The ONS operates a flexible hybrid working model across the UK, with colleagues linked to one of our contractual locations working between office and remote throughout the week. The locations for this role are Newport, Titchfield (Fareham)
All colleagues are required to work from their contractually allocated site for at least 40% of their working time.
The induction process for the role will be conducted in person.
Job Summary
Join us as an Operational Support Manager (HEO) and play a key role in ensuring the effective running, documentation and continuous improvement of critical data processes across the Office for National Statistics.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.
The Operational Support role can have a wide range of responsibilities and will require the ability to support the team leads and wider teams in the day-to-day activities. You will be responsible for administrative tasks, operational management, improvement of processes and ensuring effective running of operational services and delivery.
Operational Management is solely responsible for supporting and managing a service or product.
The Operational Delivery Profession (ODP) is the largest profession in the Civil Service. ODP’s 200,000+ members work in a wide range of operational delivery roles across government, providing essential services that support and protect UK citizens at home and overseas. They help to make ONS a great place to work.
As a member, ODP supports you by providing learning and development opportunities, career pathways, tools and resources to help develop your skills and progress your career. This is an exciting opportunity to join a modern, innovative and inclusive Civil Service profession that sits at the heart of public service delivery.
Job Description
This role will assist with the collation and documentation of the data processing requirements and early quality checking specifications, and ensure that throughout the process, metadata/data documentation is created to inform later processes.
In this role you will work with the various services across ONS to ensure the data is fit for purpose by business teams. They will help coordinate activities to ensure a successful conclusion within the required timeframe.
As the system is delivered by multiple teams successful outcomes rely on good communication around the data flows and improving knowledge of the quality of data in earlier phases of the data pipeline. As the long-term aspiration for metadata collated throughout the system to be used in published outputs, the role will be assisting with ensuring documentation is of publishable standard.
Responsibilities:
- Assisting with documenting structural and technical metadata and detailed quality specifications for priority datasets to support continuous improvement activities.
- Arranging meetings with stakeholders, managing agenda, taking notes and actions and documenting requirements in line with agreed procedures.
- Collaborating with multiple teams building good working relationships to improve understanding of metadata and quality requirements for priority datasets.
- Developing and maintaining subject matter expertise where needed of ONS Systems and data governance processes.
- Providing support with SharePoint, managing limited access folders and documentation.
- Collating management information for reporting purposes on milestone activities.
This role will assist with the collation and documentation of the data processing requirements and early quality checking specifications, and ensure that throughout the process, metadata/data documentation is created to inform later processes.
In this role you will work with the various services across ONS to ensure the data is fit for purpose by business teams. They will help coordinate activities to ensure a successful conclusion within the required timeframe.
As the system is delivered by multiple teams successful outcomes rely on good communication around the data flows and improving knowledge of the quality of data in earlier phases of the data pipeline. As the long-term aspiration for metadata collated throughout the system to be used in published outputs, the role will be assisting with ensuring documentation is of publishable standard.
Responsibilities:
- Assisting with documenting structural and technical metadata and detailed quality specifications for priority datasets to support continuous improvement activities.
- Arranging meetings with stakeholders, managing agenda, taking notes and actions and documenting requirements in line with agreed procedures.
- Collaborating with multiple teams building good working relationships to improve understanding of metadata and quality requirements for priority datasets.
- Developing and maintaining subject matter expertise where needed of ONS Systems and data governance processes.
- Providing support with SharePoint, managing limited access folders and documentation.
- Collating management information for reporting purposes on milestone activities.
Person specification
Essential Criteria
- Adaptable to change and manage workload effectively.
- Excellent attention to detail and ability to identify key information from various sources.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills with a proven record of establishing, building, and maintaining relationships with a range of stakeholders.
- Identifies problems quickly and recognises their impact and works towards effective solutions.
- Strong team working skills and collaborative approach to establish effective working relationships within the team and beyond.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Working Together
- Communicating and Influencing
- Changing and Improving
- Seeing the Big Picture
Alongside your salary of £34,587, Office for National Statistics contributes £10,019 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.
Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Visa Sponsorship:
ONS are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants are expected to hold a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are applying on a time-limited visa, this will need to be valid for at least 18 months.
To work at the ONS, candidates must meet both UK right to work and security clearance requirements (where applicable).
If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.
Security Clearance:
For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.
At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:
- Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
- UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
- Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
- Security Services records
Application Process
Number of Stages: 2 stage process
Stage 1: Application
Stage 2: Interview
Stage 1 – Application
The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history skills, experience, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.
A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum wordcount allowed is 1250, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.
When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjusted pass mark but still pass will be placed on hold and may be invited to interview at a later date.
Stage 2 – Interview
If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert.
Interviews will be via Microsoft Teams.
Our main locations are Newport (South Wales) and Titchfield.
A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.
Important Dates:
The Sift will be conducted from
01/07/2026
Interviews will be conducted from
20/07/2026
Dates are subject to change.
For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.
Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
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)
Working for the Civil Service
Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact :
Recruitment team
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact
[email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission