Please note, this vacancy is open to current University of Glasgow employees only 

Job Purpose

The main purpose of this post is to lead change management initiatives that enhance data quality and governance across the University, addressing key data related challenges which impact on delivery of the University’s strategic objectives.  The post holder will be responsible for leading the Data Governance, Quality and Compliance Team, with responsibility for the accurate and timely delivery of statutory student returns (including leading on preparations for in‑year HESA Data Futures collections), the effective management of student surveys, and the coordination of responses to internal and external data requests.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1. Lead the Data Governance, Quality and Compliance Team within Planning, Insight and Analytics. Set priorities and oversee the efficient running of statutory student data collections, various student surveys and the provision of student data for a wide range of uses, including Freedom of Information Act responses.

2. Lead and coordinate the University’s preparations for meeting the requirements of in‑year HESA Data Futures collections.  This includes overseeing planning and delivery, monitoring progress against agreed milestones, identifying and escalating risks, and ensuring appropriate mitigation is in place. The role will guide and support the team in interpreting HESA requirements and in shaping the necessary changes to University systems and processes to achieve full compliance.

3. Roll out a robust and sustainable data governance operating model, in line with our Data & Analytics Framework, with a focus on the improvement of data quality through modifications to organisational behaviour, policies and standards, principles, governance metrics, processes, related tools and data management.

4. Serve as a liaison between business/functional and technical teams across the university to ensure that consideration is given to the requirements for maintaining high data quality thresholds and data governance mechanisms as part of process improvement and transformational change activities.

5. Develop and implement the processes, templates and/or tools required to establish a University‑wide data catalogue that centralises business term definitions and metadata descriptions. This will support the standardisation of terminology across reporting and dashboards and enhance understanding and trust in data across the institution.

6. Develop and implement processes and templates that support the definition of clear data quality rules and support the implementation of mechanisms that identify and flag breaches ensuring rules are understood, embedded and consistently applied.

7. Facilitate the development of processes and tools that support standard practices for defining technical definitions for key datasets (metadata management) to ensure clarity and a shared understanding of data across the University.

8.Support the implementation of processes, templates and/or tools required to define data quality metrics and establish standard mechanisms that flag potential issues, enabling data owners and stewards to easily identify breaches and ensure data remains compliant.

9. Facilitate the assessment, development and potential implementation of any new data quality and/or data governance tools and promote strong user engagement across the University.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience 

Knowledge/Qualifications 

Essential:

Educated to degree level or equivalent professional experience.

Knowledge of industry leading data quality and data protection management practices.

Knowledge of data governance practices, business and technology issues related to management of enterprise information assets.

Knowledge of statutory and/or regulatory data related requirements and emerging trends and issues.

Desirable:

Demonstrable project management experience within data migration or statutory returns projects.

Higher education sector experience in a data or related field.

Skills 

Essential:

Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work with internal and external stakeholders at all levels of an organisation.

Strategic awareness and ability to make strategic choices.

Political sensitivity and environment awareness.

Excellent skills in influencing and working with internal and external partners.

Excellent communication skills, written and verbal.

Ability to make effective decisions under pressure and to tight timescales.

Proven analytical and problem-solving ability.

IT skills relevant to the role with a good understanding of project management methodologies and recognised ways to centrally manage project activities using tools such as JIRA, MS project Excel and Word.

Desirable:

Able to use data quality and governance tools e.g. Great Expectations, Data Hub, Alteryx, Talend, Oracle Master Data Management.

Experience 

Essential:

Significant experience in a relevant professional role.

Staff leadership and management.

Experience of influencing teams and individuals where the post holder does not have any direct line management responsibility.

A well-developed awareness of the politics and challenges of the higher education landscape and experience of managing expectations around these.

A track record in contributing to and/or making and/or influencing strategic decision making through your work.

Experience of managing change effectively and motivating others to embrace change.

Use of KPIs to drive performance and evidence improvement

Desirable

Substantial experience of the higher education operating environment and its cultures.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 8, £50,253 - £58,225 per annum.

This post is full time and fixed term for up to over 1 yr to allow handover

Closing date: 5th February 2026

The University of Glasgow has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.  If you require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the UK, you will be required to meet the eligibility requirements of the visa route to be assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Please note that this post may be eligible to be sponsored under the Skilled Worker visa route if tradeable points can be used under the Skilled Worker visa rules. For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

1 A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.

2 An excellent employment package with generous terms and conditions including 41 days of leave for full time staff, pension - pensions handbook https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/payandpensions/pensions/, benefits and discount packages.

3 A flexible approach to working.

4 A commitment to support your health and wellbeing, including a free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff joining the University  https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/staff/healthwellbeing/.

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/.

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan/ and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University.

We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too. Please visit our website https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/ for more information.