Deputy Director, Data Value - Government Digital Service - SCS1

Location

Bristol, London, Manchester

About the job

Job summary

Show government what its data is really worth. Then help it decide what to do next. 

Government invests in data, but when you ask what it gets back, the answer is usually a case study or two. That makes it very hard to decide where to invest, what to scale and what to stop. 

This job changes that. You'll build a clear, trusted view of where data is making a difference across government and where it isn't, so leaders can choose with evidence instead of anecdote.  

Why now? 

AI is raising the stakes on data, and leaders need to know where their investment will pay off. At the moment there is no single, agreed way to show that across government.  

We need one answer to a simple question. What is data worth to citizens, to services, to the economy and to national security? Then we need to use that answer to make better decisions. 

It can be done. Others have already published practical guides to valuing data, covering how to take stock of it, assess it and put a value on it. We want to do the same, properly, for government. 

Where you'll work 

You'll be part of the Government Digital Service (GDS), the digital centre of government. We're home to GOV.UK and the Incubator for AI (i.AI), we lead the Government Digital and Data function, and we have more than 1,000 colleagues across London, Bristol and Manchester. 

Job description

What you'll do 

• Take stock of what government owns. Oversee a joined-up view of public data assets, including inventories, asset intelligence and valuation. Start with the assets that matter most to national infrastructure, public services and citizen-facing products. 
• Build the yardstick. Set up methods to judge the potential and the realised value of data assets and data-enabled products across their whole life, including where revenue could safely be raised to support public services. 
• Be the authority on 'value'. Decide what counts as data value, from economic and operational to assurance and risk reduction, and make it consistent and comparable across departments and portfolios. Advise senior leaders on how value is understood, evidenced and explained. 
• Show where it's working. Use that evidence to see where data creates the most value and where attention or investment should go next. 
• Help leaders make the call. Give senior decision-makers value-led evidence on priorities, sequencing and investment, so they can see what to scale, redirect, pause or stop. Base it on the whole system, not on one success story.  
• Keep citizens and users in the room. Make sure their view is built into every prioritisation and investment decision, working closely with Product, Portfolio and Strategy colleagues. 
• Follow the value through. Build value into decisions before, during and after delivery. Track how it changes over time, from performance and adoption to longer-term outcomes, and feed what you learn back into future choices. 
• Work safely in sensitive places. Operate within legislative, regulatory, governance and national security frameworks. Make visible the value that data brings in national security settings, where it often shows up as assurance, resilience or reduced risk. 
• Tell the story. Turn complex activity across government into clear, credible insight for senior leaders, and help the organisation move from one-off case studies to a system-level view of impact. 
• Lead a rigorous team. Lead the teams and partners working on data value, insight and asset intelligence, set a high bar for quality and professionalism, and help build a culture where decisions follow evidence. 
• One boundary. You provide evidence and analysis for commissioning, roadmap and portfolio discussions. You don't own delivery or benefits realisation in departments. 

What success looks like 

• A clear, trusted view of data value across government, built on comparable evidence of use, adoption, outcomes and benefits. Senior leaders can see where data is delivering and where they need to step in. 
• One system-wide definition of public value from data, covering citizen, service, economic and national outcomes, that shapes priorities, architecture and product decisions. 
• Valuation methods that let leaders compare data assets and products and decide when to scale, invest, pause or close. 
• A lifecycle approach, so value shapes decisions before, during and after delivery and feeds the next round of strategy, architecture and product priorities. 
• A story that senior leaders believe, moving us from one-off case studies to a system-level understanding of impact. 

The honest bit 

Valuing data across a whole government is hard, and the method is still being built. You'll be setting it up as well as using it, so expect plenty of debate about what counts as value and who decides. 

Person specification

This role is for you if... 

You've helped very senior people make big decisions using data and evidence, and you can tell the difference between being busy and making a difference. You'll thrive in this role if you have: 

• Treated data as a strategic asset at a senior level, shaped how it is valued and accessed, and influenced decisions across a portfolio, a system or a whole organisation. 
• Used evidence to help senior leaders decide. You've brought information together from many sources to guide priorities, sequencing and investment in complicated settings. 
• Shown sharp analytical judgement. You can tell delivery activity, adoption and real outcomes apart, and you don't mistake progress for impact. 
• Influenced senior stakeholders by turning complex data, analysis or performance information into clear insight that makes trade-offs and risk-aware decisions easier. 
• Worked in governed, risk-aware settings, such as legislative, regulatory, assurance or security-sensitive ones, and understand that value can show up as assurance, resilience or reduced risk as well as delivery. 
• Worked across boundaries and in ambiguity, bringing policy, delivery, technical and operational teams together around one view of performance and value. 

Bonus points 

• You're curious. You've taught yourself something, built something or written about something, at work or in your own time, and you'd enjoy telling us about it.