Data Manager

Job summary

About us

We are an arm’s length body of the Welsh Government, responsible for the strategy, funding and oversight of:

• further education
• higher education including research and innovation;
• apprenticeships
• adult community learning; and local authority maintained school sixth forms.

We work in close collaboration with our partners to enable a tertiary education and research system which is centred around the needs of learners; society; and economy with excellence, equality and engagement at its heart.

Our values really matter to us, they help shape the culture of our organisation:

• Dysgu (to learn; to teach; to educate) - learning is at the heart of everything we do. We believe curiosity fuels innovation and helps expand our horizons.
• Cydweithio (to work together; to collaborate; to co-operate) - we can achieve far more together than we ever could alone.
• Cynnwys Pawb (to include everyone; to involve everyone) - we are passionate about inclusion, seeking to create the right conditions for everyone to achieve their full potential.
• Rhagori (to exceed; to excel) - we have high aspirations for tertiary education and research in Wales and always set high standards for ourselves to be the best we can be.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and accredited as a Living Wage employer.

Location

Our headquarters is in 2, Capital Quarter, Cardiff, which has been specifically designed to meet our needs. This is where most colleagues will meet to collaborate, both with each other and with stakeholders.

As we operate across Wales, we also have limited office and collaboration space in Welsh Government offices in Llandudno Junction, Aberystwyth, Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil.

Main purpose of the job

The Data Manager ensures the accuracy, completeness and integrity of Medr’s post‑16 education data by delivering day‑to‑day data quality processes, validations and issue resolution. Working under the direction of the Senior Data Manager, the post holder operates the routine data quality controls for Post-16 Data Collection System and associated applications, provides support to data providers and internal colleagues, and produces clear operational insight and MI to inform decision‑making.

The role contributes to the annual Post‑16 Data Collection System change cycle and to continuous service improvement, with a focus on effective delivery and data quality.

You will work closely with Medr business areas, data providers, and software houses to ensure data submitted to Medr is complete, timely and accurate, and that issues are identified and resolved promptly.

Job description

What you will be doing

Your key responsibilities will be:

Operational data quality and controls

• Run daily/weekly/monthly validation checks to ensure data accuracy, completeness, timeliness and consistency across Post-16 Data Collection System related datasets and across educational sectors
• Investigate and resolve data quality issues; document root cause, corrective action and preventive action; escalate material risks to the Senior Data Manager.
• Maintain, review, and improve data quality rules, procedures, and operational documentation.

Provider support and Incident management

• Regularly review, maintain and continuously improve data quality rules, processes, and supporting documentation
• Provide guidance to providers and software houses on submission standards, validation errors and corrective actions.
• Maintain an issues log (triage, prioritisation, resolution, closure) and produce status updates for stakeholders.
• Support communication activities, including preparing updates, guidance materials, FAQs and briefing notes for external stakeholders.

Annual and mid-year change cycles

• Collate and document business requirements, priorities, risks and impacts from internal teams for the Post-16 Data Collection System change cycle.
• Prepare and update change specifications, working closely with internal and external development teams to ensure requirements are correctly understood and implemented with minimum disruption and meet data quality standards.
• Support testing of changes (e.g. UAT), ensuring updates are implemented smoothly and communicated effectively to stakeholders.
• Plan and monitor project timelines with internal and external stakeholders to ensure changes are delivered on schedule and with minimal impact on providers.

Reporting and management information

• Use data quality analysis, requests and reported incidents to provide operational insights to the Senior Data Manager and Medr business users, supporting planning and decision-making.
• Build and maintain data quality reports that highlight trends, recurring issues, and areas requiring improvement.

Governance, standards and compliance

• Support compliance activities (DPA, data sharing schedules, retention and audit readiness) by supplying accurate operational evidence.
• Promote the consistent application of data standards and naming/definition conventions.
• Ensure all Post16 Data Collection System documentation is up to date and relevant

Dataset Administration and Operations

• Support the Senior Database Manager with the administration, maintenance, and day-to-day operation of all Medr datasets, including data loads, issue resolution and routine operational activities, as required.

Leadership

• Provide day‑to‑day support, coaching and quality assurance for the Data Analyst.
• Foster a supportive, inclusive, improvement‑focused team culture.

Key challenges you will face

• Maintaining high data quality across complex, multi‑source datasets with varying levels of data provider literacy and capability.
• Resolving data issues promptly while balancing competing priorities.
• Translating technical requirements into clear, practical guidance that non‑technical stakeholders can understand and apply.
• Driving continuous improvement without compromising the delivery of day‑to‑day responsibilities and deadlines.
• Support the Senior Data Manager in leading in the development and implementation of a new data collection system

About your team

The Digital Directorate within Medr spans three core areas: Development, Information Systems, and IT Security & Technical Services. Together, we design and manage systems, develop applications and ensure robust security, governance and compliance is in place.

The Data Manager will report directly to the Senior Data Manager who leads a team of two Data Managers and a Data Analyst.

About your line manager

Bernie Page – Senior Data Manager.

Bernie’s current role is responsible for overseeing the management of Medr’s post-16 education data processes and ensuring that data management priorities are met. Bernie transferred from the Post-16 Data Collection System data team in Welsh Government (WG) to Medr’s Digital Directorate which is responsible for Medr’s digital, data and technical services.

Before moving to Medr, Bernie has had a wide ranging career in WG, undertaking roles in

• Technical support for telecoms and Information systems
• A developer on the agriculture inspections systems
• Internal auditor
• Data Manager

Bernie supports the Head of Information Systems in providing secure, robust, digital, data and technical services for Medr.

Person specification

What you will bring

Attributes

• Resilient - You lead with resilience in times of uncertainty and change, inspiring your team to persevere despite obstacles.
• Humility - You listen to diverse perspectives and incorporate feedback into decision-making.
• Empathetic - You promote a culture of empathy and inclusivity, where every voice is heard and respected.
• Accountable - You address non-collaborative behaviour promptly and effectively, promoting a culture of accountability and respect.

Experience

• Experience with Data Management: Proven experience in managing complex data systems with focus on data integrity, accuracy, and consistency.
• Proficiency in SQL: Strong SQL skills to extract, analyse, and troubleshoot data, ensuring that any data quality issues are addressed efficiently. You will use SQL daily for data management, monitoring, and reporting to ensure high data management standards.

Welsh language requirements

We have evaluated that the Welsh language requirements for this post are:

Welsh desirable means that while having Welsh language skills is useful for the role, it is not an assessment criterion, so it won’t disadvantage you during recruitment if you don’t currently possess these skills.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,457, Medr contributes £11,430 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Your perks and benefits

We recognise the importance of looking after ourselves in work and in life, so in recognition of this we provide:

• 34 days annual leave a year (pro rata)
• An environment that embraces work life balance.
• A culture that celebrates diversity and welcomes everyone.
• Dedicated well-being time to all our people each week.
• A Cycle to Work Scheme to make owning a bicycle more affordable.

Additional Support when you need it

We know that sometimes you may face challenges or life events that mean you need additional support.

• We provide a comprehensive employee assistance programme with remote access to resources and in person support whenever required.
• We have a special leave policy ensuring everyone in the organisation receives the support they need during difficult times.

More than just a workplace

• You will be entitled to take 5 days paid leave per year to undertake voluntary work to support the communities we serve.
• We will encourage you to grow your networks across Wales, the UK and internationally.
• We have an active social committee who offer a range of activities for our people to come together outside the work setting. You can participate as much or as little as you want.

Personal and professional development

• Once you’re offered a post, we will get to know you and work with you to develop a personalised onboarding plan which considers your experience, skills, learning style and knowledge.
• We’ll help you shape your development plans with personalised career conversations and objectives, taking account of delivery goals alongside your career aspirations and helping you own your career.
• We support all our staff to learn or improve their Welsh language skills.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

We are really interested in you as an individual and what you will bring to our organisation.

Our assessment process is designed to help us get to know you better enabling us to appoint someone who will thrive in the role and who shares our organisational values.

If you are interested in working with us, please send us your application and personal statement through Civil Service Jobs.

The following attributes/experience will be assessed at sift stage:

Attributes:

• Humility - You listen to diverse perspectives and incorporate feedback into decision-making.
• Empathetic - You promote a culture of empathy and inclusivity, where every voice is heard and respected.

Experience

• Experience with Data Management: Proven experience in managing complex data systems with focus on data integrity, accuracy, and consistency.

To be fair to everyone who applies, we won’t accept:

• Late applications
• Applications with missing or incomplete information
• Personal statements over 1,250 words

The deadline for application submission is Sunday 28 June.

Applications are welcome in Welsh and will not be treated less favourably than those submitted in English.

All applications will be notified of their outcomes via Civil Service Jobs at sift and interview stage.

Candidates who successfully navigate the sift stage will be required to complete an online exercise to enable us to determine their behavioural and personality preferences. Immediately on completion you will be given a report which highlights your strengths plus some development tips to help you prepare for interview. Candidates should note that the online exercise is not intended to eliminate anyone from consideration. Instead, it serves as a tool to aid in the decision-making process.

Following this, you will be required to participate in an interview which will be conducted on 15 or 16 July.

In addition to the attributes assessed at sift stage, the remaining attributes will also be assessed at interview:

Attributes

• Resilient - You lead with resilience in times of uncertainty and change, inspiring your team to persevere despite obstacles.
• Accountable - You address non-collaborative behaviour promptly and effectively, promoting a culture of accountability and respect.

Experience

• Proficiency in SQL: Strong SQL skills to extract, analyse, and troubleshoot data, ensuring that any data quality issues are addressed efficiently. You will use SQL daily for data management, monitoring, and reporting to ensure high data management standards.

We strive for a diverse and inclusive workplace and we want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. We are happy to discuss any person-centred adjustments required to the recruitment process. Please contact swyddi@medr.cymru

We're looking forward to meeting everyone invited to interview at our headquarters in 2, Capital Quarter, Cardiff. We don’t usually pay travel expenses, but if this presents a real barrier to your attendance in person or if you require a reasonable adjustment, please let us know in advance by emailing swyddi@medr.cymru so we can discuss and agree arrangements prior to your interview.

Following interview we are committed to offering constructive and actionable feedback to support you on your future career journey.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : People and Culture team
• Email : swyddi@medr.cymru

Recruitment team

• Email : swyddi@medr.cymru

Attachments

Swydd Ddisgrifiad - Rheolwr Data Opens in new window (pdf, 304kB)Job description - Data Manager Opens in new window (pdf, 301kB)Canllaw i Ymgeiswyr ar Lunio Datganiad Personol Opens in new window (pdf, 112kB)A Candidate's guide to crafting a personal statement Opens in new window (pdf, 113kB)