Head of Data Rights

Metropolitan Police; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 84,000 - 93,000; Full time

Job summary

Metropolitan Police is seeking a senior leader to run the Data Rights function, guiding a 80–100 person operation that processes around 30,000 information requests annually under data protection and information laws. The role sits within the Communications & Engagement Directorate and reports as the organisation’s final escalation point on data release decisions.

You will oversee a modern, high-performing, resilient function, shaping governance, technology use and ethical data practices across

Qualifications

• Experience leading large, multidisciplinary teams in high-profile settings.
• Proven track record delivering service improvements at scale.
• Ability to navigate political and regulatory environments.
• Strong stakeholder liaison with senior leaders and external regulators.

Responsibilities

• Provide clear, visible leadership of the Met’s Data Rights function and set strategic direction.
• Lead a large, diverse team and foster a high-performance, inclusive culture.
• Advise senior police and corporate leaders on complex, high-risk data rights issues.
• Drive organisational change within Data Rights, improving capability and operating model.
• Establish robust performance frameworks, governance and continuous improvement.
• Promote innovation, automation and advanced data tools within the function.
• Standardise processes across the organisation ensuring resilience.
• Shape the future use of data with emphasis on rights and ethics.
• Ensure defensible decision-making and escalate where required.
• Build relationships with national partners and regulators (e.g., ICO).

Skills

Leadership of large teams

Service improvement

Strategic thinking

Compliance & risk management

Political sensitivity

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Education

Practitioner Certificate in Freedom of Information

Data Protection Practitioner Certificate

Job description

Salary: The starting salary is £83,589, which includes allowances totalling £3,009.

The salary is broken down as £80,580 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £93,071. Plus, a location allowance of £2,009 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

Location

Hendon, Lambeth, Westminster

Role Purpose

We are looking for an outstanding leader to run one of the biggest and busiest Data Rights teams in the country.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is committed to being a data driven organisation that treats data as a critical strategic asset, underpinning transparency, public trust, operational effectiveness and ethical policing.

As Head of Data Rights, you will occupy a senior strategic leadership role with accountability for how the MPS fulfils its statutory, ethical and public facing obligations relating to access to information and the protection of individual rights.

You will lead a large, complex, high volume Data Rights operation of circa 80–100 professionals, responding to around 30,000 requests annually under the Data Protection Act 2018, UK GDPR, Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Sitting within the Communication & Engagement Directorate, the Head of Data Rights has organisation-wide influence, operating at the intersection of legal compliance, organisational reputation, public trust, technology and operational delivery.

You will be part of the Communications & Engagement Senior Leadership Team and act as the Met’s authority and final escalation point for many data release decisions. As a leader, you will shape the future of the Data Rights team and deliver a modern, high performing, resilient and innovative function, ensuring legal compliance while positively enabling operational policing, transparency and ethical data use.

This role is central to the MPS ambition to:

• Modernise services through process redesign, automation and emerging technologies
• Build and sustain public trust through openness and transparency
• Enable responsible data sharing that supports policing outcomes
• Strengthen governance, assurance and organisational capability within legislative requirements

The role operates in a highly sensitive, reputation critical environment, requiring sound professional judgement, political awareness and the ability to balance individual rights, public interest and operational risk.

Responsibilities

• Provide clear, visible and authoritative leadership of the Met’s Data Rights function, setting strategic direction aligned to organisational, legal and ethical priorities.
• Lead, inspire and motivate a large, diverse and multidisciplinary team, creating a high-performance culture that is supportive and inclusive.
• Act as the Met’s senior professional lead and subject matter expert for Data Rights, confidently advising senior police and corporate leaders on complex, high risk and precedent setting issues.
• Lead and deliver significant organisational change within the Data Rights function, transforming capability, culture and improving the operating model and ways of working.
• Establish and monitor robust performance frameworks, metrics and governance, demonstrating service maturity, efficiency and continuous improvement.
• Promote a culture of innovation and continuous improvement, encouraging teams to challenge established practices and deliver better outcomes, particularly the adoption of automation, redaction tools, eDiscovery solutions, AI and other emerging technologies.
• Drive process standardisation and simplification across a complex organisational landscape, embedding consistency and resilience.
• Shape and influence organisational thinking on the future use of data, ensuring rights, freedoms and ethical considerations are embedded in decision making.
• Ensure consistent, proportionate and defensible decision-making across the organisation, acting as the ultimate escalation point where required.
• Build trusted, effective relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders, including national policing partners and regulators, such as the Information Commission (formally the ICO).

Additional Information

This role forms part of an ongoing organisational review. Consequently, the grading, pay arrangements and associated terms and conditions may be subject to change following the completion of this work and any associated consultation processes

This role does not attract Shift Disturbance Allowance. If you are currently in a shift-working role, SDA should cease upon appointment to this job.

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Significant experience of successfully leading large teams and managers within a complex, high-profile organisation.
• Demonstrable success in driving service improvement, performance management and innovation at scale.
• Strong strategic thinking skills, with the ability to operate effectively amid ambiguity, competing priorities and incomplete information.
• Experience balancing operational delivery with compliance, risk management and ethical considerations.
• Confident operating in politically sensitive, reputation critical environments.
• Ability to build consensus, negotiate effectively and manage challenging stakeholder relationships.
• Highly developed communication skills, with experience influencing at senior executive level.

Desirable Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Evidence of leading innovation, including the deployment of digital solutions, automation, AI or advanced analytics to improve service delivery.
• Practitioner Certificate in Freedom of Information, Practitioner Certificate in Data Protection or equivalent practical experience in Data Rights Legislation.

Disability Confident Statement

The Met is committed to being an equitable (fair and impartial) and inclusive employer for disabled people, striving to have a diverse and representative workforce at all levels. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and long-term conditions, ethnic minority groups and women.

As a Disability Confident Leader, the Met has committed to making disability equality part of our everyday practice. We ensure that people with disabilities and those with long term conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.

The Met is committed to making reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process to ensure disabled applicants can perform at their best. If youneed any reasonable adjustments or changes to the application and recruitment process, we ask that you include this information within your application form. All matters will be treated in strict confidence.

Please note, if you are applying for a police officer role or to become a police community support officer (PCSO) or designated detention officer (DDO), there is a minimum requirement that you must pass a job-related fitness test (JRFT) at point of entry. This does not apply to police staff roles. Find out more about police fitness standards .

Read our full disability confidence statement.