Data Governance Lead in Portsmouth

The Data Governance & Security Lead will ensure the Royal Navy Maritime Domain Awareness Programme (RN MDAP) is fully compliant with UK Data Legislation, Ministry of Defence (MoD) Data Governance Policy, and all applicable data sharing agreements. The role provides policy, strategy and technical capability integration services, ensuring that RN MDAP hosting environments, systems and applications store, share and access data in a secure, compliant and effective manner.

Key Objectives

• Establish and maintain a robust Data Governance framework for RN MDAP.
• Ensure compliance with UK legislation, MoD policy and information sharing agreements.
• Enable safe, trusted and high‑value use of data across the Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) estate.
• Provide strategic advice and assurance to senior stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy Development

• Contribute as part of the RN MDA strategy team to ensure all data governance and information sharing activity aligns with RN MDAP, wider Royal Navy and MoD strategies.
• Support the creation, revision and maintenance of RN MDAP strategy, policies and standards.
• Develop an end‑to‑end data governance framework, including processes, operational policies and standards to support effective data management.
• Design and apply the MDA framework to enable assurance of data governance.
• Work closely with the NCHQ Data Governance team to ensure alignment with best practice.

Policy Development

• Ensure RN MDAP procedures and data sharing plans are legally compliant and remain within the bounds of existing information sharing agreements.
• Maintain a detailed understanding of data governance laws, regulations, codes of practice and ethical requirements.
• Identify relevant MoD and industry governance policies and ensure their effective and continued application across the MDA estate.
• Develop, implement and maintain policies for data storage, access and use.

Implementation and Assurance

• Design and implement practical data governance solutions that meet organisational and operational needs.
• Identify opportunities to improve data quality, trustworthiness and value across the programme.
• Establish and embed data management capabilities, including data quality management, metadata management, master data management, data modelling and data standards.
• Apply data governance across the full data lifecycle, including DPIAs, data sharing agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs).
• Work collaboratively with technical teams and stakeholders to implement governance controls and ensure compliance.
• Ensure data‑related risks are identified, recorded, mitigated and owned appropriately.
• Conduct data governance and security audits to confirm adherence to agreed procedures.
• Identify and exploit industry best‑practice data governance tools to automate governance processes, policies and controls, analyse datasets to identify quality issues and anomalies, produce reports and track performance metrics, and create and maintain data models to ensure consistent structure and organisation.

Liaison, Integration and Engagement

• Promote programme‑wide awareness of data governance best practice.
• Review and assure MDA projects to determine appropriate data governance and assurance requirements.
• Act as the RN MDAP representative when establishing data exchange and sharing agreements with external stakeholders.
• Ensure agreements are appropriately drafted, reviewed and approved to assure RN MDAP and data providers.

Programme Alignment and Coherence

• Assess data maturity and drive adoption of best practice.
• Monitor emerging trends in data tools, analytics and data usage, and assess their organisational impact.
• Provide recommendations to the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) on governance, assurance and compliance matters.
• Act as an escalation point for governance, data quality and data protection issues.
• As part of a lean organisation, support wider RN MDAP activities when required, including hosting visits, delivering briefings, travel to support business needs and assisting the wider team during periods of high demand.

Knowledge Management, Information Exploitation and Data Quality

• Identify, manage and mitigate data quality issues.
• Create, implement and enforce data retention and disposal policies.
• Establish and promote information and knowledge management best practice across RN MDAP.

Key Deliverables

• Data Governance Strategic Vision and Policy: A five‑year strategic roadmap refreshed annually, with quarterly recommendations to maintain alignment with future operating environments and emerging maritime threats.
• Progress Reporting: Quarterly progress reports (verbal and/or written), including updates to the Programme Board.
• Data Sharing Strategy and Implementation Plan: Defining how RN MDAP data is stored, shared and used in line with legislation, policy and agreements.
• Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement Recommendations: Annual analysis and engagement recommendations to support adoption of the data governance approach.
• Independent Progress Reviews: Quarterly and annual assessments of RN MDAP's progress towards becoming a compliant and data‑responsible organisation.
• Programme Representation: Representation of RN MDAP at key boards, forums and stakeholder engagements, as required.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Proven expertise in Data Governance.
• Strong experience in policy and strategy development.
• Technical and analytical capability relating to data management and governance.
• Demonstrable experience in risk management, security and regulatory compliance.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
• Developed Vetting (DV) clearance, or eligibility and willingness to obtain DV.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Experience within the Defence domain.
• Awareness of technical architecture and data engineering concepts.
• Experience with data governance tools and technologies.
• Background in assurance frameworks and standards.
• Strong analytical, reporting and insight generation skills.
• Experience supporting organisational change and transformation.

Security Requirements

This role requires Developed Vetting (DV). Appointment will be subject to successful security clearance.