Principal Data Governance Manager (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds and London)

Genomics England is a global leader in enabling genomic medicine and research, focused on creating a world where everyone benefits from genomic healthcare. Building on the 100,000 Genomes Project, we support the NHS’s world-first national whole genome sequencing service and run the growing National Genomic Research Library, alongside delivering numerous major genomics initiatives. By connecting research and clinical care at national scale, we enable immediate healthcare benefits and advances for the future. Our mission is to provide the evidence and digital systems so that by 2035 genomics could play a role in up to half of all healthcare interactions, whilst securing the UK’s position as the best place to discover, prove and benefit from genomic innovations.

We are looking for a Principal Data Governance Manager to provide senior leadership across data governance, data management and information stewardship, helping ensure some of the UK’s most important clinical, genomic and research data assets are governed, protected, understood and used responsibly. This is a strategic leadership role for someone who can be accountable, set direction, build organisational capability and work confidently across clinical, research, technology and corporate domains. You will play a key role in strengthening data ownership, stewardship, quality, metadata, data release and risk management across the National Genomic Research Library and Clinical Healthcare Systems.

About the role:

• Provide senior accountability for data governance and information stewardship activities across complex, sensitive healthcare and research-critical data assets.
• Work with senior stakeholders, executives, service leads, squads and governance forums to establish practical frameworks, standards and decision routes that improve trust, consistency and delivery.
• Set data governance direction across clinical and research domains.
• Establish sustainable data ownership, stewardship and decision-making models.
• Lead the development of data governance frameworks, standards, controls and roadmaps.
• Provide governance oversight for data release, data sharing, data tagging, participant withdrawal, metadata, classification and data quality.
• Identify and manage data governance risks as services, datasets and research activity scale.
• Influence senior stakeholders through clear, evidence-based recommendations.
• Chair or contribute to governance boards, steering groups and delivery forums.
• Build data governance capability and maturity across teams, services and communities of practice.

What we are looking for:

• Significant experience leading data governance, data management or information stewardship programmes in complex environments.
• Understanding of how to design and embed governance frameworks that are proportionate, practical and trusted by technical and non-technical teams.
• Experience leading enterprise data governance or data management programmes.
• Experienced in developing policies, standards, controls and data management frameworks.
• Strong understanding of data ownership, stewardship, data quality, metadata and lineage.
• Experience working with sensitive, regulated or research-critical datasets.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and lead through matrix structures.
• Experience managing organisational change and improving data management maturity.
• Knowledge of DAMA-DMBOK or equivalent data management frameworks.
• Experience leading, coaching or developing teams and governance practitioners.
• Experience in clinical genomics, biomedical research, healthcare data, Trusted Research Environments, NHS or public sector governance, data linkage, consent, withdrawal or research data access would be an advantage.

Salary From: £102,000

Closing Date: Monday 3rd August @ 23:00 (UK time)

Being an integral part of such a meaningful mission is extremely rewarding in itself, but in order to support our people, we’re continually improving our benefits package. We pride ourselves on investing in our people and supporting them to achieve their career goals, as well as offering a benefits package including:

• Generous Leave: 30 days’ holiday, plus bank holidays, plus additional leave for long service, and also the option to apply for up to 30 days of remote working abroad annually (approval required).
• Family-Friendly: Blended working arrangements, flexible working, enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave benefits.
• Pension & Financial: Defined contribution pension (Genomics England double-matches up to 10%, however you can contribute more if you wish), Life Assurance (3x salary), an Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice scheme and a Give As You Earn scheme.
• Learning & Development: Individual learning budgets, support for training and certifications, and reimbursement for one annual professional subscription (approval required).
• Recognition & Rewards: Employee recognition programme and referral scheme.
• Health & Wellbeing: Subsidised gym membership, a free Headspace account, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu jabs.

Equal opportunities and our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace:

Genomics England is actively committed to providing and supporting an inclusive environment that promotes equity, diversity and inclusion best practice both within our community and in any other area where we have influence. We are proud of our diverse community where everyone can come to work and feel welcomed and treated with respect regardless of any disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social background. Genomics England’s policies of non-discrimination and equity will be applied fairly to all people, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, being pregnant or recently becoming a parent, race, religion or beliefs, sex or sexual orientation, length of service, whether full or part-time or employed under a permanent or a fixed-term contract or any other relevant factor. Genomics England does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, victimisation or bullying at work. Such behaviour undermines our mission and core values and diminishes the dignity, respect and integrity of all parties. Our People policies outline our commitment to inclusivity. We aim to remove barriers in our recruitment processes and to be flexible with our interview processes. Should you require any adjustments that may help you to fully participate in the recruitment process, we encourage you to discuss this with us.

Culture:

We have four key behaviours that represent what we would like Genomics England to feel like and the culture we want to encourage, in order for us to achieve our mission. These behaviours help us all work well together, deliver on our outcomes, celebrate our successes and share feedback with each other.

Blended working model:

Genomics England operates a blended working model as we know our people appreciate the flexibility that hybrid working can bring. We expect most people to come into the office a minimum of 2 times each month. However, this will vary according to role and will be agreed with your team leader. There is no expectation that people will return to the office full time unless they want to, however, some of our roles require full time on site attendance e.g., lab teams, reception team. Our teams and squads have, and will continue to reflect on what works best for them to work together successfully and have the freedom to design working patterns to suit, beyond the minimum.

Onboarding background checks:

As part of our recruitment process, all successful candidates are subject to a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. We therefore require applicants to disclose any previous offences at point of application, as some unspent convictions may mean we are unable to proceed with your application due to the nature of our work in healthcare.