Department for Work and Pensions Deputy Director, Information Rights and Data Protection Up to £95,000 Location: Birmingham, Blackpool, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne or Sheffield. Closing Date: Friday 14 March 2025 17:00hrs The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy and services. As the UK’s biggest public service department, it operates on a scale that is unmatched anywhere in Europe and most people in Britain come into contact with the Department at some point in their lives. Its mission is to safeguard an effective national welfare system and embed government security to produce a positive difference to peoples' lives and benefit wider society. Responsible for administering the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers, the nature of DWP’s work means that it collects, holds and processes significant amounts of personal data. Its work is of interest to many. DWP is now seeking an experienced leader to provide oversight and strategic leadership to its Data Protection Team. Also holding the responsibility of Data Protection Office, the role is responsible for advising the Permanent Secretary and the DWP executive team on issues relating to data protection risk and compliance, whilst also playing a key role in enabling delivery of the Department's future strategy by ensuring that new initiatives are legally compliant and protect appropriately the privacy of our customers and employees, as well as enhancing trust. To be successful, you will need to have a strong appreciation of the outcomes that data protection legislation seeks to secure, an ability to work across the breadth of DWP, understanding where, when and how practical solutions need to be found to data privacy challenges, and persuasive and influential communications skills that enable you and your team to convey the imperative of best practice in data protection to colleagues across the wider business. The role also requires effective operational leadership skills so you can lead a committed team of circa 40 people, responding to many thousands of subject access and freedom of information requests each year. You do not need to be a deep technical expert as you will be able to draw on the rich expertise within your team, but you do need to be a passionate and credible advocate for data protection and the work of your team. If you are seeking a role that secures critical safeguards for customers, provides strategic and pragmatic advice to support innovative ways of working, and offers an opportunity to work at significant operational scale – please consider applying. Please contact our recruitment partners GatenbySanderson for an informal discussion: Duncan Ewart: duncan.ewartgatenbysanderson.com and click on Apply for further information.