Data Analyst

As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is already a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history. But it’s where we go next that makes things really interesting.

In our strategic vision: Archives for Everyone, we set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring. That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you.

Job Overview

Salary: £41,000 per annum
Contract type: Fixed Term Appointment for 1 year
Band: F / SEO
Closing date: Thursday 29th May at midnight

This is a great opportunity to join The National Archives at an exciting point in the development of Manage Records Compliance, a new digital service with real strategic importance across government. The role offers the chance to combine data analysis, reporting and digital innovation to support better oversight of public records compliance, helping public bodies make informed decisions and improve their information management. It is an especially rewarding post for someone who wants to apply analytical skills to a high-profile public service mission and contribute to a service that will have lasting impact.

The National Archives (TNA) has statutory responsibilities under the Public Records Act (PRA) to provide guidance and supervision to public bodies on the safekeeping, management, and selection of public records. This includes issuing guidance, training, and developing tools that help organisations manage information effectively and ensure that records of long-term historical value can be identified and transferred to TNA for permanent preservation.

To support this activity, TNA is developing Manage Records Compliance (MRC), a new digital solution designed to provide a single access point for oversight of public records compliance across government. The vision for MRC is to bring together key reporting and assessment functions into one streamlined platform, enabling more consistent, efficient and transparent oversight of how public bodies manage their information.

The MRC Data Analyst will play a crucial role in transforming the information collected through this new user-focused digital service into clear, reliable business intelligence. This includes developing reporting pipelines, dashboards and analytical outputs that will be available to both TNA and public bodies, enabling them to understand compliance levels, monitor progress, identify trends and risks, and make evidence-based decisions.

This role is central to TNA’s mission to systematically monitor compliance across government and enhance the quality of its support and services to government and the wider public sector. It is a 12 month fixed term position, with the possibility of extension.

Application Process:

• Interview: Interviews will be held on-site. As part of the interview you will be required to present a dashboard and an underlying data model you have developed.
• Personal Statement: Please submit work history details and a personal statement, not exceeding 1200 words. Selection for interview will be based on the 6 essential criteria shown below so please ensure that your application demonstrates in detail how you meet these requirements. You may wish to use the STAR method to help you write your personal statement.

Essential Criteria

• Academic and/or professional qualification in business analytics, data analysis, data science or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong experience in data modelling, transformation, and validation.
• Proficiency with data visualisation tools (including Power BI) and associated languages (e.g. DAX).
• Ability to design maintainable reporting pipelines and combine multiple datasets to produce reliable insights.
• Strong analytical capability, including the ability to identify patterns, trends, and risks within complex data.
• Experience producing analytical outputs aligned to user needs and business requirements.

In the event of a high volume of applications we will conduct an initial sift based on the first criteria.

SC clearance/willingness to obtain SC clearance will be required for this role. This requires candidates to have been resident in the UK for at least the past three years. Please do not apply if you have been resident in the UK for less than three years as your application will be rejected.

ALL of the essential criteria listed in the job description below will be assessed at interview.

Job Description

Role and Responsibilities

• Build and maintain analytical data pipelines.
• Develop robust processes for cleaning, transforming and modelling data submitted by public bodies.
• Ensure data is accurate, consistent and ready for reporting and analysis.
• Work with colleagues responsible for application development and form creation, to ensure data is captured appropriately.

Develop dashboards and business intelligence products

• Design high quality dashboards and visualisations to support compliance monitoring and sector-level insight.
• Produce reports for TNA teams and accessible outputs for public bodies using the service.
• Work with user researchers and other stakeholders, to ensure dashboards and other data products are accurate, high quality, and easy to understand.
• Support the development of self-service analytical tools within MRC.

Lead on data quality and consistency

• Establish and maintain good practices and processes for data validation, documentation and version control.
• Work collaboratively across the service to improve data structures and metadata quality.

Insight generation and decision support

• Identify trends, risks, patterns and opportunities from the collected data.
• Produce insights that strengthen TNA’s services, advice and engagement with public bodies.
• Prepare analysis for senior leadership and contribute to internal strategic discussions.

Collaboration and stakeholder engagement

• Engage with internal teams, delivery partners and public bodies to understand analytical needs.
• Contribute to user testing of reporting functions and dashboards.
• Work effectively within an agile, multidisciplinary environment.

Person Specification

Essential criteria

• Academic and/or professional qualification in business analytics, data analysis, data science or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong experience in data modelling, transformation, and validation.
• Proficiency with data visualisation tools (including Power BI) and associated languages (e.g. DAX).
• Ability to design maintainable reporting pipelines and combine multiple datasets to produce reliable insights.
• Strong analytical capability, including the ability to identify patterns, trends, and risks within complex data.
• Experience producing analytical outputs aligned to user needs and business requirements.
• Ability to work in agile or iterative delivery environments and collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to present complex analytical findings clearly to non‐technical audiences, alongside good organisational skills to manage concurrent work.

Desirable criteria

• Experience developing dashboards or reporting to support assurance, oversight or performance monitoring.
• Interest in information management, public records or data‐driven public sector services.
• Awareness of how data can be prepared for, or integrated into, AI or advanced analytics pipelines.

Other Requirements

• A combination of onsite and home working is currently available. Applicants must be able to work from our Kew site at least 60% of their time, possibly more when new to the role.
• SC clearance is required for this role. This requires candidates to have been resident in the UK for at least the past three years.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.

Benefits

Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development. Annual leave entitlement of 22 days per calendar year (rising to 25 after the first year, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum.

Reasonable adjustments

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact The National Archives via careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard 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)
• 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

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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. The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities.

Contact point for applicants:
Name: The National Archives Recruitment Team
Email: careers@nationalarchives.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, in the first instance, you should contact The National Archives via email: careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

About us

The National Archives need passionate, ambitious and innovative individuals to help us change the way people think about archives. We employ more than 500 staff in a diverse range of roles, from records specialists and researchers to web developers and marketing assistants – and we want you to join us.

To find out more about us, please visit our website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk