Head of Data Protection Policy and Police Support

Can you produce high-quality policy advice, communicating complex information clearly and confidently to senior officials, ministers and key stakeholders?

Have you successfully built influential relationships with senior leaders, government departments or external partners, helping to shape policy and deliver organisational priorities?

Are you politically aware, confident managing sensitive issues and risk, and committed to maintaining high standards of governance, including the appropriate handling of information, meeting security and data protection requirements?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

The Data Protection Policy team plays a vital role in supporting the DVLA's engagement with ministers, the Department for Transport (DfT), and wider government stakeholders. Working at the centre of strategic decision-making, the team provides high-quality policy advice, and contributes to ministerial briefings and other sensitive correspondence that supports government and agency priorities.

Operating in a fast-paced and high-profile environment, the team works closely with senior leaders, policy colleagues, legal advisers, and external partners to ensure accurate, timely, and effective delivery. The team is responsible for driving policy development, managing risks, maintaining strong governance standards, and ensuring compliance with legislative, ministerial and departmental requirements. Through collaboration, expertise and innovation, the team helps shape policy outcomes and supports the Agency in delivering its strategic objectives whilst complying with it's legal obligations. The role also includes leadership for operational delivery of a range of key DVLA services to meet the specific requirements of the police and other law enforcement stakeholders.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at DVLA:

DVLA roles: DVLA – Home , Civil Service Careers

You will lead the strategic direction of the Data Protection Policy and Police Support teams, providing expert advice and guidance on complex and high-profile issues. Build and manage effective relationships with ministers, senior officials, and key stakeholders to support policy development and legislative change. Ensure the delivery of accurate, timely, and impactful briefings, advice, and communications, representing the DVLA professionally in a fast-paced and politically aware environment. You will also manage the provision of critical services relied on by important government stakeholders.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Leading the Data Protection Policy and Police Support teams, acting as the key contact within the Agency and ensuring the delivery of high quality, accurate and timely policy advice, briefings, parliamentary responses, sensitive correspondence in line with DfT protocols, and delivery of key operational services.
• Lead the development and delivery of policy and strategic initiatives, providing expert advice, engaging with stakeholders across government, and ensuring policies support Agency and government priorities while delivering high-quality outcomes.
• To provide leadership on the strategic direction of data protection policy and act as the champion for policy changes, working closely with relevant cross-agency colleagues. To provide guidance and direction to own teams about the requirements for new polices/initiatives.
• Lead workforce planning and team development, ensuring resources, skills and capabilities are effectively managed to deliver directorate priorities and objectives.
• Lead risk management activities, maintaining risk registers, promoting a proactive risk culture, and ensuring appropriate mitigations are implemented to support effective decision-making and delivery.
• Ensure personal and team compliance with corporate responsibilities and policies such as data protection, absence management, security, health and safety.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills set out in the Civil Service Line Management Standards.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

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)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

How to apply:

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's skills and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1250-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:
• Building effective relationships with senior stakeholders, which could include ministers, senior officials, and external partners in the public sector or equivalent senior roles in the private sector.
• Developing or influencing policy and providing strategic advice to support organisational and government priorities.
• Leading teams, managing priorities and delivering high-quality outcomes in a fast-paced environment.
• Managing risk, ensuring compliance with governance requirements and handling sensitive information appropriately.

The sift will take place from 02/09/2026

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – Seeing The Big Picture, Communicating & Influencing, Delivering at Pace
• Experience

The interviews will take place week commencing 21/09/2026

This interview will be conducted in person at our Swansea office (DVLA, Longview Road, Morriston). Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site (opens in a new window).

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change

Further information on the selection process

We will also hold a 12-month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert or the information on our website, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Pre-employment Checking

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All external applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Threats or acts of violence
• Illegal activity or substance misuse
• Sexually explicit material
• Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public. Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle - it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture. If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

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