Quality Assurance Manager for Digital Forensics

at  Department for Work and Pensions

DO YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE IN EITHER QUALITY ASSURANCE OR DIGITAL FORENSICS? DO YOU HAVE GREAT COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS?

Then DWP may be the place for you. This is an exciting opportunity to join our Counter Fraud and Compliance Directorate (CFCD) on a team committed to tackling fraud encountered through our Economic, Serious, and Organised Crime team.
Your role will be varied with no two days being the same. We are seeking a Quality Manger to transform the Digital Forensics Quality Assurance Framework and play a leading role to support ISO 17025 accreditation.
You will be at the forefront of tackling serious and organised crimes against DWP which often has links into wider criminality of modern slavery, human trafficking, and identity fraud. You will work with senior leaders across multi law enforcement agencies on high profile and serious fraud operations involving many suspects in multi-million-pound criminality.
As Quality Assurance Manager, you will work independently of practitioners and will be fully responsible for findings, including non-conformity. This will include development and continual review of the Quality Assurance Framework, as well as involvement in the Standard Operating Procedures used by practitioners.
CFCD is a great place to work where the leadership team are passionate about attracting the best talent whilst nurturing and valuing new and existing colleagues to be the best they can be. We are looking for people who can demonstrate our values and commitment to leadership which are based around Collaboration, Resilience, and Inclusivity.
We look for emotionally aware leaders who enable teams to be innovative, adaptable, and flexible. We want you to be comfortable challenging the norm and finding daring and dynamic solutions that support our values and enable colleagues to shine in whatever role they do.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The role of the Quality Assurance Manager is vital for the development, maintenance, and assurance of forensic services provided to DWP. The DWP Digital Forensics Unit conducts forensic activities within laboratory environments, as well as at the scene of crime, overseeing practices for the forensic examination of a whole range digital devices, ensuring that standards are always upheld, and that policies and procedures are correctly followed in accordance with relevant regulations.
This role has overall responsibility for the Quality Management Systems currently in place, alongside the development of new Quality Management structures and activities, to ensure the Digital Forensics unit can attain, and retain, its accreditation to ISO 17025, and that systems in place meet regulatory, legislative, and criminal justice requirements (e.g. Forensic Science Regulator, Health and Safety, EU, Home Office).
You will play a key role in the continuous improvement of the Quality Management System. You will ensure the organisation remains compliant with current standards and manage the implementation of new accreditations as required, enabling confidence in the quality of outputs.
You will be responsible for ensuring that the Digital Forensics Laboratory has the correct equipment, documentation, processes and manuals for all Digital Forensic operational activities, Accreditation activities and the Quality Management System. You will be responsible for controlling Digital Forensic equipment, working to ensure that it is validated and calibrated to the required standard, providing expert witness statements in court if required.

TRAINING REQUIREMENTS

The successful candidate should already hold or be willing to attain:

• ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Awareness
• Laboratory Management – Role of the Quality Manager & Technical Management
• Laboratory Internal Audit – ISO/IEC 17025:2017 course

You must be willing to attain any future appropriate training required to undertake the technical functions of the role. This may be attained through completion of relevant courses, as required.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

You are required to travel nationally to attend and oversee:

• Audits of laboratories of the Digital Forensic Unit
• Briefings and operational meetings with internal and external stakeholders such as Senior Leadership teams, Digital Forensics unit, Police, UKAS.
• Due to the nature of the role, this could be at any location nationally.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• You will be asked a question about the creation and development of a Quality Assurance Framework.
• You will be asked a question regarding auditing and validation functions.
• You will be asked a question regarding working in a forensics environment to a Code of Practice.

Benefits

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

AS A QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGER, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR:

• Ascertaining and maintaining a comprehensive understanding and written record of internal policies and technical procedures of the Digital Forensics unit.
• Leading on the creation, review, and updating of the Digital Forensic Quality Management framework and associated records. This includes technical validation.
• Engaging with colleagues across the Operations Leadership teams, Digital Forensics unit and both internal and external stakeholders and partners, to ensure understanding, co-operation, and compliance with the Quality Management framework and understand best practice.
• Planning and leading the internal audit programme, comprising of auditing and reporting of both the quality management system and technical/forensic processes, to ensure compliance with ISO 17025, 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-conforming activities and implement effective corrective and preventative action, procedural updates, and checks for effectiveness to maintain traceability as required by external assessors to meet ISO 17025, FSR Code of Practice and UKAS requirements.
• Assessing complex techniques and outcomes, and make recommendations from your analysis, as you encounter new or novel practices.
• Providing written and verbal reports to meet the different needs and range of stakeholders.
• Leading the work with the wider Digital Forensics unit to prepare for and facilitate UKAS Assessment visits, obtaining, expanding and maintaining the scope of accreditation, as required.
• 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.
• Providing professional and technical advice on all aspect of Digital Forensic quality, including whether DWP is operating safely within relevant legislation, the FSR Code of Practice and/or ISO 17025.
• Validation of outcomes, competency testing, and assurance, which will require development of a variety of techniques, for example the creation of blind trials or simulations to in order the ensure the unit has robust quality checking and validation processes.
• 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/regulations and responding to any updates, changes, and/or introductions of new regulatory requirements will be essential.