Senior Data Architect - GDS - G7

Location

Bristol, London, Manchester

About the job

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

joining up public sector services
harnessing the power of AI for the public good
strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
elevating leadership and investing in talent
funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

You’ll be joining the GDS Data Sharing Team, we are strengthening the Data Foundations for the whole public sector to make data sharing easier. We work in partnership across government to define the data strategy, by building consensus through the development of common frameworks and standards. 

Take a look at our blog to learn more about what we do.

Job description

As a GDS Senior Data Architect working in the Data Security team in the Office of the Government Chief Data Officer, you’ll be collaborating with other government departments to develop and publish data security standards for government and the wider public sector.

With the ability to drive through an agenda, you will be collaborating with other teams in GDS, including our consulting technical architects, the technology policy team, tech writers, and others, as standards are developed and shaped. This will also mean delivering presentations to various stakeholders at all levels.

The role will include travel to different government departments and agencies, therefore there must be a willingness to undertake this.

As a Senior Data Architect you’ll:

develop data security standards for government
advise on data security for government services
define the government API data and technical standards, including how to make APIs secure
identify opportunities to use novel privacy-enhancing technologies to enable data-driven collaboration without compromising on privacy and security
develop data security controls to mitigate risks applying to AI systems
work in agile multi-disciplinary teams, with software developers using tools such as Github and following continuous delivery and devops practices

Person specification

We’re interested in people who can:

understand how to balance the needs of security against the need of users to access and use data to derive value
communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, support and host discussions within a multidisciplinary team, and manage differing stakeholder perspectives
work with subject matter experts to develop standards, policies and guidance to secure data
show an awareness of opportunities for innovation with new tools and uses of data, for example privacy-enhancing technologies
understand what data governance is and take responsibility for the assurance of data solutions and make recommendations to ensure compliance
explain the concepts and principles of data modelling, produce, maintain and update relevant data models for an organisation’s specific needs
explain the strategic context of your work and why it is important, support strategic planning in an administrative capacity
design data architecture that deals with specific data security problems and align it to enterprise-wide standards and principles
demonstrate a good understanding of data security concepts and can apply them to a technical level