Job Description

Salary: £32,722 to £33,662 with progression to £35,302 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 22 November 2026

The Role

We are looking for two Information Governance Coordinators to join the University's Information Governance Team on 18-month fixed-term contracts.

The Information Governance Team is a specialist central function with a broad reach across the University, supporting colleagues across all Faculties and Professional Services. We help ensure the University meets its obligations in relation to data protection, Freedom of Information (FOI), Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) and wider information governance requirements.

As a member of the team, you will act as a first point of contact for colleagues seeking advice on information rights matters, including Freedom of Information, Environmental Information Regulations and Data Subject Access Requests. Working with stakeholders across the University, you will help promote compliance with legislation and best practice in information governance.

The role combines casework, investigation, stakeholder engagement and continuous improvement. You will support the University's response to information rights requests, maintain governance records, contribute to compliance reporting and help identify opportunities to improve information governance practices and processes.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys solving problems, working collaboratively and managing a varied workload in a fast-paced environment.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Maureen Wilkinson (Maureen.Wilkinson@newcastle.ac.uk), Head of Information Governance and Data Protection Officer.

About You

You will have:

• Awareness of relevant legislation.
• The ability to solve problems based upon past experience and conduct independent investigative analysis.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with good attention to detail.
• Excellent negotiation and diplomacy skills.
• Extensive experience in a similar or related customer-facing role.
• Extensive knowledge and experience of data protection principles and managing organisational Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulation practices and policies.
• Confidence in making difficult decisions, relying on expert knowledge of the subject matter and occasionally dealing with conflict.
• Experience of reaching pragmatic solutions to complex problems.

Why Apply?

This is an opportunity to join a small specialist team whose work reaches every part of the University. You will work with colleagues across teaching, research and professional services, gaining insight into a diverse range of activities and challenges.

No two days are the same. One day you may be coordinating a complex Data Subject Access Request, the next responding to Freedom of Information enquiries, maintaining governance records, supporting compliance reporting or helping colleagues navigate information governance requirements.

The role offers the opportunity to:

• Work on varied and interesting issues from across the University.
• Build relationships with colleagues at all levels of the organisation.
• Develop your expertise in information rights and information governance.
• Contribute to improvements in compliance, risk management and organisational effectiveness.
• Play an important role in protecting the University's information and reputation.

To apply please upload your CV and cover letter, evidencing how your skills and experiences align to the person specification as outlined within the job description.

Key Accountabilities

• Administering the Information Governance inbox and dealing with common enquiries received by the team.
• Help the University maintain and improve compliance with its legal, regulatory and contractual information governance obligations; including but not limited to FOI, EIR and UK GDPR/DPA.
• Maintain the information risk register.
• Manage FOI requests and DSARs, liaising with colleagues across the University to ensure requests are responded to within the legislative timescales.
• Assist in the preparation of statistics for compliance reporting to various University committees and groups.
• Develop the team’s approach to data and workflow management.
• Identify new opportunities for information governance improvements throughout the University.
• Maintain the University’s Information Governance web presence.
• Other duties may be allocated to support the smooth running of the team.

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Awareness of relevant legislation.
• The ability to solve problems based upon past experience and conduct independent investigative analysis.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with good attention to detail.
• Excellent negotiation and diplomacy skills.
• Extensive experience in a similar or related customer-facing role.
• Extensive knowledge and experience of data protection principles and managing organisation DPA, FOI and EIR practices and policies.
• Confident in making difficult decisions, relying on expert knowledge of subject matter; occasionally dealing with conflict.
• Experience of reaching pragmatic solutions to complex problems.

Attributes and Behaviour

Thinking Strategically

• Able to create a vision for own area and explain how it fits in with the overall strategic vision of the University.
• Develops objectives, plans and performance measures to ensure that graduate outcomes objectives are achieved.

Planning and Organising

• Establishes effective planning and management control systems.
• Actively engages in organisational resource planning.

Embracing Change

• Takes the initiative to ensure continuous improvement by presenting new ideas and approaches.
• Promotes and actively drives change at organisational level.

Team-Working

• Plays a significant role in creating opportunities for teamwork across departments and functions in order to deliver organisational improvements and to develop people.

Influencing

• Builds relationships with key players both internally and externally in order to build support for change and to instill a culture of continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Education to at least A level standard (minimum grade C in English and Maths at GCSE) or possess substantial and broad vocational experience acquired through a combination of job related vocational training and on the job experience.

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

Requisition ID: 29898

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