Head of Legal and Illegal Migration Policy

We’re looking for a senior policy leader to head HM Treasury’s work on legal and illegal migration policy, covering both economic migration and asylum policy. 

About the Team

The Justice, Home Affairs and Equalities team sits at the heart of government, overseeing more than £20bn of spending across the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and wider justice system. Our Home Office branch leads HM Treasury’s relationship with key partners, shaping priorities on migration, policing and economic crime to support growth and high-quality public services. We’re a friendly, collaborative and inclusive team, committed to developing our people and delivering excellent outcomes.

About the Job

You’ll lead a team of three and shape HM Treasury’s approach to Home Office migration policy, ensuring immigration policy supports labour market needs, economic growth and value for money. You’ll work closely with the HMT Economics Group and other departments to assess the macroeconomic impacts of migration policy and provide clear, evidence-based advice to ministers.

You’ll also oversee HMT’s engagement on asylum accommodation and international efforts to reduce irregular migration. This is a high-profile role requiring strong strategic judgement, confidence handling sensitive issues, and the ability to turn complex policy, operational and fiscal considerations into clear advice for senior leaders.

In this role, you will:

• Lead HMT’s overall migration policy approach, ensuring legal routes support growth and asylum policy is affordable, deliverable and delivers value for money. Shape policy on migration, skills and the labour market, including HMT’s input to and analysis of Home Office approaches to legal migration.
• Assess macroeconomic impacts, working closely with HMT Economics to provide clear, evidence-based advice to ministers.
• Oversee asylum accommodation, scrutinising costs, delivery risks and value for money.
• Drive HMT input on irregular migration, ensuring robust assessment of policy effectiveness, costs and economic impacts.
• Coordinate cross-government working, building strong relationships and aligning priorities across departments to deliver government goals.
• Lead and develop your team, contributing to the wider leadership of the Justice, Home Affairs and Equalities group.

About You

We’re looking for people who bring strong experience in migration or labour market policy, and/or can apply economic analysis or modelling to quickly build a clear understanding of new policy areas. You’ll be confident making decisions in complex situations, able to weigh up different options and explain your thinking clearly. You’ll communicate effectively with senior leaders, breaking down complex information into something accessible, and build strong relationships across teams to drive work forward and deliver results.

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 role 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.