Data Governance & Privacy Lead

£56,070 - £61,793 (National) / £61,740 - £70,219 (London) Based on capability. Offers made above this will be made up with a specialist pay allowance. Full-time (Permanent)

The Data Governance Team, as part of the GDS Product, Strategy, Planning and Performance directorate, provides specialist expertise and leadership across the Government Digital Service. GDS has specialist data protection requirements and needs extensive data governance controls to be designed and incorporated into product development. Strong privacy controls designed and built from the outset maintain users' confidence in the digital services delivered by GDS. The Data Governance team has an excellent track record for their enabling and pragmatic attitudes to support delivery teams in achieving GDS’s strategic objectives at a fast pace whilst balancing robust data protection compliance.

The post holder will lead on delivering data protection excellence across GDS in products such as the GOV.UK web platform, App, analytics and new and upcoming products such as GOV.UK Chat.

Responsibilities

• Line manage and play an active role in the Data Governance leadership team.
• Lead your sub-team to design and implement privacy and data protection controls for the products and processes GDS creates, including the delivery of Data Protection Impact Assessments to ensure the GDS Product Group complies with data protection law by delivering flexible and pragmatic governance practices that enable delivery at pace.
• Lead the delivery of high quality Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), Privacy Notices and Records of Processing Activities for new projects at pace.
• Oversee training to ensure GDS staff understand data protection obligations and best practices, fostering a culture of data privacy at all levels.
• Work closely with GDS colleagues to build trust.
• Deliver high quality written and verbal briefings to all levels, including delivery managers and senior management and explain technical detail to non-technical staff.
• Work closely with external stakeholders such as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and privacy groups to ensure compliance and address queries.
• Provide proactive support to the heads to manage and lead on compliance, identify risks, the development of data governance strategies and deliver strategic objectives.
• Prioritise your time and the time of your team effectively to manage a high volume, fast paced and frequently evolving workload.
• Manage workloads to ensure that priorities align with strategic and team objectives and that deadlines are met.
• Provide expert advice and direction on complex and novel forms of processing, especially on AI and balance legal requirements against the need to deliver innovative solutions to benefit the public, supporting timely delivery of demanding GDS targets.

Person specification

• Demonstrable experience in leading the implementation of data protection best practice and privacy by design in a complex, challenging, technology-driven environment.
• A relevant privacy qualification such as IAPP (CIPP/E, CIPM) or BCS (ISEB), or have relevant experience.
• Demonstrable experience of leading data protection teams to enable the organisation to achieve its strategic objectives, underpinned by a positive, proactive leadership approach with a commitment to collaboration and governance.
• Experience at delivering at pace, meeting challenging and changing operational and legal deadlines.
• Strong communication, presentation and interpersonal skills to build effective working relationships in a flexible and fast-changing environment.
• A good understanding of new and emerging technologies and the opportunities they provide to improve the delivery of public services in the UK, including AI.
• Experience of risk management and the ability to balance risks against operational, technical and commercial requirements.

Benefits

• 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.
• 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.
• Access to children's holiday play schemes across different locations in central London.

Recruitment timeline

• Sift completion: 20th February 2026.
• Panel interviews: W/C 2nd March 2026.
• A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

SC clearance requirement

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible. For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, an expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional job offers.

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.