Secure Data Infrastructure (TRE) Manager

University of Essex; Colchester; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 57,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Essex seeks a senior leader to drive the next-generation Trusted Research Environment (TRE) infrastructure. You will oversee design, build, and governance, embedding AI-enabled workflows and interoperable cloud capabilities while coordinating with UKDS and European partners.

The role requires extensive project leadership, stakeholder engagement, and the ability to articulate complex ideas to senior staff. This fixed-term post runs three years with security vetting.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading large-scale data infrastructure projects.
• Strong engagement with technical and non-technical communities.
• Knowledge of security standards and regulatory requirements.

Responsibilities

• Design and build the next-generation TRE infrastructure and ensure governance alignment.
• Lead planning, coordination and execution of all TRE implementation phases over three years.
• Engage with UKDS teams and European partners to plan transition to federated cloud platform.
• Coordinate AI-augmented workflows and secure output checks across teams.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Leadership

Communication with technical and non-\

Tools

Cloud platforms

Virtualisation

Metadata standards

Data pipelines

Job description

The UK Data Service is the largest repository for socioeconomic research data in the UK. As part of the UKDS' strategic roadmap, our existing secure Trusted Research Environment (TRE) for handling sensitive data is undergoing a complete transformation over the next two to three years. This is an exciting opportunity to lead the transition to a modern, cloud-based TRE infrastructure that not only embeds AI and workflow automation but also integrates seamlessly with federated data ecosystems in both the UK and internationally. You will be responsible for the design and build of the new infrastructure and its alignment with existing governance frameworks, as well as extensive engagement with the UK and European TRE community, ensuring compliance with security standards and regulatory requirements, including alignment with the Standard Architecture for TREs (SATRE). The new TRE platform will support the delivery of complex research on sensitive data, meeting the expectations of both data providers and researchers, enabling them to conduct the most impactful research that ultimately informs government policy, and maintaining the UK Data Service's reputation as a global leader in research data infrastructure.

You will lead on the planning, coordination, and execution of all phases of the next-generation TRE implementation for UKDS, ensuring timely delivery of infrastructure, AI-augmented workflows, deployment, and best-practice governance. Year 1 will be focused on engagement, gap analysis, user and data owner requirements. During this phase, you will facilitate alignment and collaboration between UKDS teams and UK and European partners to plan the transition from the existing on-premises TRE infrastructure (a traditional Citrix virtual desktop environment) to a federated, interoperable cloud platform with embedded AI capability and long-term operational sustainability. In Year 2, you will support the delivery of key pilot projects that will shape the TRE's foundational data pipelines, workflows and endpoints for integration into national and international TRE infrastructure. In Year 3, you will lead the launch of the next generation TRE into production; working closely with all relevant teams across UKDS with a wide mix of expertise, including Information Security Staff, developers, AI/data engineers, TRE user support staff, and secure output checkers.

You will have the technical capability to work comfortably with cloud platforms, virtualisation technologies, data models, metadata standards, and business and data pipeline workflow design. Equally, this is a high-profile leadership role, where you will be representing UKDS in the national and international TRE community. You should have substantial and demonstrable experience of project management, engagement with technical and non-technical communities and be able to advocate and explain complex ideas with fluency in front of senior stakeholders. This is a fixed-term, full-time role for three years due to the research funding cycle. This post involves access to Government systems, information or data and will be subject to the staff vetting process. Further information can be found in the job pack. Our website http://www.essex.ac.uk contains more information about the University of Essex. If you have a disability and would like information in a different format, please email [e-mail].

£47,389 to £56,535 per annum.