Head of Strategy for Data Foundations

Ministry of Justice; United States; Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 107,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous pension

30 days annual leave (plus holidays)

Flexible working

Professional development budget

Learning budget

Career progression

Job summary

Ministry of Justice is seeking a Head of Strategy for Data Foundations within Justice Digital, Data and Science to shape the portfolio across MOJ and OCTO. You will translate priorities into strategic objectives, investment plans and an overarching roadmap for data platforms and architecture that enable secure, governed data use across the department.

You will partner with senior stakeholders across business areas, digital teams and other government departments to drive adoption of shared

Qualifications

• Significant experience developing and delivering strategy in a large, complex organisation, translating priorities into clear objectives, roadmaps and plans.
• Strong track record of working across organisational boundaries and influencing senior stakeholders to drive adoption of shared capabilities.
• Ability to understand complex technology and data landscapes and translate them into clear strategic direction for technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and execution of the Data Foundations strategy and long-term direction for MOJ.
• Own and maintain an integrated strategic roadmap for Justice Data Platform, Integration Hub, AI Gateway, Justice Redact and Data Architecture.
• Develop the business case for investment in Data Foundations and articulate outcomes and value to senior decision-makers.
• Collaborate with technical, product and delivery leaders to align roadmaps under a coherent Data Foundations strategy.
• Identify opportunities to standardise, reuse and simplify data capabilities across MOJ to reduce duplication.

Job description

We're recruiting for a Head of Strategy for Data Foundations here at Justice Digital, Data and Science, to join the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), working within Data Foundations and to the Chief Data Architect. You will be responsible for shaping and driving the strategy for the foundational data capabilities that enable the Ministry of Justice to make better, safer and more effective use of data. OCTO sets technical direction across the organisation. It defines standards, shapes shared platforms and ways of working and supports teams to build and operate systems that are secure, reliable and sustainable. Data Foundations brings together strategic capabilities including the Justice Data Platform, Integration Hub, AI Gateway, Justice Redact and Data Architecture. Together, these provide the shared platforms, patterns and technical foundations that enable data to be securely moved, accessed, governed, transformed and used across the department.

The postholder will lead the development of the overall Data Foundations strategy and roadmap, ensuring these capabilities evolve as a coherent portfolio and respond to the needs of services, domains and users across MOJ. Working closely with technical, product and delivery leaders, the postholder will translate departmental and data priorities into clear strategic objectives, investment priorities and plans. They will identify where common capabilities should be developed centrally, where greater reuse and standardisation can reduce duplication, and where Data Foundations needs to evolve to meet emerging organisational and technology needs. A key part of the role will be connecting Data Foundations with the wider organisation: building partnerships with business areas, digital teams, data leaders and other government departments; understanding future demand; driving adoption of shared capabilities; and ensuring investment in Data Foundations delivers measurable value across MOJ. The postholder will work closely with the Chief Data Architect and Data Foundations leadership team, providing the strategic capacity to look across and beyond individual platforms and programmes and shape the longer-term direction of the portfolio. This role aligns against the Service owner role from the Government Digital and Data Framework, Strategy and Leadership.

• Lead the development and execution of the Data Foundations strategy, setting a clear long-term direction for the shared data capabilities required across MOJ.
• Own and maintain an integrated Data Foundations strategic roadmap, bringing together the evolution of the Justice Data Platform, Integration Hub, AI Gateway, Justice Redact and Data Architecture.
• Develop the strategic case for investment in Data Foundations, articulating the outcomes, benefits and value of shared platforms and capabilities to senior decision-makers.
• Work with technical, product and delivery leaders to ensure individual platform and capability roadmaps support a coherent overall direction for Data Foundations.
• Identify opportunities to standardise, simplify and reuse data capabilities across MOJ, reducing duplication and making it easier for teams to securely access, move, integrate and use data.
• Develop the strategy for increasing adoption and reuse of Data Foundations capabilities across MOJ, working with domains and services to understand demand, barriers and future requirements.
• Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders across MOJ, including digital, data, operational and policy communities, ensuring Data Foundations priorities reflect wider organisational needs.
• Build strategic partnerships across government, identifying opportunities to reuse common capabilities, collaborate with other departments and influence cross-government approaches to data platforms, integration and emerging technology.
• Maintain a forward view of emerging technology, government strategy and organisational demand, identifying where Data Foundations needs to evolve or invest in new capabilities.
• Define and track the outcomes and measures that demonstrate the impact of Data Foundations, including increased reuse, faster delivery, reduced duplication and improved ability to securely use data across organisational boundaries.
• Lead strategic workforce and capability planning for Data Foundations, working with professional leads to identify the skills and capabilities required to deliver the future strategy.
• Support the Data Foundations leadership team in portfolio-level prioritisation, helping make clear choices about where to invest, what to stop or consolidate, and how capabilities should evolve over time.
• Represent Data Foundations in senior governance, investment and strategy forums across MOJ and wider government.
• Contribute to the wider leadership of the Office of the CTO, ensuring Data Foundations is aligned with broader technology strategy and helping shape the department's overall strategic direction.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, inclusivity, accountability and continuous learning across Data Foundations and wider OCTO.

3 Key Criteria

• Significant experience developing and delivering strategy in a large, complex organisation, translating organisational priorities and emerging needs into clear strategic objectives, roadmaps and actionable plans.
• Strong track record of working across organisational boundaries and influencing senior stakeholders, building partnerships across business, digital, data, technology and delivery teams to create alignment and drive adoption of shared capabilities.
• Ability to understand complex technology and data landscapes and translate them into clear strategic direction, communicating complex concepts simply and credibly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

During the interview process you will be assessed against the following elements:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing

You will be asked to deliver a 7-minute presentation that assesses your experience shaping and prioritising a portfolio of products, platforms or capabilities, making evidence-based recommendations about investment, priorities, dependencies and where to standardise, consolidate or reuse capabilities.

Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for BPSS clearance.

The national salary range is £71,381 - £80,419, London salary range is £75,674 - £85,257. Your salary will be dependent on your base location.

Hybrid Working arrangements: the role can be worked in the UK only. All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity. The role is offered a hybrid working arrangement where business need allows, blending working from your base location, different MoJ sites and/or from home.

Contract: Full-time, 37 hours per week. Part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns are considered in accordance with the MoJ's Flexible Working policy.

• A generous employer pension contribution of 28.97% through the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
• 25 days of annual leave, (increasing to 30 days once you have reached 5 years of service), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King's birthday.
• Flexible working arrangements including hybrid working, working part time or compressed hours.
• Employees are allocated 10% of their working time for personal and professional development.
• A £1k per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best-in-class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms.
• Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too.
• Existing Civil Servants moving on a level transfer will retain their current base salary or move to the minimum of the pay band for the role, whichever is higher.
• Existing Civil Servants who are promoted will either move to the bottom of the new grade's pay band or receive a 10% uplift, whichever provides the greater increase.
• Candidates may also be eligible for a non-pensionable Government Digital & Data Allowance of up to £9,151 per year (London). This is a temporary allowance, reviewed annually and may be retained, amended, or withdrawn.

As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. MoJ are able to offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form.

Eligibility: Staff on fixed term appointments must have been recruited through fair and open competition. Vacancies advertised 'cross-government' are only open to all Civil Service employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) who were appointed on merit following a fair and open competition; or were appointed to a permanent post through an exception in the Civil Service Commissioners' rules.

Security checks: BPSS clearance required. DBS Standard also required.

Terms & Conditions: Please review our Terms and Conditions which set out how we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.

The final offer will reflect the skills and experience you demonstrate during the assessment process.