Head of Data Rights

PDP Companies Ltd.; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 84,000 - 93,000; Full time

Job summary

The Metropolitan Police Service is seeking a senior leader to head the Data Rights function, a large, high‑volume operation handling thousands of requests annually.

As Head of Data Rights you will set strategic direction, ensure legal and ethical compliance, and manage a team of 80–100 professionals while interacting with senior police leaders and regulators to uphold rights and public trust.

Qualifications

• Senior leadership experience in a large, complex Data Rights or information governance function.
• Strong ability to balance legal compliance, public trust and operational risk.
• Experience building and leading multidisciplinary teams in a high‑volume environment.

Responsibilities

• Provide clear strategic direction for the Met's Data Rights function in line with legal and ethical priorities.
• Lead a large, diverse team to deliver high‑quality data rights decisions and support policing outcomes.
• Advise senior leaders on complex, high‑risk information governance issues and regulatory requirements.

Job description

Head of Data Rights, The Metropolitan Police Service

Job Type: Permanent

Role: Head of Data Rights

Sector: Public

Location: Hendon, Lambeth, Westminster

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

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).

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.