About the Group :
International Group
The International Group (IG) is responsible for promoting and protecting the UK’s economic and fiscal interests overseas. We support the Chancellor and senior officials in building relations with key international partners and represent the UK in the EU, G7, G20, IMF (International Monetary Fund), Paris Club, FATF (Financial Action Taskforce), EIB (European Investment Bank), AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) and EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). We also analyse macroeconomic developments at a country, regional and global level; take forward the Treasury’s interests in specific issues from counter illicit finance and asset freezing to climate change, energy; and ensure value for money from FCDO spending. IG is also responsible for continuing European business.
International Group recognises the value a diverse workforce brings to our work and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds. We actively encourage flexible working practices, including part time working and job-sharing so please feel free to discuss different working patterns with the recruiting line manager or relevant deputy director.
About the Team:
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) has been operational since March 2016 and has quickly established itself as a world-leader in financial sanctions, a key area of financial, foreign and national security policy.
OFSI is the UK's Competent Authority for financial sanctions. It leads on the implementation of UN and UK financial sanctions and domestic terrorist asset freezing, providing a high-quality service to the private and third sector, and guidance to help them follow the law. It works closely with law enforcement, intelligence agencies and strategic policy colleagues across Whitehall and beyond to help ensure that financial sanctions are accurately understood, implemented and enforced. OFSI has important partner relationships in the regulated financial services sector, the primary implementers of financial sanctions, and is an integral part of the sanctions community worldwide.
There are currently c.30 financial sanctions regimes, including sanctions relating to AQ/ISIL, North Korea, Iran, Syria and Libya, and new regimes have been added to address corruption, human rights abuses and the threat of cybercrime. Approximately 2000 individuals and entities are targets of financial sanctions. OFSI also implements domestic HM Treasury counter-terrorist financial sanction designations.
Robust enforcement of financial sanctions helps to maintain the integrity of and confidence in the UK financial sector, a priority for the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. The Policing and Crime Act 2017 gave OFSI powers to impose monetary penalties of up to the greater of £1m or 50% of the value of the breach and increased the maximum criminal sentence to 7 years in prison. The UK now implements autonomous sanctions regimes under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.
OFSI is a diverse and friendly team. We offer an outstanding environment to broaden your experience and develop new skills, whilst working on some of the highest profile international issues the UK faces. We support a good work-life balance and work flexibly.
You can read more about OFSI on our gov.uk pages: https://www.gov.uk/ofsi.
Key Accountabilities
Do you enjoy carrying out investigations into complex topics, gathering information and assessing what has happened and making recommendations about an appropriate response? Are you interested in working on Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (CT) issues? Are you interested in economic crime and foreign policy? Would you like to work in an area of growing strategic importance, within a friendly team which is always developing new processes and seeking to improve the way we do things? If so, this might be the role for you.
We are recruiting for a number of Range C Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Officers. These roles will be based in the Intelligence and Counter Terrorism branch within OFSI. The roles will suit candidates with experience of casework, investigations and/or intelligence work, either inside or outside the civil service. However, we also welcome applications from candidates with other experience who can demonstrate an ability to quickly develop an understanding of a complex and sensitive area.
The CT Sanctions team is responsible for the administration of terrorist asset freezes in the UK. The key UK CT sanctions regimes are The ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida (United Nations Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, The Counter-Terrorism (International Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 and The Counter-Terrorism (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.
The Intelligence Operations Team leads on the development of OFSI’s use and analysis of intelligence. The job holder will assist in the assessment and progress of intelligence-led casework to assist with OFSI financial sanctions investigations.
The Threat Assessment team sits on the strategic side of Intelligence and conducts data-driven threat assessments to support intelligence led, proactive sanctions enforcement through analyses of emerging trends and horizon scanning.
On a day to day basis, depending on the team they are placed in, the successful candidates could find themselves undertaking a range of tasks and responsibilities including:
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Leading on compliance casework in relation to CT financial sanctions breaches. You will need to plan how to investigate your cases, gather evidence (including through engaging with all parties involved in a breach of sanctions and conducting open source intelligence) and working with lawyers and other interested partners to determine the most appropriate compliance outcomes;
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Assisting with licencing and reporting tasks and enquiries relating to CT sanctioned entities. This will also require the collation of sanctions statistics;
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Assisting the Senior Intelligence Officer with standing and bespoke intelligence tasks, in particular open source research and assisting OFSI Enforcement branch colleagues with their intelligence requirements;
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Developing core intelligence products to inform HMG’s strategic approach to sanctions by analysing data and supporting the production of reports on the overall sanctions landscape, breaking down issues and risks by regime, sector, transaction type and payment route and producing specific situational reports.
Strong communication is a really important part of your role. Every day you will be communicating with people at different levels, internally and externally. You will need to distil complex detail into clear recommendations and be able to explain and defend those recommendations in writing and verbally. This could be as part of casework decisions or in operational policy work. You will be expected to work closely with colleagues in other branches to provide casework and intelligence input to cross-branch work.
If candidates are invited to interview they will be asked to specify their preference for one of the teams (Counter Terrorism, Intelligence Operations, Threat Assessment). While the outcome cannot be guaranteed, their named preference will be taken into consideration.
If you have any questions about the role you should contact [email protected].
Owing to the sensitive nature of this post, it is only open to UK Nationals and you will need to have, or be prepared to undergo, Developed Vetting (DV) security clearance. Note – the candidate will need SC to start the post, but will then be expected to undertake Developed Vetting once in post.