About the job

Job summary

We’re looking for an exceptional Data Governance Manager to help us use our vast volumes of weather and climate data to make a difference to our planet.

This job may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in the office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and the location advertised will be your contractual place of work.

The Met Office is accredited as a 'Great Place to Work UK 2023' and in addition has achieved a place on both the UK's 'Best Workplaces in Tech' and 'Best Workplaces for Women' lists.

We invest in our people to unlock their full potential. As our Data Governance Manager we will support you to develop and thrive to be the best you can be.  We champion positive physical and mental health in the workplace and are committed to being an inclusive organisation, providing a working culture that actively values an equal and diverse workforce

Who we are:

We provide critical weather services and world-leading climate science, to help people make better decisions to stay safe and thrive.

Together:

• We’re a force for good - focusing on our environmental and social impact
• We’re experts by nature - always learning and developing to do things better
• We live and breathe it - putting our purpose at the heart of decision-making
• We’re better together - understanding partnerships and inclusivity make us greater
• We keep evolving - pushing boundaries to make tomorrow better for our customers

Find out more about our values - https://bit.ly/3fokaRD

Weather and climate data are at the heart of what we do at the Met Office. Every hour of every day we collect and process huge amounts of data to produce forecasts, warnings and advice that have global impact for citizens, governments, researchers and businesses. A new supercomputer funded by the UK Government will further boost our weather forecasting ability and generate even more data. To maximise the benefit of this investment we are expanding our Data Management Team with a Data Governance Manager, to support governance and assurance of our environmental data assets across Met Office systems and value streams.

Job description

We want the successful candidate to use our Data Governance Framework to manage how we handle environmental data assets across our IT estate in a structured way to ensure that they are accurate, complete, valid, consistent, unique and timely. This covers data collection, creation and processing, as well as data service access for our external users.

• You will manage the Data Governance Framework and its related principles, policies and guidance. You will work closely with the Lead Data Governance Manager to address business challenges, find opportunities and suggest improvements according to relevant government (and other) policies and best practices.
• You will develop measures to monitor and raise maturity in organisational data governance, identify gaps and propose improvement plans to support staff, embed sustainable ways of working and address business needs.
• You will promote a culture of data governance that is inclusive and accountable, creating work plans to foster openness and transparency among colleagues throughout the Met Office, so that they can use insights, intelligence and experience to guide decisions, set work priorities and collaborate on governance issues.
• You will advise key stakeholders clearly and promptly on how to handle data governance and compliance matters, sharing your knowledge to promote good practices through a range of engagement activities. This will improve data fluency, ensure a consistent approach to data governance and support organisational needs.
• You will apply your knowledge and experience of relevant technologies, tools and techniques to deliver data governance across our IT systems.

You understand data governance and how it works in relation to other organisational governance structures, data maturity assessments and in providing assurance of services

Person specification

Essential Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:

1. You have proven experience in data governance and a good understanding of the challenges of managing scientific or environmental data and large amounts of metadata for a medium to large scale organisation.
2. You have demonstrable experience translating frameworks, policies and principles into implementation plans, with metrics to monitor compliance and improved data maturity.
3. You have knowledge of data governance principles, standards and best practices such as DAMA.
4. You can communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, inspiring and influencing them across organisational boundaries up to senior management level. You can make recommendations, respond to challenge, and advocate for the business value of data governance.
5. You have good technical knowledge, able to work with a variety of tools and technologies relevant to the data lifecycle.
6. You are results-driven with the skills to achieve outcomes on your own, in collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams and by overseeing the work of others.

Desirable Qualifications, Skills & Abilities:

We encourage you to apply if you believe you meet our essential criteria, but your application will be even stronger if you have:

1. Awareness of change management techniques
2. Awareness of relevant guidance, standards and regulatory obligations in connection with environmental data handling eg RoPSI and UK National Data Strategy.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,838, Met Office contributes £10,486 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

How to apply:

If you share our values, we’d love to hear from you. Apply below using your CV and Cover Letter/Supporting Statement (which must bullet point how you meet each of the essential criteria).

Closing date 06/03/2024 at 23:59 with interviews commencing from 18/03/2024 . You will hear from us once the closing date has passed. Our interviews are taking place remotely via Microsoft Teams.

If successful, please note we are unable to offer expenses for travel to your normal place of work. Please ask at interview if you would like extra clarity on how often this requirement is likely to be.

How we can help:

If you are considering applying and need assistance to do so, please contact us via Careers@metoffice.gov.uk. You can request adjustments either within your application or by contacting us. Should you be offered an interview, please be aware there may be a selection exercise which could include a presentation, written test or a scenario-based activity.

You can select in your application to be considered under the Disability Confident (Guaranteed Interview) Scheme. To be invited to interview/assessment under this scheme, your application must meet the essential criteria for the role.

We are an equal opportunities employer, welcoming applications from those with all protected characteristics. We recruit on merit, fairness, and open competition in line with the Civil Service Code.

We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK - please refer to GOV.UK for information. We require Security clearance, for which you need to have resided in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years to be eligible. You will need to achieve full security clearance within your first 6 months with us

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) 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) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for 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

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.