Credit: Crown Copyright/Open Government Licence v3.0

The Department for Work and Pensions is seeking a senior leader to spearhead its drive “to become a truly data-driven” organisation.

The role as head of data products and services comes with overall accountability for “building a world-class data product and service function” across the DWP. This will include overseeing the creation of a “design and vision that will enable data managers, data engineers and other specialists to transform the work of the whole department”, according to the job advert.

The successful candidate will sit at the head of a “multi-disciplinary team of digital and data professionals [who] provide secure data services across the citizen life journey in order to support the most vulnerable in our society”.

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The post comes with a salary of between £73,000 and £110,000. If an existing civil servant is the chosen for the role, it is advised that they “will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary”.

The advert added: “We collect and manage a vast array of data; we want to use this to: target the right support at the right people at the right time; improve our users’ lives and experiences safely; [and] work across departments to improve the overall experience of interacting with UK government. In order to achieve the right outcomes for our users, we need to ensure that our data live services are accurate and always available. We are looking for a head of data products and services to make all of this happen.”

The position – which comes with an expectation of remaining in post for at least three years – will be based at one of the DWP’s offices in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, Blackpool, or Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Applications are open until 4 January.