Having graduated in Hispanic studies from Liverpool University, Lewis joined the then Department of Employment as an Administration Trainee in September 1973.
Lewis was appointed as Chief Executive of the Employment Service following an open competition in January 1997.
In January 2001 he was appointed Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, a new business of the Department for Work and Pensions.
In February 2003 Lewis was appointed to the Home Office as Permanent Secretary for Crime, Policing, Counter-Terrorism and Delivery, but subsequently returned to DWP as Permanent Secretary to DWP in late 2005 until his retirement in 2011.
[1] Upon which, he was installed as the new chair of the Coalition Government's Commission on a UK Bill of Rights.