Location
London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Hours
Full Time

Salary
£117,800 per annum

About the Role
The Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) adopts a balanced approach, giving equal weight to preventative and criminal justice-focused interventions, recognising that long-term threat reduction requires a whole-system response beyond prosecution. The unit works collaboratively across sectors both domestically and internationally to protect the public and uphold regulatory integrity.

The CEU’s mission is to prevent offending where possible, disrupt offending where it cannot be prevented, and bring offenders to justice where appropriate. This is achieved by maintaining an accurate understanding of the nature and scale of threats, and by leading, supporting, and coordinating innovative and impactful interventions to reduce them.

The unit comprises seven teams divided between Intelligence and Investigations Commands, with heads of Command reporting directly to the Deputy Director as head of the unit.

The Deputy Director provides strategic leadership, ensuring the Agency has an effective, intelligence-led, and proportionate capability to address the most serious criminal breaches of medicines and medical devices regulations. The role sets the strategic direction of the unit, aligning its activities with the Agency's wider regulatory objectives to protect public health.

Leading a multi-disciplinary team, the postholder fosters a culture of professionalism, continuous improvement, and high performance, ensuring robust, evidence-based decision-making aligned with Agency priorities. The Deputy Director represents the MHRA at senior levels across government, law enforcement, and the wider regulatory community, building effective partnerships to strengthen the UK’s response to criminal threats.

Accountable to the Executive Committee and ultimately to the Agency’s Board, the Deputy Director is responsible for the overall delivery and performance of the CEU.

Experience
Please refer to the Candidate Information Sheet for detailed experience requirements.

About you
- Strong strategic leadership skills with the ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams.
- Ability to foster a culture of professionalism, continuous improvement, and high performance.
- Skilled in building effective partnerships across government, law enforcement, and regulatory sectors.
- Evidence-based decision-making aligned with organisational priorities.
- Commitment to protecting public health through regulatory enforcement.

Qualifications
Please refer to the Candidate Information Sheet for qualification requirements.

Behaviours
Applicants will be assessed on the following behaviours:
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Leadership
- Changing and Improving
- Developing Self and Others
- Delivering at Pace

Technical Skills
Technical skills requirements are detailed in the Candidate Information Sheet.