Deputy Director (Head of AI Assurance) - HMRC - SCS1

Location

Manchester

About the job

Job summary

The Deputy Director, Head of AI Assurance will lead HMRC’s approach to assuring the responsible, safe and effective deployment
of AI across the organisation.

The role will provide strategic leadership for the AI assurance function within the Chief AI Office (CAIO), ensuring that AI activity across HMRC is aligned to organisational priorities, meets clear governance and assurance expectations, and can progress at pace within appropriate guardrails. 

The post holder will not replace existing specialist functions such as data protection, cyber security, legal, commercial, architecture, risk or ethics. Instead, they will act as the senior alignment point for AI assurance, bringing together the right expertise at the right point in the lifecycle and ensuring that teams receive clear, proportionate and practical assurance advice.

Job description

• Lead the development and operation of HMRC’s AI assurance approach, ensuring that central, local and federated AI activity meets a consistent assurance bar.
• Establish clear assurance routes for AI use cases, from early idea through experimentation, deployment, scaling and live service.
• Provide senior oversight of AI assurance decisions, ensuring that risks, mitigations, dependencies and decisions are recorded, evidenced and traceable.
• Contribute to development of AI Agents to support delivery of effective assurance across the enterprise.
• Work with senior colleagues across HMRC to embed proportionate assurance into existing governance, delivery, security, data, commercial and change processes.
• Lead the AI assurance team, setting priorities, allocating work and ensuring a coherent service to delivery teams and business areas.
• Ensure assurance activity supports responsible acceleration rather than unnecessary delay, helping teams understand what is required to progress safely.
• Maintain a single view of material AI assurance issues, risks, themes and decisions, escalating where appropriate to the Chief AI Officer and relevant governance forums.
• Oversee the development of reusable assurance products, including checklists, evidence packs, decision templates, guidance and playbooks.
• Build strong working relationships with existing HMRC specialists in security, data protection, data governance, legal, ethics, commercial, architecture, risk and internal audit.
• Support external confidence in HMRC’s use of AI by ensuring transparency, audit readiness and clear evidence of responsible redeployment.
• Represent HMRC in cross-government AI assurance, governance and professional communities, helping shape emerging standards, frameworks and best practice for responsible AI adoption.

Person specification

• 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.