Senior Information Management and Governance Officer
Data Protection and Information Rights lead (Grade E3)
FTC until August 2025 (Maternity cover)
Edinburgh/Hybrid
£46,392 – 54,003 per annum
Everything we do at the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) aims to create the right environment for colleges and universities to thrive.
The Scottish Funding Council is Scotland’s tertiary education and research authority. Our ambition is to make Scotland an outstanding place to learn, educate, research, and innovate – now and for the future. So, naturally, we have a clear focus on recruiting the best people and developing them throughout their career.
By fostering our guiding principles, we are very proud of the inclusive working environment that we have created. We are committed to attracting people of all backgrounds: we want our colleague base to reflect the people and communities that we serve.
Job Summary
Reporting to the Assistant Director, Information Governance you will lead on responding to information rights requests and fulfil the role of the Data Protection Officer - a key role within SFC. You will work in close partnership with senior leaders, including the Senior Information Risk Officer and Chief Information Officer, supporting the Assistant Director to deliver the Information Governance Framework and leading on associated activities.
As an experienced Information Rights and Data Protection practitioner, you will be skilled in dealing with sensitive, complex information at pace, building trusted relationships with colleagues across SFC, and you will exercise good judgement in responding to information rights requests.
You will be expected to work flexibly across the responsibilities of the information governance team, stepping in to provide cover and support when required to ensure deadlines are met. A keen understanding of the strategic context within which the SFC is working will be key to success in this role.
Key Responsibilities
1. Leading the response to information rights requests, providing advice to colleagues across SFC, ensuring legal compliance with relevant legislation.
2. Provide an efficient and effective senior contact point for queries in relation to information rights and data protection including complex ones.
3. Ensure staff fully understand their responsibilities within data protection legislation and information rights and follow relevant processes, evidenced through reporting and auditing.
4. Promote an information governance culture and an understanding of data protection compliance throughout the organisation.
5. Inform and advise SFC staff, including senior leaders, about their obligations to comply with the UK GDPR and other relevant data protection laws.
6. Develop and maintain effective coordination and liaison with our stakeholders and external partners.
7. Identify opportunities to improve ways of working within Information Governance and implement positive change.
8. Manage and advise on internal data protection activities, for example supporting colleagues to deliver Data Protection Impact Assessments and Data Sharing Agreements.
9. Develop and maintain SFC’s Records of Processing Activities (RoPA) to ensure that it is accurate and regularly reviewed.
10. Co-ordinating with Information Governance colleagues, assess and respond to personal data breaches, including reporting to senior management and the ICO as required.
11. Identify and implement improvements to data protection and information rights compliance based on user requirements and best practice.
12. Contribute, make recommendations and report to the Information Governance Oversight Group on data protection and information rights development and compliance.
13. Monitoring SFC’s compliance with the UK GDPR and other data protection laws and with our data protection policies.
14. Being the first point of contact for the ICO and for internal and external stakeholders, including data subjects.
15. Support the formulation, implementation and regular review of policy and guidance to ensure that data protection and information rights policies meet all relevant legislation and best practice.
Person specification
Essential Requirements:
* Experience of leading and working within data protection and information rights.
* An excellent understanding of the legal and regulatory landscape of all aspects of information governance.
* Evidence of personal commitment to continuous professional development relating to relevant legislative changes and best practice.
* Ability to demonstrate good judgement when analysing and responding to complex issues.
* Excellent oral and written communication skills, including experience of drafting reports, policies, procedures, and responses to information rights requests.
* Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to build effective relationships, work collaboratively and take account of others’ perspectives.
* Ability to work autonomously, take ownership of work, and prioritise tasks and time appropriately.
* Excellent organisational and planning skills, including the ability to work calmly and at pace and the flexibility to manage a diverse range of priorities.
* Qualified to SCQF Level 9 (Degree) or equivalent experience.
Desirable Criteria:
* Experience of performing the Data Protection Officer role, preferably in a public sector context.
* Experience of enhancing the information governance culture in an organisation, preferably within a public sector context.
Additional information
Location
SFC offers hybrid working for its employees. This means that whilst the role is based at our Edinburgh office, there is substantial opportunity to work from home most of the time.
Key Rewards and Benefits
* Normal full-time hours of work are 35 per week. We will consider flexible working arrangements.
* Annual leave entitlement of 26.5 days pro-rata, rising to 30 days pro-rata after 4 years’ continuous service.
* A flexible approach to hybrid working, giving you flexibility to work from home for some of the time.
* Annual pay review: approved within the framework of the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy.
* Eligibility to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
* Support for continuous professional development.
* Support for health and wellbeing, including generous occupational sick pay.
* Support for travel to and from work.
The Selection Process
How to Apply
To apply, please send your CV and cover letter. The selection panel will use this evidence to assess your application against the selection criteria in the Person Specification section above.
Pre-Employment Checks
As part of our pre-employment process, we will ask you to provide relevant documentation to show that you are eligible to work in the UK and a Basic Disclosure Scotland certificate.
Disability Confident
If you need any adjustments to support your application, please contact us and we’ll do everything we can to help.
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