Senior Policy Officer

ENGINEERINGUK; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 44,000 - 50,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Flexi leave

Pension 28.9%

Discount scheme

Health plan

Development opportunities

Job summary

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK is seeking a Senior Policy Officer to shape responsible innovation and regulatory supervision of personal data usage in digital technologies. You will provide expert advice to regulators, businesses and innovators, enhancing policy development and collaborative approaches across ICO teams.

The role requires strong analytical and organisational skills, with a focus on data protection, privacy by design, and effective stakeholder collaboration

Qualifications

• Significant policy/regulatory/technical experience is advantageous.
• Strong written and verbal communication is essential.
• Ability to build productive relationships with senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Support ICO's strategic regulation and innovation objectives in digital and data rights contexts.
• Develop, deliver clear advice on complex data protection, policy and innovation issues.
• Analyse complex issues, conduct research, and inform policy development with evidence.

Skills

Policy development

Stakeholder management

Analytical thinking

Negotiation

Communication

Job description

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Senior Policy Officer - Innovation and Enterprise

Two permanent positions one role in Digital Firms and one role in Innovation Hub

Full time / Part time

Salary: £44,297 - £49,813 with potential for further progression to £56,082 with our pay progression scheme.

Location: Hybrid

Contracted to our Manchester, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast office. Through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities and there will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.

Why work for the ICO?

• Pay progression scheme.
• Hybrid and flexible working options.
• 25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
• Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).
• Pension (employer contribution around 28.9%).
• Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
• Health Cash Plan.
• Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.

Further details can be found on the benefits section of our website.

Job summary

This is a great opportunity for an experienced policy professional to help shape the responsible use of innovative products and services at the forefront of technological change. Working on complex and high-profile issues, you will play a key role in ensuring compliance with data protection law while supporting innovation that benefits people and organisations. We are looking for someone with strong analytical and organisational skills, the confidence to challenge and negotiate effectively, and the ability to build productive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders to influence positive outcomes.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is the independent regulator of information rights. In a data-driven world, we provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations enabling compliance with their obligations, as well as protecting individuals and their personal data.

As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful.

Job description

The Digital Firms Team is responsible for key areas of the ICO's regulatory supervision of information rights practices in digital and online environments. The Team is responsible for supervising and influencing the data protection compliance approaches of the largest technology firms, collaborating with other UK digital regulators, developing and implementing strategic policy, and supporting formal ICO operations. It deals with the highest profile information rights issues of the day, from data protection matters of strategic importance within the digital economy, to the privacy impacts arising from major public policy developments.

As Senior Policy Officer, you will be involved in developing and executing an enhanced ICO model of regulatory supervision. You will also take ownership of complex policy issues arising out of supervision, undertaking research and supporting policy join-up, providing advice and guidance as well as being a primary source of contact for stakeholders often at a senior level.

The Innovation Hub sits within the ICO's Innovation Department and supports responsible innovation involving personal data. Working with innovators, regulators and other stakeholders, the team helps organisations navigate complex data protection challenges, embed privacy by design, and develop innovative products and services responsibly. The Hub also identifies emerging issues, contributes to policy development, promotes coordinated regulatory approaches, and supports public trust in the use of personal data.

As a Senior Policy Officer, you will work with regulators, businesses, and other stakeholders to support the ICO's innovation and regulatory objectives. You will provide expert advice on complex data protection issues, help organisations adopt privacy-conscious approaches, and build strong stakeholder relationships. The role also involves identifying emerging data protection challenges, gathering insights from engagement activities, and using these to inform policy development and shape the ICO’s approach to responsible innovation.

Key responsibilities:

• Support the ICO's strategic approach to regulatory supervision, responsible innovation, and the use of personal data in digital and emerging technology contexts.
• Develop, produce and deliver clear written and verbal advice on complex data protection, regulatory, policy and innovation issues.
• Analyse complex issues, undertake research, and use evidence and insight to inform policy development, decision-making and the ICO's wider strategic approach.
• Develop and maintain subject matter expertise in information rights legislation, data protection law, emerging technologies, and wider political, legal, regulatory, technological and societal developments.
• Build, develop and maintain effective relationships with assigned stakeholders, including innovators, regulators, businesses, senior stakeholders and other organisations.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the ICO to support policy development, regulatory coordination and joined-up approaches to innovation, supervision and emerging technology issues.
• Identify emerging issues, risks, opportunities and trends in technology, innovation and data rights, including horizon scanning and considering their strategic, social and practical implications.
• Keep accurate records of internal and external engagement, progress, and project documentation as required.
• Comply with ICO policies and procedures and undertake any other duties as required.
• Support the supervision of big tech platforms and help drive improvements in how these firms approach data processing in high-priority areas such as AI and children's privacy. (Digital Firms)
• Influence senior stakeholders and external organisations in a way that supports the ICO's objectives, including through negotiation and the maintenance of effective working relationships. (Digital Firms)
• Act as a central point of coordination for cross-ICO collaborative project work and liaison. (Digital Firms)
• Provide practical advice and support to organisations, innovators and regulatory partners to help embed compliance and data protection considerations from the earliest stages of product or service development. (Innovation Hub)
• Proactively identify and pursue opportunities for new partnerships and engagement to increase the team's output, influence and reach. (Innovation Hub)
• Promote data protection by design, privacy-friendly innovation, and responsible approaches to the development and deployment of products and services that use personal data. (Innovation Hub)
• Contribute to business planning, activity reporting, and the measurement of performance and impact. (Innovation Hub)
• Represent the ICO through stakeholder engagement activities, including meetings, workshops, conferences, industry events, regulatory forums and public speaking engagements in the UK and internationally. (Innovation Hub)

Person specification

Essential criteria assessed at application stage:

• Significant relevant working experience in a policy, regulatory, technological or legal based role will be an advantage (also measured at interview).
• Experience of working with complex information, which could include legislation or operational rules and procedures (also measured at interview).
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to negotiate and maintain good working relationships both internally and externally, up to and including senior management level (also measured at interview).
• The ability to use good judgement and problem-solving skills in order to take sound, evidence-based decisions (also measured at interview).

Essential criteria assessed during interview:

• Excellent ability to analyse complex issues and formulate clear and persuasive arguments for a range of audiences.
• Excellent communication skills, including excellent written, oral and presentation skills.
• An ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team to achieve a shared goal.
• An understanding of wider political, economic, and technological developments in the UK and overseas
• Ability to travel to meetings and events in the UK and occasionally overseas (possibly outside office hours).

Equality, diversity, and inclusion

The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.

Candidates with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy will be invited to interview as part of the ICO's commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme.

As part of the ICO's commitment to our EDI objectives and creating a workplace that represents the communities and societies we serve, we guarantee an interview to candidates who declare they identify as belonging from an ethnic minority background and who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy.

If you are disabled or have an impairment and require an alternative application method, please email the HR team at

Closing Date

Please submit your CV and cover letter by 23:59, 13 September Your cover letter should be no more than 1,000 words and should clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria for the role.

We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. To ensure your application is considered, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact us at .

In the event of a high volume of applications, we may not be able to invite all candidates who meet the minimum criteria to interview. However, we encourage you stay in touch and apply for future roles that match your interests.

All candidates who meet the minimum criteria and apply in-line with our guaranteed interview scheme for disabled and ethnic minority applicants will be interviewed.

Company

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent regulator for data protection and information rights law. We exist to empower you through information.

We achieve this by:

• educating organisations, through guidance and engagement to understand when and how they can use personal data;
• taking action against organisations that do not comply with the law;
• helping individuals to understand and exercise their rights; and
• working with other regulators in the UK and globally to improve information rights standards.

Purpose, objectives, values and behaviours

Purpose

The ICO exists to empower you through information:

• We empower you as a member of the public to confidently contribute to a thriving society and sustainable economy.
• We empower your organisation to plan, invest, responsibly innovate and grow.
• We empower you by promoting openness and transparency by public bodies.
• We empower you to hold us to account for the difference we make when enforcing the laws we oversee.

Strategic objectives

Safeguard and empower people, particularly the most vulnerable, by upholding our information rights and enabling us all to confidently contribute to a thriving society and sustainable economy.

Empower responsible innovation and sustainable economic growth, by providing regulatory certainty about what the law requires, reducing the cost of compliance and clarifying what we will do if things go wrong. This enables those we regulate to plan, invest and innovate with confidence.

Promote openness, transparency and accountability, supporting the development of a modern Freedom of Information (FOIA) and Environmental Information (EIR) practice framework in the UK, inspiring confidence in public services and democracy.

Driven by our values, we’ll continuously develop the ICO’s culture, capability and capacity to deliver impactful regulatory outcomes, be recognised as an effective provider of public services, a knowledgeable and influential regulator and a great place to work and develop.

Values

Curious

We believe in continuous learning, empowering our teams to experiment and innovate and are eager for new or different perspectives to inform our work. We are curious enough to consider new ideas and agile enough to explore them effectively. We are curious and empathetic and actively interested to understand all perspectives. We particularly use this to make our expectations of those we regulate as simple as possible to implement. We regularly ask ourselves why, and why not, and seek creative opportunities and solutions to both recurring and new situations. We challenge each other constructively, supporting each other to find the best outcome.

Collaborative

We work together in ways which enable us to prioritise, support our agility and our collective and individual high performance. This enables us to successfully execute our plans by responding to emerging risks and opportunities at pace but without sacrificing our high standards. We move fast together so we can fix things in ways which are timely and relevant for our customers, stakeholders and colleagues. We experiment together, learn and continuously improve. If it doesn’t work, we learn from it quickly and make changes.

Impactful

We thrive on delivering at pace and with impact, by being selective to be effective. This will help us to ensure our important work makes a material difference and take pride in our high performance. We set clear objectives, make timely, informed decisions, using evidence and insight, and measure and evaluate our work. We achieve high performance by empowering people to take personal ownership and accountability. We learn from our mistakes, continuously develop and celebrate our successes.

Inclusive

We want a truly equal, diverse workforce and inclusive culture. One where we respect each other and those we serve. We want diverse teams and leadership. We want stakeholder relationships that reflect our society so our organisation can thrive and perform at our very best.

We are curious to understand all perspectives, recognising the value that they bring. Our aim is for equality, diversity and inclusion to become fully embedded in all our working and thinking.