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Charity registered in Scotland SC051305
Do you believe in the power of data to improve people’s lives and know that working with the public is vital to our mission? Research Data Scotland needs you!
We have an exciting opportunity to work in a multifaceted Business Management role to support the delivery of exemplary governance and operational excellence. This role works with stakeholders at every level in our organisation and as such we are looking to appoint a highly motivated and conscientious individual.
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.
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 Business Manager will work closely with the Chair, CEO and Operations Director to manage, coordinate and schedule the regular cycle of our governance and business activities. This will include coordinating board meetings as well as maintaining our internal registers and ensuring our reporting mechanisms are top-notch! This post will be highly varied and vital to the successful delivery of our Business and Delivery plans.
There is a strong focus on developmental projects, operational risk, records management, governance, improving our performance and delivering our day-to-day charity operations. You’ll be an important member of our Operations Team, sharing your expertise with colleagues and board members, as well as independently leading on activities.
Reports to Operations Director
About you
You are a self-starter, with experience of working with stakeholders at every level. You’ll understand the importance of engaging well with board members, senior leaders and your colleagues to get their input into your work and support great governance. You are highly organised and thrive on managing multiple projects with different deadlines. You are keen to deliver, with an eye for detail and the pragmatism to understand our context and environment.
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.
Board Trustee with Financial Expertise
- Management Board
- Unpaid
- Board meetings are usually online with an annual meeting based in Edinburgh.
- Closing 25th November 2022
About Research Data Scotland
RDS’s mission is to coordinate access to the excellent data already collected about people, places, and businesses in Scotland, helping researchers and analysts to access that data in a timely and cost-effective way, enable working across boundaries to collaborate on common datasets, and access to the analytical tools they need to bring cutting edge insights that inform great decisions. We will enable research on different scales: from large international studies, to simple and quick analyses of individual datasets, and support people to use the latest data science and geospatial approaches.
Our Board
Working with the CEO, and the Chair, the Board steers the delivery of the RDS mission. It oversees key decisions that the organisation takes towards that mission, and provide support for the organisation through advice, and use of its networks to ensure RDS builds connections that helps it achieve its goals.
Currently there are five RDS Trustees and four further expert advisors to the Board. Find out more at this link: Board of Trustees | Research Data Scotland.
The Board has two sub-committees:
- An Audit, Risk & Finance Committee who oversee the integrity of financial information, and that financial controls and systems of risk management are robust and defensible;
- A Remuneration & Nomination Committee that determines the appropriate levels of remuneration of Executives and has a prime role in succession planning.