ICO Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Careers

We support over 1,100 staff across the organisation ensuring the end-to-end operational delivery whilst delivering the ongoing operation of secure and reliable IT and telephony services and systems that support the smooth running of the ICO business operation.

We are the central point of contact between IT and all ICO service users handling the full lifecycle of IT service delivery, from managing requests to resolving issues, planning upgrades and device build and rollout.

We play a critical role in delivering on the commitments set out in our ICO25 strategic plan. Working together with colleagues across DDaT, the wider organisation and our external stakeholders, we deliver products and services that are designed, built and delivered with a user centric approach. We build user feedback and insights into everything we do.

The team supports the gathering of true user needs and requirements to design, build and iterate in conjunction with our Agile principles and aligning to GDS service standards. We’re made up of a professionally skilled and multi-disciplined team that leverages the best in user research, user experience (UX) design and accessibility, scrum master, technology analysts and test team.

But the most valuable skill for anyone in the team is advocacy: making sure the voices of our users are heard so we can build great digital services that meet their needs and make their experiences with the ICO the best they can be.

We are the first point of contact for all business and technical owners that require support in the procurement of new technology, software and services. Using a range of procurement frameworks, we seek to secure the best suppliers delivering against ICO needs whilst ensuring best value. Managing a large and wide-ranging portfolio, we are critical to ensuring consistency in service and managing our suppliers effectively.

We also provide a robust major incident and problem management service to the DDaT team that supports increased efficiency and productivity, future incident prevention, reduction in downtime and an improved customer experience.

We support the successful delivery of the ICO strategy through delivering an Enterprise Architecture vision and plan aligned with our goals.

The department develops and delivers the ICO’s Enterprise Architecture vision, strategy and roadmaps from a business, technology and data perspective, including “as is”, “to be” and transitional states.

Helping the ICO to make appropriate business, technology and data decisions by recommending reuse, sustainability and scalability, to achieve value for money and reduce risk

We collaborate and consult with stakeholders to ensure business, technology and data decisions are aligned with enterprise architecture strategy.

The department carries out horizon scanning across the industry and wider technological landscape, identifying emerging trends and their potential impact and opportunity for the ICO, and incorporating these into plans.

Data is one of the most valuable assets an organisation has.

As the regulator for data, the ICO encourages the public sector to use data in impactful and innovative ways while using people’s personal data responsibly. It is therefore imperative that we have a robust data governance framework for the ICO. This includes designing, implementing and monitoring data governance throughout the data life cycle, defining and applying end-to-end data governance frameworks, processes, operational policies, standards, compliance and assurance.

We help the ICO develop and deliver the ICO’s Enterprise Data Strategy, championing and developing data’s role as a strategic enterprise asset.

The department ensures the optimum management, use and exploitation of data across the ICO sets the vision for the ICO’s use of data, through data design, to ensure that data is managed properly and meets the ICO’s needs.

The Cyber Security department supports the ICO to achieve its goals and ambitions by enabling the secure access and use of data both internally and externally by our colleagues and customers. By delivering ‘secure by design’ best practices and assuring our cyber security stance against industry best practice and guidance, we enable confidence for the organisation to be curious and ambitious, in building our services to empower people through information.

We cover a wide range of areas across the organisation, from providing security requirements and assurance in the procurement of new systems and services, to engaging in the secure technical delivery of new projects and changes. We support right the way through the lifecycle of system and service security assurance, to the secure divestment of technology and equipment.

We work across the whole organisation to provide the guidance, governance and assurance required in an ever-changing cyber threat landscape, to enable progress and change at pace, while protecting the people, technologies and data as expected of a leading UK regulator.

The Information Management and Governance team provides the advice and guidance, policies and procedures that enables the ICO to manage data assets appropriately across the organisation. As a leading UK regulator, we must hold ourselves to the highest standards for data management, data privacy and governance. The Information Management team provides the Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA) process for the ICO, updates and reviews the Privacy Notices in alignment with the DPO, and provides the guidance and assurance on how data is collected, processed, stored and deleted in line with all relevant legislation.

The team provides privacy by design, works with projects and change across the organisation, to ensure the appropriate controls and best practices are followed in all data use. The team provides governance and assurance that all colleagues understand their roles and responsibilities for managing data, working with the information asset owners (IAO), information asset managers (IAM) and a network of local information management officers (LIMO) to promote and assure good practices across all departments.

Working closely with other teams across the organisation, the Information Management team ensures that the ICO meets its mandatory actions such as assessing ROPAs, data transfers both national and international, including to the national archives (TNA).