Overview

Looking for a new challenge?

Take a look at our current vacancies. If you see a vacancy that is right for you, we encourage you to apply!

Data Protection Partner

We are currently looking for an experienced Data Protection Partner to join our Data Protection Team. You’ll be aligned to a specific functional or departmental area – partnering to ensure alignment with the service wide data protection strategy and risk appetite and ensuring we comply with our legal obligations.

Key information

Contract: Fixed term contract 12 months, (or for internal applications 12-month Secondment)

Working hours: 35 hours per week is full time.

Where possible, we are open to considering part time/flexible working patterns. Please let us know in your application your desired working pattern.

Salary: From £51,250

Reporting to: Data Protection Manager

Location: London Docklands

Our permanent hybrid policy sees us all working at least four days across a fortnight in the office.

What you will do

You’ll be an expert in the field of data protection and have a strong knowledge of the legislation, feeling confident to provide solutions-focused data protection subject matter expertise, work in partnership with colleagues to evaluate data protection risks and identify migrating controls, build strong relationships with senior leaders, and embed privacy by design into all activities.

You’ll be able to juggle and prioritise different pieces of work by balancing relationship management, privacy advice, support on major projects and Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) against providing advice on smaller risk assessments, managing our data protection training programme, policies and procedures and our data protection dashboard. As well as contributing to our response to potentially high-risk data breaches, ensuring we take prompt action to minimise the consequences of breaches, and learn from our mistakes.

Key responsibilities

• Providing solutions-focused data protection subject matter expertise on projects, workstreams and other activities across the Service
• Working in partnership with other teams across the Service to help evaluate and understand data protection risks on projects, workstreams or other activity, and the associated mitigating controls, to ensure that data protection impact assessments identify and minimise the data protection risks
• Managing risks and issues and communicating those that impact on data protection work to the relevant projects or areas of the organisation
• Using our privacy management tools to create accurate and timely data protection dashboards and reports on key data protection performance indicators for the DPO, our data protection governance committees, the executive committee and Board
• Actively managing our data protection training programme and ensuring it is kept up to date and aligned with our data security and data quality training programme
• Identifying gaps in existing data protection policies, feeding these back to the DPO and Deputy DPO to ensure our policies, procedures, privacy notices and guidance notes remain up to date
• Actively managing our policy, procedures and tools for tracking privacy and data protection impact assessments
• Working in partnership with our records management and information governance teams to ensure that our formal, documented Records of Processing (ROPA) is regularly reviewed
• Contributing to our response to potentially high-risk data breaches, ensuring we take prompt action to minimise the consequences of breaches, and learn from our mistakes
• Caring about the confidential and personal data you’ll be handling – and treating information like this with discretion and sensitivity
• Keeping abreast of data protection legislation and news to assist with keeping the role relevant and the application accurate
• Helping the whole organisation comply with relevant legislative and statutory requirements for data protection – including through training, promoting good practices and improving awareness of relevant policies and procedures

Minimum criteria

• Demonstrate experience managing risks and issues and communicating the impact to relevant stakeholders
• Experience of influencing and persuading at a senior level – and experience of stakeholder management
• Experience in a Data Protection role or in ensuring robust data protection within your current responsibilities

Desirable criteria

We would also like you to have the following skills:

• Be an outstanding communicator and listener with the ability to collaborate and build great working relationships with your stakeholders
• Be DP qualified, or be willing to work towards a DP qualification

Why Financial Ombudsman Service?

We are a values led organisation. Our values define our culture, influence our decisions, and underpin our vision and strategy. They set out how we play our PART through Purpose, Ambition, Respect and Trust. You can learn more about our values here: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/who-we-are/aims-values

We also offer an attractive, competitive salary and flexible benefits to suit our people. Here’s a list of some of the many benefits and perks you can get for working with us:

• 25 days holiday entitlement, with the option to buy extra or sell days
• Generous pension
• Employer provided benefits such as Private medical insurance, virtual GP, Critical illness cover, Life assurance cover, to name a few
• Choice of voluntary benefits including Technology scheme, Cycle to work scheme, Will-writing service amongst others
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Extensive opportunities for personal and career development
• Fully equipped on-site gym open 24 / 7 (London office only)
• Extensive Well-being resources including on-site therapists (London office only)
• Beautiful and bright London office looking over the Thames and near to mainline stations
• Our employee led networks do fantastic work in educating and raising awareness across a range of experiences and support us in being an inclusive employer and a great place to work. You can get involved, too!

How to apply

Please apply by uploading a single document containing your current CV and if you wish, there is an option to add a supporting statement

Applications need to be submitted by 23:59 on Friday 12th September 2025

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a telephone conversation with a member of the Talent Acquisition team.

We welcome internal applications. To apply you must have passed probation, be meeting or exceeding expectations and have no live warnings or PIPs in place.

Due to high application numbers this advert may end earlier than the date specified, so please don\'t delay and apply now!

A full job profile is available on request and will be provided to candidates shortlisted to the first stage of the assessment process.

Diversity and inclusion

We’re proud to be an inclusive employer

We view diversity as fundamental to our success and welcome applications from underrepresented groups across all communities. We’re committed to being a great place to work and to attracting and developing people from a wide range of backgrounds. We want everyone to perform at their best and feel able to be themselves. We understand that if we’re diverse and inclusive, we’ll better understand different perspectives, which is fundamental to our job resolving financial complaints.

We welcome applications from Black and other ethnic minority candidates, and female candidates, for all positions and particularly so for senior leader positions as they are under-represented within the Financial Ombudsman Service at this level.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. This means that we will put disabled candidates entering under the scheme through to the next stage of the recruitment process should they meet the minimum criteria for a role. If you would like to speak to a member of our team about any reasonable adjustments you need, please email hrsupport@financial-ombudsman.org.uk and let us know your preferred method of contact.

Find out more

Check out below channels to find out more about everyday life at the Financial Ombudsman Service – and don’t forget to follow us while you’re there!

• LinkedIn: Financial Ombudsman Service
• Our careers page: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/who-we-are/join-us

Good luck with your application!