Criminal Investigator - Strategic Exports and Sanctions Enforcement

About HMRC

HMRC is one of the United Kingdom’s largest organisations, employing around 60,000 people and collecting over £605 billion in tax revenue. It is an effective, efficient and impartial tax and payments authority whose vital purpose is to fund public services and provide targeted financial support to families and individuals.

HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) is responsible for the Department’s civil and criminal investigations. It provides an effective investigation arm to enforce compliance policies across all taxes and duties, tackling complex offshore evasion, international smuggling, controlled goods exports, labour‑market abuses and a host of other fraud attacks. FIS employs accountants, cyber‑crime specialists, criminal‑justice professionals, tax specialists and operational delivery teams, using a broad range of powers and approaches to protect public funding and prosecute serious tax cheats.

This is a Band HO role eligible for a Flexibility Payment (FP) at Level 2, worth £14,400 p.a. (national) and £15,300 p.a. (London), paid in addition to basic salary. In return, you will work flexibly – including out‑of‑hours, weekends and public holidays – and change your work pattern at short notice. Periods of on‑call duty and extra hours may be required. Payment of FP is conditional on successful completion of training.

FIS fulfils the principal export control enforcement function on behalf of the Department for International Trade, the UK Export Licensing Authority. This role is part of the team responsible for export licensing control enforcement and counter‑proliferation (CP) activity, detecting breaches of UK export controls and other CP legislation (including trade sanctions) and taking enforcement action to promote compliance within the UK exporter community.

This includes disrupting illicit attempts to procure strategic goods from the UK and, where appropriate, reporting cases to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for criminal proceedings.

• Develop intelligence related to suspected breaches of export controls.
• Have recent criminal justice experience as a law‑enforcement professional working in operational or intelligence‑development work.
• Possess at least DV security clearance.
• Represent HMRC at cross‑Whitehall meetings with CP partners.
• Conduct outreach visits to the UK exporting community.

You will interact with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, including the Department for International Trade, Border Force, Police, National Crime Agency, solicitors, Crown Prosecutors and colleagues from other Government Departments and agencies engaged in counter‑proliferation work. Court appearances and criminal‑justice decisions may be required, subject to scrutiny and inspection by external authorities.

• Ability to lead and progress complex criminal and/or civil investigations, taking ownership of decisions and outcomes.
• Strong investigative judgement, with confidence to make defensible decisions under pressure.
• Excellent analytical skills, including the ability to review large volumes of information and identify risks, patterns and evidence opportunities.
• Experience producing clear, accurate and legally compliant written material such as case files, warrants, interview records and reports.
• Effective communication skills, including the ability to work confidently with senior stakeholders and external partners and give evidence in court.
• Proven planning, prioritising and managing multiple tasks to deadlines.
• Operational capability to lead or support enforcement activity, managing risk and securing best evidence.
• Strong leadership skills, including coaching others, managing performance and supporting colleague well‑being.
• Confident use of Microsoft Excel and the broader Microsoft 365 suite.
• Resilience, integrity and professionalism, with flexibility to meet operational demands.

• Utilisation of criminal‑justice procedures, including:
  • Rules of chain of evidence
  • PEACE model of interviewing
  • Keeping contemporaneous evidential notes
  • Taking witness statements
  • Execution of search warrants and production orders
  • Us…