Job Description

About Us

At Stockport Council we are on a mission to create opportunities for everyone within the borough.

Working collaboratively as one team, we are an ambitious council, with a nationally leading regeneration programme, an innovative Stockport Social Care Model, and a transformational approach to digital.

The Sunday Times named Stockport in its \'best and up and coming areas to invest in\' list and The Guardian newspaper said: "there is something special in the air" and that "a clued-in council are making things happen".

We are undergoing an exciting \xc2\xa31billion transformation programme creating jobs and opportunities, improved infrastructure, and a wide range of economic benefits, not just for now, but for future generations. We are working hard to make Stockport a vibrant and desirable location to live and work.

A Local Government Association (LGA) peer review in November 2022 highlighted:

• Stockport is an impressive organisation that works closely with local partners
• A leader in place-shaping & leadership citing our strong partnership working (with external partners as well as across the council)
• Delivering high performing services that meet the current needs of the local population well
• Having strong financial management within the organisation and good governance
• Working as one in the interests of our residents, we have a strong collaborative culture
• Having strong and trusting relationships across councillors and officers

We are proud to be recognised under the Good Employment Charter as an organisation committed to the wellbeing of our colleagues.

Your Role

In Stockport, data has always been viewed as one of our most valuable strategic assets and a critical component to achieving our ambitions. Our approach to data and digital is award winning and we are nationally recognised for our work. We know that we can do more to unlock its value. We want to make data, and the subsequent insight derived from it, even more accessible to colleagues and residents - empowering them to make better-informed decisions.

With Stockport Council providing multiple services across the borough, aligning data sets across the council and beyond will be particularly important to the achievement of our council and Borough plans. To this end, we\'re committed to making ambitious improvements in our data capability. We want to invest in an approach and a team that will strengthen our organisational approach to data - empowering colleagues with better tools to turn data into insight-led action.

We need a Head of Data to be our most senior data officer in the council, leading the development of an organisational approach that will provide better opportunities for the data analysis and reporting efforts of our individual services. This role is highly placed within the council in terms of its strategic accountability, operational profile, impact on the community and the targeted aims and objectives of the council.

Reporting to the Director of Strategy, the Head of Data is responsible for leading our award-winning Data Service, unlocking better value from our data, and increasing the maturity of the organisation in its use of data. We are looking for a collaborative leader who can build strong relationships across the organisation and beyond. The role encompasses data strategy, data governance, technical platform development, process change, senior stakeholder management and development of skills and culture. The vision for Stockport\'s approach will be to utilise our data to:

• Inform how services may be improved and/ or delivered in the future
• Inform the development of council strategies and policies
• Convert insight into clear action by partnering insight with service design principles
• Ensure robust performance management that can drive service improvements
• Operationalise the use of descriptive, diagnostic, investigative and predictive analytics in the frontline
• Ensure that our approach to data aligns and compliments our wider organisational goals

We\'re offering a permanent role with flexible working options, car lease scheme, good salary, and generous pension - in an organisation that has the scale and ambition to create career opportunities for talented people.

The successful applicant will be employed on a contract across all Council Corporate and Support Services, providing significant career opportunities across a range of service areas.

As members of the charter, we have been recognised as a great place to work for all colleagues and pledge to pay the real living wage, engage staff in key decisions and endorse fair and flexible working conditions.

Follow our recruitment team on Twitter and Facebook for updates on our vacancies, recruitment events and find out what it\'s like to work for Stockport Council!

This post is politically restricted under the terms of the 1989 Local Government and Housing Act. This dictates that you must seek the council\'s permission before taking up any additional appointments or positions.

Please note that we have made a commitment to improve the employment opportunities for people with disabilities, care leavers and ex-military personnel. As part of the Guaranteed Assessment Scheme, you will therefore be guaranteed an interview if you meet both the criteria for the scheme and the essential job role criteria.

Stockport Council is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce culture - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities to join our workforce.

We want our employees to have a good work life balance and in many job roles we can offer a range of flexible/ hybrid working arrangements. We also have inclusive employment policies and staff engagement forums to support our diverse workforce. We will listen to, learn from, and develop our workforce.

Application Deadline: 31 August 2023.
Shortlisting Date: 9 August 2023.
Interview Date: 15 and 16 August 2023. Interviews will be face to face.

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council