Senior Communications and Engagement Officer

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? Research Data Scotland needs you!

Are you a strong communicator with experience of developing content for multiple audiences and working with different stakeholders? 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 Research Data Scotland (RDS) on the Administrative Data Research Scotland (ADR Scotland) programme, we’re seeking a communications and engagement professional who has experience of developing and delivering successful communications strategies, and an understanding of how to engage with relevant audiences from policymakers to researchers.   

Key details

Role: Senior Communications and Engagement Officer
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

The Senior Communications Officer will lead and deliver the RDS elements of a cross cutting communications and engagement strategy for the ADR Scotland programme. Working in partnership with Scottish Government, SCADR and ADR UK, you’ll be sourcing and developing case studies to bring our work to life along with crafting external communications to communicate across multiple channels.

About you

You are a self-starter, with experience of developing strong relationships with key stakeholders. You are very organised with a proven track record of creating creative communication strategies and products. You’ll have excellent verbal and written skills and a good understanding of the tools, practices and techniques to communicate brilliantly across a broad range of channels.

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.