Devereux joined the Civil Service in 1979; until 1983, he worked in the
Overseas Development Administration, before working at
HM Treasury until 1994. He was with the
Department of Social Security between 1996 and 2001. From 2007 to 2011, Devereux was Permanent Secretary at the
Department for Transport. He became Permanent Secretary at the
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on 1 January 2011. As of 2015, Devereux was paid a salary of between £180,000 and £184,999 by the department. In 2013, it was reported that the
Cabinet Secretary, Sir
Jeremy Heywood, informed the Prime Minister
David Cameron that he was concerned about the "concerted political briefing campaign" against Devereux over failures in the DWP's
Universal Credit programme. On 11 October 2017, it was announced that Sir Robert would retire from his post on his 61st birthday. He was succeeded by
Peter Schofield, at that point the department's Director-General for Finance, in January 2018. In April 2025, Devereux was put in charge of an
independent review of the culture and operation of the
Office of National Statistics. The review concluded in June 2025 finding "deep seated" issues in the organisation. ==Honours==