Data Analyst

Do you believe in the power of data and think this power should be used to improve the lives of the people living in Scotland?

Are you passionate about how data-driven innovation can transform services and improve wellbeing? Do you have experience of working with large scale datasets and data platforms?

We’re offering a brilliant opportunity to work at the cutting-edge of data research in Scotland. Working with Scottish Government, Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR) and Administrative Data Research Scotland (ADR Scotland) on various programmes, we’re seeking a data analyst who has experience of developing ways to determine data accuracy and discoverability as well as helping to implement new data services for researchers.

Key details

Role: Data Analyst
Salary range: £35,068 - £41,374 (B2)
Hours: 35 per week
Employment type: 2 year fixed term contract
Closing date: 18 August 2023

Download the full job description

About us

Research Data Scotland is a charity set up by the Scottish public sector and leading universities. We help researchers find and make use of data that can improve the lives of people in Scotland. Working in partnership, we do this by widening the range of data available, creating new data assets and providing a single point of contact for safe, secure and effective access to public data in a trustworthy manner.

Data is often locked away in lots of individual systems, across many different organisations, and isn’t in a format that makes access or integration easy. We can help researchers to unlock the potential of this data by giving them information and advice that speeds up and simplifies their work.

RDS aims to provide a step change in the service to researchers, whilst maintaining the high standards of information governance and data security already in place. We aim to work as openly as possible, maintaining standards in transparency and ethics. Our focus is on providing a streamlined service for researchers, as well as extending the range of data available through the service, particularly in the areas of Covid-19, NHS imaging, geospatial data, children and justice services.

Our partners include: Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, National Records of Scotland (NRS), and the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. We work closely with the national and regional safe havens. And we are in contact with other organisations in Scotland and across the UK in the data research sector, including public sector, research and commercial bodies. 

About the job

RDS is at an exciting stage in establishing our data sourcing and curation functions and becoming a key partner in delivery of the ADR Scotland programme.

We’re recruiting a Data Analyst to assess the feasibility of making datasets available for research. This will include deciding if data is accurate and fit for purpose and preparing it for use in Scotland’s National Safe Haven (a secure computing environment). This will include using R/R Studio to write code to update datasets. The analyst will also work on developing ways to update and refresh existing datasets and improve discoverability through our metadata catalogue, as well as helping develop new data services which could include the creation of synthetic data.

About you

You are a self-starter, with high energy. You are very organised and have proven data analysis experience, preferably in the public sector or academia. You are passionate about how data driven innovation can transform services and improve wellbeing and have good knowledge of/experience in working with data and data platforms. 

Life at RDS

We are a small friendly and highly engaged team of people. We promote continuous learning and work hard to build an inclusive and supportive workplace culture. We live our values of; integrity, transparency, courage, collaboration and humility.

Our people typically work a 35-hour week, with hybrid working on offer from day one. You can choose to work flexibly from home or use one of our desks in the Bayes Centre in central Edinburgh. The whole RDS team meets one day per month in-person in Edinburgh or at an off-site away day in the Central Belt. Individual teams organise their own in-person days to collaborate, develop and socialise together.

We offer 33 days’ annual leave (including public holidays) and have no set closure days. We have a generous pension and enhanced pay for parental/adoption leave. This list of benefits is being added to as the organisation develops, and you can help shape it as part of the team. Our Culture Group helps us seek feedback from colleagues across the organisation to make RDS an even better place to work.