Senior Quality Manager

Job content

The role of the Quality Manager is vital for the development, maintenance, and assurance of forensic services provided to HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service. Cyber & Digital Forensics conducts forensic activities within office and laboratory environments, as well as at the scene of crime.

Reporting to the Head of Quality Assurance, in this role you will lead your own team of Quality Assurance Officers and as a team help to develop an effective quality of service within Cyber & Digital Forensics, which will align business objectives to the strict requirements of specific ISO quality standards, and the Forensic Science Regulator’s Codes of Practice of Conduct.

You will be responsible for understanding, maintaining, and actively promoting adherence to the internal quality management system, as well as driving continuous improvement to enable efficiencies and ensure quality standards are upheld.

Responsibilities

Your role as Quality Manager will see you act as an ambassador for quality within Cyber & Digital Forensics, overseeing practices for the forensic examination of devices such as smartphones and computers, as well as forensic trace evidence; ensuring that standards are upheld at all times, and that policies and procedures are correctly followed in accordance with ISO regulations

Duties

In order to achieve this, the duties of the successful candidate will include but not be limited to

Evidential data obtained by Cyber & Digital forensics may be used by analysts, investigators, prosecution and defence teams, as well as juries, for informed decision making within the criminal justice system. As Quality Manager, you will support the Quality Assurance team in the ultimate objective of assuring that such evidence is obtained by competent, impartial personnel, using forensically sound methods.

• Ascertaining and maintaining a comprehensive understanding of internal policies and procedures across the services provided by Cyber & Digital Forensics;
• Supervise and manage your own team of
• Supporting Technical Management in the creation, review, and distribution of documentation and records for specific business areas;
• The ongoing maintenance and control of documentation within the quality management system;
• Engaging with personnel across the C&DF team to ensure understanding, co-operation, and compliance with the management system;
• Planning and delivery of the internal audit programme, comprising of horizontal, vertical, and method witness audit of both the quality management system and technical/forensic processes, to ensure compliance with ISO/IEC 17025:2017, ISO/IEC 17020:2012, and Forensic Science Regulator (FSR) Codes of Practice;
• Supervise, train and mentor new members of the Quality Assurance Team.
• Investigating and identifying root causes for non-conformances and complaints; accurately recording corrective action, procedural updates, and checks for effectiveness to maintain traceability as required by external assessors to meet ISO, FSR and ILAC requirements;
• Working with the wider Quality Assurance team to prepare for and facilitate UKAS Assessment visits during the course of maintaining and expanding HMRC’s scope of accreditation;
• Reviewing quality management and operational data to assess performance and conduct trend analysis, providing assurance to both internal senior management and external bodies (e.g. UKAS) that business objectives and all regulatory requirements are being met.
  

In addition, you will adopt a continuous improvement approach, ensuring the service remains consistent, fit for purpose, and meets the demands of both internal and external requirements. Maintaining an awareness of existing legislation and responding to any updates, changes, and/or introductions of new regulatory requirements will be essential.

Essential Criteria

• Hold a Degree or equivalent level of qualification in a related subject and/or previous relevant experience/sound knowledge and understanding of the principles of Quality Management;
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office applications, especially O365/cloud-based services and tools.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (verbal and written), with the ability to deliver information using a wide variety of formats and to a diverse range of audiences;
• Detailed knowledge and understanding of quality standards, especially ISO/IEC 17025:2017, ISO/IEC 17020:2012, and/or FSR Codes of Practice and Conduct;
• Experience of working within a digital and/or traditional forensics environment;
• Experience in conducting internal audit/governance of policies and procedures against legislation or similar requirement(s).
• This role requires National Security Vetting at Security Check (SC) clearance level and you must hold SC vetting or be willing to apply for SC vetting. If you do not hold SC but are willing to go through the process, any job offer would be conditional and may be withdrawn should you fail to achieve the vetting.
  

Desirable Criteria

• Confident with technology; ability to quickly adapt to new/bespoke systems and solutions;
• To have the ability to work well under pressure and in stressful situations, as an individual or part of a small specialised team, and to organise and prioritise the workload to meet given deadlines and objectives;
• Experience of negotiating and influencing discussions, decisions and change with internal and external partners and agencies. With the ability to plan, organise and prioritise resources effectively in order to deliver a quality service.
  

Training

Depending on existing experience, you will be expected to undertake the following or equivalent training courses:

ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Awareness

ISO/IEC 17020:2012 Awareness

Laboratory Management/Quality Management

Internal Audit (ISO/IEC 17025:2017)