Data Sourcing Lead (fixed term)

Do you believe in the power of data to improve people’s lives? Do you want to enable exciting data driven research to take place securely and for the public good? Research Data Scotland needs you!

At Research Data Scotland (RDS), we’re on a mission to unlock the potential of public sector data—securely, responsibly, and for the benefit of everyone in Scotland. We’re transforming the way data is sourced across the sector – moving from fragmented, one‑off approaches to well‑designed, repeatable solutions that are scalable, efficient and trusted. To help drive this change, we’re recruiting a Data Sourcing Lead to play a key leadership role in shaping our future approaches.

About the job

RDS is undertaking an exciting programme of work to transform the current system of data access for research in Scotland across partners delivering Administrative Data Research – Scotland (ADR-S), part of the wider Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) is a programme funded by the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (part of UK Research and Innovation). ADR UK works with government (UK and devolved) to create linked, research datasets from administrative data sources, so that impactful research can be delivered both by government and the wider research community. In turn, this evidence base enables government to make policy that supports economic growth and better public services to improve people’s lives – across all four nations of the UK.  The ambitions of ADR UK are being delivered in Scotland through the ADR Scotland programme.

RDS is at an exciting stage in establishing our data sourcing and curation functions as a key partner in delivery of the ADR Scotland programme, and growing our data stewardship capabilities by facilitating and coordinating research data availability across the Scottish Trusted Research Environment ecosystem. We’re looking to recruit a Data Sourcing Lead to set direction and champion the value we deliver to our partners, policy makers and researchers by supporting research data availability. This will involve building trusted relationships with data controllers and strategically developing our approach to assessing the research value, contractual governance conditions and data quality of new datasets for ingest into the research data ecosystem. Therefore, collaboration and engagement of stakeholders is a key feature of the role.

About you

You are a self-starter, able to manage and organise multiple competing priorities, with high energy and the ability to persuade others and speak passionately about the benefits from using data for research. You are enthusiastic about how data driven innovation can transform services and improve wellbeing and have good knowledge of/experience in working with data and data platforms, preferably in the public sector or academia. 

You’re a strategic thinker who enjoys designing solutions to information and data governance that bring structure, consistency and long-term value. You’re motivated by transformation and take pride in creating clear, repeatable processes that replace fragmented or reactive approaches to data sourcing.

You’re confident working across organisational boundaries, able to bring together technical, governance and legal perspectives to design solutions that are both practical and robust. You communicate with clarity and purpose, and you know how to influence, challenge and build trust with senior stakeholders and delivery teams alike.

You’re comfortable leading change in complex environments, combining strong problem-solving skills with attention to detail. You’re adaptable in your approach and keep outcomes in mind.

About us

Research Data Scotland (RDS) 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.