The Digital Markets and Data Economy Unit is driving DSIT’s work to unlock the value of data across the economy, including through data law reform, public sector data access, data sharing infrastructure, and Smart Data schemes. The Head of Applied Data Capability will  help design policy interventions that improve how data is accessed, shared, governed and used across the economy. They will be supported by a data capability specialist (a Grade 7 equivalent role)  

The postholder will bring deep practical knowledge of how data is used in real world commercial, research, operational or technological settings – for example, experience diagnosing why organisations struggle to access, share, or use data effectively and designing practical solutions 

They will help policy teams understand not only how data is used today, but what prevents it being used better, from weak incentives, poor interoperability and limited trust, to uncertain governance, unclear value, data quality issues, commercial sensitivity, and practical barriers to access and reuse. They will use that insight to co-design policy interventions that make a real difference to the economy and people’s lives. 

The role will work alonside policy leads, analysts, legal experts and wider data specialists to diagnose the causes of data use problems and design policy interventions that respond to those causes. It will translate specialist data knowledge into clear advice that non-specialists can use, and help the Unit engage earlier and more effectively with the data specialist community. 

This role focuses primarily on data use, access, sharing and governance in economic, commercial, research and market settings. It complements, but does not duplicate, government-wide data governance functions responsible for public sector policy, ethics, compliance and assurance. The role brings practical insight from how data is used across the wider economy to inform policy development aimed at increasing economic growth, innovation and productivity. 

Job description

In the first 30 days, you will: 

• Build a clear view of the Unit’s priority policy areas and where applied data governance and capability can add the most value. 
• Establish relationships with key policy, analytical and legal leads. 

In the first 60 days, you will: 

• Set up a structured approach to triaging and deploying effort across the highest‑priority projects. 
• Deliver early insight on key barriers and enablers to data use in at least 1–2 priority policy areas. 

In the first 90 days, you will: 

• Demonstrate tangible impact on policy design (e.g. shaping interventions, improving feasibility or delivery models). 
• Establish a clear operating model for the applied data governance and capability function (including engagement with external experts). 
• Identify longer-term  capability, skills and resourcing needs.

Key responsibilities 

• Technical credibility: Apply sound technical judgement to assess evidence, challenge proposals, and advise on the feasibility and proportionality of technical approaches, drawing on expertise rather than relying solely on specialist advice.
• Shape data-informed policy interventions: Work with policy, analytical and legal leads to design interventions that improve data access, sharing, reuse and innovation across the economy, including in commercial, research and regulated sectors. Focus on addressing market failures, ecosystem barriers and practical constraints that limit economic value from data.
• Translate and bridge disciplines: Turn complex data concepts, risks and trade-offs into clear, practical advice, and ensure effective collaboration between technical and non-technical stakeholders, including mediating complex or high-risk discussions and influencing senior decision-makers across government
• Build and lead applied data capability: Prioritise demand, and develop the structures, skills and pipelines needed to connect policy teams with the wider data community and   promote effective data stewardship, strengthened data management, and improved data literacy across the organisation.  
• Deliver pace and clarity in a complex environment: Manage competing priorities, make informed trade-offs, and ensure high-quality outputs at pace in a high-demand setting.
• Build senior relationships across government and industry:  Build senior relationships across industry, investors, trade bodies, regulators, standards organisations, researchers and government partners to shape the conditions for greater data sharing, reuse and innovation across the economy.
• Bring external market insight into policy design: Maintain a deep understanding of how organisations create value from data across sectors, including emerging business models, data intermediaries, trusted data sharing mechanisms, Smart Data ecosystems, data markets and data-sharing infrastructure. Use this insight to inform policy development and investment decisions
• Complement government data governance functions: Provide market-facing and applied expertise to inform policy development, while recognising that ownership of public sector data policy, ethical frameworks, governance models and assurance arrangements sits with relevant government data governance functions.
• Champion data ethics, standards and assurance: Champion proportionate and trusted approaches to data use across the economy, ensuring policy proposals reflect legal, ethical and societal considerations and are informed by emerging industry practice and standards 

Person specification

What we are looking for from applicants is:

• Senior experience addressing complex data challenges and driving data-enabled change: significant senior-level experience tackling complex data challenges in technical, strategic, commercial or advisory contexts, with the ability to independently assess technical approaches, challenge proposals, make sound judgements on feasibility and risk, and influence decision-making on issues such as data sharing, investment in data infrastructure and the use of data to support organisational objectives
• Leadership of multidisciplinary data teams: experience leading or contributing to multidisciplinary teams comprising data scientists, engineers, analysts, and product or delivery professionals to deliver data-driven systems, insights and interventions 
• Bridging technical and non-technical stakeholders: strong track record of translating complex data concepts, technical issues and governance constraints into clear business, operational or policy decisions, engaging senior stakeholders, building trust and driving delivery across organisational boundaries
• Establishing and scaling data governance capability: demonstrated experience developing governance frameworks, roles, standards and tools that improve organisational data maturity and the quality, management and use of data, supported by a strong understanding of how data flows across organisations and systems
• Understanding data as an economic asset and operating within data ecosystems: experience assessing how data creates economic, operational, research or social value, including familiarity with data portability, access regimes, interoperability, licensing, valuation and data market development, alongside experience supporting, enabling or regulating the sharing, exchange, licensing or reuse of data across organisations, sectors and markets 
• Operating at pace across competing priorities: proven ability to manage ambiguity, prioritise effectively and deliver outcomes in complex, fast-moving environments 

Benefits

£69,675 - £77,905

£74,605 - £77,905 (London) & £69,675 - £72,975 (Bristol & Manchester) Based on capability. The base salary of this grade is £74,605 for London and £69,675 for other locations. Offers made above this will be made up with a specialist pay allowance

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 average 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
• 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 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

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

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 answer 2 application questions
• a 60 minute video interview which will feature a presentation, the details of the presentation will be shared with invited candidates prior to the 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.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is: Tell us about a complex data-related decision you made or recommended. What made it challenging, what trade-offs did you weigh, what judgement did you reach, and what were the consequences

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

• leadership  
• seeing the big picture
• communicating and influencing
• working together
• making effective decisions 

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Head of Data Governance role:

• data governance
• communicating between the technical and non-technical
• strategic thinking
• stakeholder relationship management
• data literacy improvement
• data innovation

Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here 

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: 9/9/2026

Panel interviews: Starting from 16/9/2026

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.

 

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.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

Name :gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Email :gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact gds-complaints@dsit.gov.uk in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: info@csc.gov.uk Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.

Apply now