Job Description
Employer: UK Data Archive (at University of Essex)
We are seeking to appoint a new Director of the UK Data Service. The Director will provide strategic leadership, playing a significant role in shaping and scoping out the future direction of the UK Data Service and enhancing its national and international reputation.
Applicants should bring strategic vision and exceptional leadership and management skills to the role. You will be able to demonstrate that you can build and manage strategic relationships with a wide range of partners, including non-academic partners at a senior level.
Further details and job pack:
UK Data Service (UKDS) is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to meet the data needs of researchers, students and teachers from all sectors in the UK, including academia, central and local government, charities and foundations, independent research centres, think tanks, business consultants and the commercial sector. UKDS has a long-standing international reputation as a leading social science repository that provides data curation and dissemination services and long-term digital preservation services to the research community.
The UK Data Archive (UKDA) is the UK’s largest digital collection of social sciences and population research data. UKDA is the lead partner in the UK Data Service.
UKDS is seeking to appoint a Director at an exciting inflection point in the development of future data services. ESRC is undertaking a strategic review of how it funds data services beyond 2024, Future Data Services, and UKDS has an opportunity to help shape the future landscape both in the UK and beyond. Future challenges include global considerations of data security, trust in AI, interoperability and federation of data services. Data now plays an indispensable role in shaping every sphere of social interaction, business and entrepreneurship, and in resolving these challenges.
The Role
Based at the UK Data Archive, an academic department of the University of Essex, the Director of UKDS will be part of a leading Social Sciences faculty within the University of Essex. The Faculty has the distinction of high performing subjects - with 4 subjects ranked in the top 4 in REF 2021 - all grounded in the utilisation of data in different and complex ways that significantly contribute to the visibility and ambitions of the UKDS.
You will provide strategic leadership and management for UKDS and as the Principal Investigator will develop and lead the vision and direction for UKDS, playing a significant role in shaping and scoping out the future direction of the service, and enhancing the UKDS’ national and international reputation.
In addition, you will ensure the effective leadership of UKDA as the lead organisation in UKDS, and also direct development and oversight of the UKDS strategy with the other partner institutions, namely Jisc, the Cathie Marsh Institute (at University of Manchester), Edina (at University of Edinburgh) and University College London.
The Director has overall responsibility for ensuring these multiple partner contributions deliver an effective strong, recognisable national data service, including the acquisition, curation and dissemination of data. The Director will also promote partnerships with significant international partners such as CESSDA (Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives) and the DDI Alliance, among others.
About You
The successful candidate will bring strategic vision and exceptional leadership and management skills to the role. You will be able to demonstrate that you can build and manage strategic relationships with a wide range of partners including non-academic partners at a senior level. These include key personnel at UKRI, the Office for National Statistics; Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), National Records Scotland and Research Data Scotland, and NISRA. You should also be able to cultivate links to industry and with other significant UKRI investments such as the Productivity Institute, ADRUK, HDRUK and Smart Data Research UK among others, proactively seeking and being responsive to opportunities that can positively shape and strategically position the UKDS in the global data landscape.
A full list of duties and responsibilities and applicant requirements can be found within the job pack.
At the University of Essex, internationalism and diversity is central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries, faiths and backgrounds, where you can find the world in one place.
To support this commitment we have our Global Forum , a staff-led network that promotes and celebrates the rich cultural diversity among Essex staff, and our Colchester campus based Faith Centre, which hosts regular services, meetings and events organised by our chaplains and faith representatives. For more information see: https://www.essex.ac.uk/life/student-facilities/religion-and-faith
Please see the attached job pack, which contains a full job description and person specification, which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role plus more information relating to the post. We recommend you read this information carefully before making an application. Applications should be made on-line, but if you would like advice or help in making an application, or need information in a different format, please email the Resourcing Team (resourcing@essex.ac.uk ).
Salary: On the grade 11 scale commensurate with experience & achievements
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