Data Gaps Lead (Ref: 21786)

Job summary

Job description

Data Gaps Lead

Location: National*

Closing Date: 17th September 2026

Interviews: week commencing 28th September 2026 (subject to change)

Grade: Grade 7

(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)

Salary: National: £58,511 – £65,329
London: £63,343 – £70,725

Working pattern: full-time, part-time, flexible working,

Contract Type: Permanent

*We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your local office. Office locations can be found ON THIS MAP

Please note that unless you are an existing member of staff at Justice Digital, Data and Science, the only London location being recruited to is 10 South Colonnade, E14 4PU. We are no longer recruiting to 102 Petty France, SW1H 9AJ.

The Role

We’re recruiting for a Prisons Data Gaps Leadhere at the Ministry of Justice, to be part of our warm and collaborative Prisons Data Transformation team. This role will lead our work to identify, prioritise and respond to priority gaps in prison data, helping ensure that operational, analytical, policy and digital partners have the right data to support better decisions and outcomes. The role is pivotal in translating business and user needs into clear data requirements, shaping how Digital products and services can improve data quality, accessibility and use across HMPPS and the wider MoJ. As priorities evolve, the postholder may also be required to pivot to support other data transformation priorities across the team.

You’ll receive a range of excellent benefits when you join our department, including:

• A generous employer pension contribution of 28.97% through the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
• 25 days of annual leave, (increasing to 30 days once you have reached 5 years of service),plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
• Flexible working arrangements including hybrid working, working part time or compressed hours. Designed to support a positive work–life balance.
• Employees are allocated 10% of their working time for personal and professional development.
• A £1k per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best-in-class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms.
• Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!

You can find more details of the Benefits we offer here. To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital, Data and Science please take a look at our blog.

Key Responsibilities:

• Leadership and Team Management: Lead a team to understand and manage data requirements for a range of products and services across the business – including via Digital, Data, Analysis, Policy, and HMPPS operations.
• Engagement and Communication: Engage with, and influence, senior partners across the MoJ and beyond to promote the value and use of data, using influence to ensure prioritisation, progress and delivery.
• Relationship Building: Establish strong relationships with colleagues in Digital, Data, Analysis, Policy, and HMPPS spheres to build and maintain a collaborative environment that prioritises delivering high quality outcomes whilst promoting and representing the needs of our users.
• Data Requirements Understanding: Collaborate with Analysis, Strategy, and Policy teams to understand their data requirements. Shape how Digital teams can address these needs through new digital services and enhancements to existing services, thereby filling key evidence gaps
• Technical Collaboration: Work with technical partners in Data Science, Engineering, and Digital/IT teams to identify and deliver the right data solutions.
• Focus on HMPPS:Support initiatives aimed at improving HMPPS data, with opportunities to contribute to broader business engagement as required.
• Focus on prison data gaps:Identify, prioritise and help address priority gaps in prison data, working with operational, analytical, digital and policy partners to ensure data improvements are targeted at the areas of greatest business need.

Person Specification

Essential

• Inclusive Leadership: Demonstrate inclusive and emotionally intelligent leadership through which you have developed a highly functional and collaborative team.
• Resilience and Prioritisation: Show high resilience and the ability to prioritise efforts to deliver maximum impact, maintaining enthusiasm and momentum in shifting or uncertain landscapes. Give equal focus to both short-term and long-term priorities, pivoting in response to external impacts.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Engage credibly with analytical, technical, operational, and policy teams, consequently aligning needs and services for all data users. Have the ability to influence senior leaders effectively.
• Data Improvement Recognition: Acknowledge the value of data and identify data improvement opportunities to transform outcomes for downstream data users.
• Experience with Multidisciplinary Teams: Demonstrate experience in working with multidisciplinary teams, particularly in translating between technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for BPSS clearance.

We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate based on culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.

Our values are Purpose, Humanity Openness and Together. Find out more here about how we celebrate diversity and an inclusive culture in our workplace.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the