Deputy Director – OFSI Licensing, Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence

Are you a senior leader in the field of financial crime or wider national / international security? If so, we’d love to hear from you!

About the Team

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) was established in 2016 to improve the implementation and enforcement of financial sanctions and provide a better service to the private sector, who are the frontline of implementing sanctions.

OFSI is responsible for: guidance and engagement with industry and international partners; civil enforcement against breaches of sanctions; licensing action which would otherwise be a sanctions breach; maintaining the public list of those subject to sanctions; developing operational policies to ensure consistency and good practice; developing intelligence on financial sanctions compliance; advising on and managing the cases of those designated under domestic counter-terrorism sanctions; and defending OFSI’s position in litigation.

About the Job

This role co-leads OFSI with another Deputy Director. It oversees OFSI’s Licensing, Counter-Terrorism (CT) and Intelligence teams (c.70 people). There is a substantial volume of licensing casework for which the postholder is mostly the decision-maker on. This involves weighing legal and policy risk to make finely balanced determinations as to whether to allow frozen assets to be lawfully used. The CT team advises on new designations, and manages licensing and enforcement, for a small, but growing, number of persons sanctioned under UK CT financial sanctions. And the intelligence team works with partners in UK and internationally, and with industry, to better understand individual cases and assess and explain the wider threats posed to UK sanctions.

In this role, you will:

1. Co-lead a multisite team of c.140, setting a compelling vision for OFSI’s role now and in the future.
2. Lead a unit of c. 70, maintaining morale, promoting development and building capability.
3. Inspire confidence in Ministers on contentious sanctions designations, licences and enforcement issues, through high-quality briefings and advice.
4. Personally take the vast majority of OFSI’s licensing decisions to effectively manage the significant legal, financial and reputational risks to HMT and the UK sanctions regime.
5. Ensure that the opportunity afforded by OFSI’s transformation and new technologies is seized, so that both efficiency and quality of OFSI jobs is further enhanced.
6. Build and use wide and load-bearing professional networks in the UK and overseas, to both improve and promote OFSI’s work and support day-to-day operations.

As OFSI’s transformation programme continues, there is potential for this role to evolve, and be shaped in light of the experience of the successful candidate and other colleagues in the Directorate.

About You

Our ideal candidate will be a strong people leader, with experience of financial crime or wider national security and/or international work, and the ability to operate in pressurised operational environments. You’ll be able to demonstrate success in managing significant policy or operational risks in complex organisations, and excellent judgement and discretion in reaching decisions by analysing complex and or ambiguous data.

Some of the Benefits our people love!

• 25 days annual leave (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus 8 public holidays and the King’s birthday (unless you have a legacy arrangement as an existing Civil Servant). Additionally, we operate flexitime systems, allowing employees to take up to an additional 2 days off each month
• Flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours)
• Generous parental and adoption leave packages
• Access to a generous Defined Benefit pension scheme with employer contributions of 28.97%
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme and season ticket advances
• A range of active staff networks, based around interests (e.g. analysts, music society, sports and social club) and diversity

For more information about the Treasury, role, salary, benefits, who to contact and how to apply please follow the Apply link.

If you need any reasonable adjustments to take part in the selection process, please tell us about this in your online application form, or speak to the recruitment team at hrrecruitment@hmtreasury.gov.uk