Quality Lead

Job summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

This role sits within the Data Quality Hub, part of the Quality and Improvement Division in the Methodology and Quality Directorate. The Division plays a critical role in ensuring that ONS data, statistics and analysis meet the standards set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics and wider government quality frameworks.

The Data Quality Hub leads work to embed strong, proportionate data‑quality management across ONS, with a particular focus on surveys and input data. The Hub provides expert advice, assurance, guidance and practical support across the data lifecycle, working closely with survey teams, methodologists, governance teams and senior leaders.

Job description

Are you interested in providing senior technical leadership on survey methodology and input data quality across ONS, while also being accountable for delivering priority data quality services.

In this role you will act as an expert in survey quality and data quality management, leading technical thinking, setting direction, and providing authoritative advice on complex quality issues that affect surveys and input data.

Alongside this technical leadership, the role holds clear accountability for owning and leading defined quality improvement workstreams, ensuring high-quality delivery, clear impact, and assurance to senior leaders that risks to quality are being identified and managed effectively.

This role plays a critical part in strengthening ONS’s quality culture by ensuring that quality policy, guidance, assurance activity and support for survey teams are coherent, credible and genuinely usable in practice.

As a G7 Data Quality Technical Lead, you will:

• Act as a senior technical authority on survey methodology and data quality, trusted to lead on complex, sensitive or high impact quality issues.
• Set and shape the technical direction for how survey quality and input data quality are assessed, understood and managed across ONS.
• Own and lead a portfolio of data quality workstreams, ensuring work is both technically sound and delivered effectively.
• Provide expert challenge and advice into survey design, transformation and improvement activity, influencing decisions early in the lifecycle.
• Lead and mentor SEO Data Quality Specialists as a technical role model, building capability and confidence across the team.
• Represent the Data Quality Hub as a credible technical leader in senior governance forums and cross office discussions.
• Balance hands on technical leadership with oversight of delivery through others, stepping in directly where expert input is required.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Proven experience as a technical expert in survey or data quality.
• Experience leading and influencing technical work beyond their immediate team.
• Confidence providing constructive challenge and advice at senior levels.
• Experience developing others.
• Strong professional judgement and a proportionate approach to managing quality risks.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Deep understanding of survey methodology, including how design, collection, processing and analysis affect data quality.
• Excellent communication skills, including explaining complex technical issues clearly to non‑technical audiences.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,861, Office for National Statistics contributes £16,472 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

ONS are committed to flexible ways of working that support a healthy work-life balance. ONS has already considered how this job could be right sized for applicants working flexibly and we are happy to explore options with you about working part time, in a job share or flexibly, in line with our hybrid working policies.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Security Clearance

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental o