Please note – this vacancy is only open to internal members of staff with a contract at the University of Essex (Not On Demand or Casual)
The UK Data Service, the national data service for the social sciences, is seeking to appoint an Acting Data Publishing and Curation Team Manager to oversee all aspects of data ingest, publishing and curation to ensure consistent, effective and responsive services to data creators and users, including management of the Data Publishing and Curation teams.
Appointment to this role will be fixed-term initially until December 2026 and is available to undertake on a secondment basis subject to line manager approval. The successful candidate will have the chance to work within a highly-specialised team in a pre-eminent, well-respected data service.
The UK Data Archive is certified for Information Security Management and is also accredited under the for both provision and preparation of data. In addition, the Archive holds and accreditation.
Duties of the post include oversight of all aspects of data ingest, publishing, enhancement and curation at the UK Data Service and ensuring that efficient and effective service is maintained. The post holder will work closely with fellow functional managers across the UK Data Service to ensure a smooth workflow and consistent, high quality, responsive services to data creators and users. Duties also include line management of five Data Curation Officers, one Senior Metadata and Ontologies Officer, and one Senior Discovery Officer: Multilingual Vocabularies.
A full list of duties and responsibilities can be found within the job pack.
The successful candidate should hold a masters level degree (MA, MSc) or have equivalent experience.
We are seeking an individual with strong line management and proven leadership skills alongside quantitative data skills, including an understanding of handling, manipulating and cleaning large numeric datasets, including social surveys and administrative data.
An understanding of metadata standards as well as experience of statistical software such as SPSS and Stata as well as programming skills in R and Python are highly desirable. The ideal candidate will possess excellent communication, analytical and problem-solving abilities, along with a solid understanding of data security, governance, and disclosure principles.
You should be a confident team leader, who is able to oversee and maintain excellent levels of service as well as provide a lead advisory role for data creators and depositors on data disclosure control.
This is a fixed-term, full-time opportunity until 24 December 2026, which is also available as a secondment opportunity.
If you are a current University of Essex member of staff applying for the post as a secondment, you must discuss your application for this secondment with your line manager prior to making an application. Your Department/Section will need to consider cover arrangements for your absence before a decision can be reached as to the possibility of your release from your current post.
As this is a secondment for a fixed-term period until December 2026, it carries an expectation that the post holder will return to their current post at the end of this time.
A part-time, job-share arrangement will also be considered. Please state clearly on your application form the contract type for which you are applying. Please provide details on your application of which hours and days you are available to work.
Please note that continuation of a job share arrangement is dependent on there being two people available to undertake the arrangement.
Due to the nature of the role, it is essential you can fulfil the staff vetting requirements in respect of University Positions of Trust and be able to undertake a Basic DBS.
At the University of Essex, internationalism and diversity is central to who we are and what we do. We are committed to being a cosmopolitan, internationally oriented university that is welcoming to staff and students from all countries, faiths and backgrounds, where you can find the world in one place.
To support this commitment we have our, a staff-led network that promotes and celebrates the rich cultural diversity among Essex staff, and our Colchester campus based, which hosts regular services, meetings and events organised by our chaplains and faith representatives.