Head Of Data Platform

Head of Data Platform

Full time / Part time

Location: Hybrid

Salary: GBP66,068 - GBP75,592 pa, with potential for further progression to GBP85,113pa with our pay progression scheme.

Contracted to our Wilmslow, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast office, however, through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities. There will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.

Why work for the ICO?

• Pay progression scheme.
• Hybrid and flexible working options.
• 25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
• Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).
• Pension (employer contribution around 26.6%).
• Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
• Health Cash Plan.
• Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.

About us

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the independent regulator of information rights. In a data-driven world, we provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations enabling compliance with their obligations, as well as protecting individuals and their personal data.

As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful.

About the role

• The role will develop and deliver the technical capabilities for the ICO to manage, govern and use data across the organisation for insights, decision making, digitalisation, automation, data science and AI
• The role will guide and oversee the solution architecture and design for the ICO Data Platform, encompassing data management, integration, governance and analytics capabilities, ensuring these meet the organisation's needs and deliver against organisational strategy and objectives
• The role will lead the selection and management of appropriate technology and delivery partners for the ICO Data Platform, ensuring value for money, quality and on time delivery
• The role will ensure the safety, security and operational performance of the Data Platform
• The role will support the delivery of value from data for the ICO and for its stakeholders such as individuals, businesses, public and third sector organisations

Key Responsibilities

• Developing the ICO's Data Platform, including data warehousing, data integration, Big Data, data analytics as well as technologies for data governance, data science and AI/ ML, in line with organisational needs and opportunities, and compliant with the Enterprise Architecture vision
• Managing and developing a team of Data professionals across data engineering and data analytics solution architecture
• Enabling the delivery of tangible value from the ICO's data and data capabilities via descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive analytics
• Supporting the Director of Data in developing and executing the Enterprise Data Strategy
• Ensuring the maturity of our Data Platform capabilities is baselined and delivering tangible improvements to maturity through a programme of improvements
• Develop and oversee engineering standards for the Data Platform

About you

• Substantial experience relevant to the role requirements, as described in the role responsibilities and person specification, and accumulated through any combination of academic or vocational qualifications or experience.
• Experience of developing, transforming, operating and optimising Data Platforms including data warehousing, Big Data and data integration as well as technology used for data governance, analytics and AI / ML, both on-premise and cloud-based.
• Specifically, experience managing cloud-based (preferably Microsoft Azure) data and analytics services and components (e.g. Fabric, Synapse, Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake).
• Microsoft SQL Server (and services such as SSIS and SSRS). Experience of modernising SQL Server data and services to cloud-based equivalents desirable.
• Microsoft Power BI management and administration, including effective workspace management, security and compliance, and the ongoing management of semantic models in support of self-service BI.
• Experience of delivering data use cases with tangible value for areas including customer experience, operational efficiency or product development.
• Extensive experience of people management.
• Extensive knowledge of Data and data analytics technologies on-premise and in the cloud, and ability to apply this to the role.
• Good understanding of Data source management and data integration best practices relevant to the ongoing management of a data and analytics platform.
• Strong understanding of Data security and compliance to protect sensitive data stored within our Data Platforms, and ensuring adherence with relevant data protection regulations.
• Knowledge of technical testing relevant to data warehousing (e.g., ETL, regression) and methods for effectively managing technical resources to meet workload demand.
• Strong focus on completing technical documentation for all developed solutions.
• Managing the data engineering programme of work, prioritising work effectively and ensuring work is completed on time and to an expected standard.
• Cost management approaches to provide visibility, and the opportunity to optimise, costs for cloud environments.
• Actively keeps informed of industry developments to make cost-effective use of new and emerging tools and technologies.

Equality, diversity, and inclusion

The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.

Candidates with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy will be invited to interview as part of the ICO's commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme.

If you have a disability or impairment and have difficulty using our online application system, please email the HR team who can arrange for you to submit an application via an alternative method.

Closing Date: Please submit your CV by 23:59, Sunday 3rd March

We reserve the right to close this vacancy before this date should we receive sufficient applications. Please apply as soon as possible to ensure your application is considered.