Join our growing Data team at the Royal Borough of Greenwich
Written: 22 March 2024 by Sam White, Head of Data
Hi, I’m Sam, and I’m Head of Data at the Royal Borough of Greenwich. I’m lucky to have the job of leading the council’s direction in the access, engineering, analysis and use of data.
We’re looking for brilliant people to join our growing Data team. This blogpost tells you what to expect if you join us, to help you understand whether you’d like to apply.
Our Data team is part of our wider Digital and Customer Services division. You can read our digital strategy to understand more about the wider team, and Our Greenwich to understand the council’s ambitions.
The Digital team has existed for around 3 years, including the Data team. We’ve spent a lot of time since then building the team up, developing new tools and platforms, and legitimising data work in the council.
We now have a great problem: demand for data skills has surged, and we can go far beyond analytics to be service improvement partners across the organisation.
We’re looking for highly skilled, kind and curious people who can help us meet the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
What we’re working on
At the moment, like every other authority in the country, we’re focusing on how to continue to offer a true safety net, advice and help to our residents while meeting financial challenges. The Data team helps the organisation with this by doing things like:
- building insights to inform better decision-making for our residents and communities
- using data to better understand and meet resident need
- contributing to a transparent and efficient council, leading programmes of work to improve internal data and allow people to work more effectively
We work across the whole organisation, leading and contributing to lots of programmes. Some things we’ve been working on recently are:
1. Housing Services Analytics
Understanding and supporting work with vulnerable tenants, homelessness, and how to most efficiently meet and manage the growing demand for temporary accommodation.
2. Social Care
Exploring the future of joint working with the NHS, addressing an aging population, and using data to meet increasing demand.
3. Internal Reform
Redesigning our finance function and using technology to automate and remove repetitive processes. We’re rethinking how we better spend time and money, how we spend our money more effectively, and where we can find savings with minimum service impact.
And this is just the start. We’ve spent a lot of time maturing our data and embedding the Data team in service delivery, and now we’re excited to be moving on to the next steps:
- extracting data from images
- utilising large language models
- applying machine learning to extract value from unstructured data
- assisted decision-making through AI
- advanced data visualisation for transparency and improved decision-making
Technology we use
Cloud platforms: We primarily use Azure Cloud for various data-related operations.
Technology Stack: Synapse and MLAI Studio as we start to investigate the world of machine learning.
Programming Languages: We work in SQL and Python for data analysis and manipulation.
Data visualisation tools: We use tools like Power BI for effective communication of data.
Continuous development: The tech and data landscape is changing rapidly. Advances in consumer AI, and more awareness of what technology can do, mean that there is more demand for creative thinking about how we handle data and what it can do for our residents and staff. We’re always looking for better solutions to the problems we face, and we’re exploring the very latest technology to help us do this.
Team and culture
You’ll be joining a fantastic team, both within Data and the wider Digital and Customer services team.
Our culture is rooted in collaboration, shared knowledge, and equal opportunities. Everyone gets a chance to work on multiple types of work, so you’ll have a chance to pursue whatever fascinates you.
The Data team is a central hub for analytics across the council. So you’ll be collaborating with people at all levels across the whole organisation, providing tools and skills to support the handling of strategic and operational data. It’s a great opportunity to work with a range of roles in a variety of teams, and to see change happen in all areas of the business.
We have an open and supportive work environment where we encourage reflection and honest communication. And of course, whatever you work on you’ll have the potential to make a real difference to people’s lives.
Our culture is something we’re really proud of and we’re careful about who we welcome to that culture. We’re inclusive, kind, and humble, and we’ll need those things from you too. Working openly and caring deeply about improving people’s lives are essential, as are curiosity and teachability — we’re more concerned with questions and the hunger to learn than trying to have all the answers.
Who we’re looking for
The challenges we face aren’t simple, and they need a creative and adaptive mindset. We’re looking for people who are experienced in working with data who have the potential to not just boost the size of the team, but to have a great effect on the quality of our work and on our culture.
To work with us, you’ll need some great data skills, a hunger and curiosity for new challenges, and the ability to work really well with people right across the council — not just in your specialism. You’ll need to be humble and, most of all, you’ll need to understand that we’re here to serve people — our staff and our team members.
- Analytical Background. A foundation in data analytics is a must.
- Problem-Solving Skills. We’re looking for someone with an exceptional ability to understand and solve complex problems.
- Teaching and Training. Willingness and ability in teaching and training people on data tools.
- Communication Skills. You’ll need to be able to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
- Process Optimisation. Tireless thinking about processes and optimisation.
- Big Picture Thinking. Awareness of the broader strategic perspective.
- Tool Proficiency. Deep understanding of the use of a range of data tools.
- Data Manipulation. Ability in data wrangling, automation of data flows, and cleansing large datasets.
Contact us
If you’re ready to apply to a great team on an amazing mission, submit an application to join us.
Apply for our Data Analyst vacancy
Closing date: 21 April 2024
