Data Engagement Lead

You will be part of the Data Directorate at an exciting time as we gear up to deliver on the vision for modern digital government. 

Data is the driving force of the world’s modern economies, and central to helping us tackle some of society’s biggest challenges. We are delivering a programme of work to improve the way we use data in government through implementing standards, frameworks and tools that increase data quality, trust, security, privacy and interoperability.

We need great people to make it happen. 

One of areas of focus is supporting our programme delivery with effective governance, communications and engagement with our key stakeholders. For this we need a creative individual who can think on their feet, solve problems and build collaborative relationships across the organisation and across Whitehall.

As a Data Engagement Lead you’ll work directly with the Head of Data Portfolio, working across all areas of the team:

• lead on Engagement with other government departments and wider DSIT for Data Policy development
• provide oversight of our governance groups (including the Chief Data Officer’s Council and the Data and Technical Architecture Design Authority), ensuring there is strong  alignment with wider departmental governance structures
• create an Engagement plan and develop strategic relationships to align the team’s roadmap of work with wider government strategy and departmental programmes
• identify opportunities to allow us to test and develop policy and guidelines. 
• work flexibly and collaboratively on a range of projects where your expertise and skills are needed and support a culture of agile working across your team

Person specification

We're interested in people who have:

• excellent communication and writing skills
• the ability to balance changing priorities, deal with ambiguity, using astute judgement to make decisions in the absence of full facts
• significant experience of building and maintaining effective relationships, and using a variety of channels to get the best results
• experience of working with multiple stakeholders across a large and diverse audience 
• experience of communicating to data expert and non-technical audiences and producing briefings and presentations
• experience in handling both quantitative and qualitative evidence to make decisions 
• experience of taking the initiative to solve problems, and and deliver results collaboratively, but independently
• an understanding of HMG’s data agenda and how this fits into the broader digital strategy

Benefits

The benefits of working at GDS

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for The King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• paid volunteering leave
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to children's holiday play schemes across different locations in central London
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

Things you need to know

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and for you to answer 3 application questions
• a 60 minute video interview. As part of the interview there will be a presentation task, details of the presentation task will be provided to shortlist candidates prior to interview.

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

While we value the use of AI technology to enhance our daily work, we also value the personal touch and urge applicants to write cover letters without the use of AI to emphasise their own unique experiences.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is:

• Give an example of how you have development and executed a strategy for building and managing stakeholder relationships over time.

In order to assist candidates with this role, we will be holding a virtual recruitment event on Thursday 15th May at 12:00pm - 1:00pm to go through the role in more detail. If you are interested in joining this event please e-mail: gds-recruitment@digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk and a member of the team will send you an invitation to the event.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• Seeing the big picture
• Delivering at pace
• Communicating and influencing
• Working together
• Making effective decisions

Recruitment Timeline

Virtual session: Thursday 15th May at 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Advert closes: Sunday 18th May

Sift completion: Friday 23rd May

Panel interviews: starting Friday 30th May

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Please note that this role requires CTC clearance, which would normally need 3 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

Other information

In January 2025, it was announced that the Government Digital Service (GDS) will move to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) as a part of a machinery of government change. This change aims to bring together the digital transformation of public services into one central department, presenting exciting opportunities and positioning DSIT to lead the government’s digital agenda.

This role is in scope to transfer to DSIT when the machinery of government change takes place.  As a result,  if you are successful and appointed by Cabinet Office to this role before 1st June 2025, your role will transfer from Cabinet Office to DSIT at the time of the relevant machinery of government change taking place. If your start date is after 1 June 2025, you will be appointed direct to DSIT and your appointment will be unaffected by the machinery of government change.  We are currently consulting with our Trade Unions on which policies, terms and conditions will apply on transfer.  The statement of changes applied to all other Cabinet Office staff will also apply to you if you are successful.

We encourage you to apply and look forward to reviewing your application. We will keep you updated throughout the process.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.