Senior Data Protection Advisor

Job description

About

The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) helps businesses invest, innovate, export and grow across the UK. The Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) directorate helps to deliver this by designing, building and running the services, platforms and technology that businesses and colleagues rely on every day.

Our teams work on a wide range of services and technologies, including:

• digital services that help businesses access government support, guidance and opportunities
• data and AI products that support decision making and enable innovation
• internal tools and services that help colleagues work more effectively
• secure technology and platforms that support critical government services
• cyber security services that protect systems, data and users

By joining DDaT, you'll work on services used by businesses, colleagues and citizens across the UK. You'll be part of multidisciplinary teams focused on improving services, solving complex problems and delivering better outcomes for users.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive workplace. In recognition of this, we were named Best Public Sector Employer at the Women in Tech Employer Awards 2025!

As a Senior Data Protection Advisor, you will support the department's operational data protection risk assurance function, ensuring personal data is handled lawfully, securely and responsibly while enabling the effective delivery of departmental priorities.

You will work in a small specialist team, provide expert advice on complex and high-risk Data Protection Impact Assessments, and work closely with stakeholders across Digital, Knowledge and Information Management, Legal and business areas to enable innovation, digital transformation and the responsible use of data, including emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

Main responsibilities

You will:

• Lead complex, high-profile and high-risk Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) reviews from triage to sign-off, providing authoritative risk assurance and practical mitigation for the Department’s most challenging processing activities
• Work with teams and suppliers to identify and mitigate data protection risks, making sure actions are taken and tracked using the right tools.
• Ensure DPIA recommendations and risks are clearly documented and the Record of Processing Activity (RoPA) for the processing is accurate.
• Liaise with the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Data Protection Officer (DPO) when medium/high risks have been identified.
• Drafting/assuring privacy notices, data sharing agreements, and Article 28 clauses: coordinate with Cyber, Commercial and Technology subject matter experts.
• Lead or support ICO consultation (where required) and prepare clear, decision-ready risk products for senior governance forums (e.g., ARAC).
• Administrate BIST’s Data Protection Assurance platform, identifying and implementing improvements to meet business needs while ensuring compliance with data protection legislation.
• Line-manage junior analysts and provide key leadership within the Data Protection Team