will be asked to provide:
A CV – (2 pages max) setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role. Please provide reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
A Statement of Suitability – (limited to 1250 words) providing examples of how your experience meets the essential criteria. This is your opportunity to give examples and show how your skills and experience fit the job requirements.
When writing a supporting statement, it is important that you:
- Read the job specification so you are clear about the job requirements. Structure your personal statement to reflect the essential criteria listed in the advert.
- Make sure you provide evidence against each of the listed criteria - i.e. ‘experienced in leading high performing and diverse teams and promoting inclusivity.’ When have you led a team, how large, what did you do to promote inclusivity, how did you handle diversity?
- Ensure any evidence you provide demonstrates the impact of your actions in that situation, provide statistical evidence where relevant.
For more information on how to write a personal statement, click here.
Guidance on the use of AI
Please review the guidance Artificial intelligence and recruitment to understand the acceptable use of AI for your application.
Before you submit an application, we will ask you to confirm the information you provide is true and accurate. More details about this will be provided in the application form and we may reject applications where AI is used inappropriately at any stage of the process.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
Security
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : SCS Recruitment Team
- Email : SCSRecruitment@homeoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : SCSRecruitment@homeoffice.gov.uk
Attachments
| Candidate Pack -Deputy Director, Operational Assurance - SCS PB1 Opens in new window (pdf, 3151kB) |
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