You will join our expanding team, helping our clients (government agencies, civil society organisations and data standards initiatives) to open up access to data. We work on a wide range of themes. They include corporate ownership and control (beneficial ownership), public procurement, international development, infrastructure, and grant-giving.

In this role you will be responsible for:

• Technical delivery on a range of data-led client projects, including:

  • Analysing data in Python and SQL, and producing dashboards, notebooks and reports

  • Data standard development, including schema and documentation authoring

  • Building data publication workflows and automations

  • Writing technical reports and guidance

  • Consultation and training with data publishers, data users and other stakeholders, in-person and internationally

• Design, plan and manage data projects delivered by a wider team, including:

  • Eliciting client requirements for analytical products

  • Working with software developers to specify and create data tools

  • Monitoring and improving the quality of team deliverables

  • Estimating and managing resource requirements and coordinating with clients and team members to deliver on time and to budget

• Increase the value and impact of our work, including: 

  • Understanding the organisational and policy context our clients work in

  • Building significant domain expertise

  • Identifying new opportunities and unmet needs

  • Providing technical leadership and vision

  • Contributing to organisational learning and improvement 

You will work as part of a project delivery team (or teams). After your 6 month probationary period, you’ll have the option to become a co-operative member: gaining a stake in its future, taking part in shared decision-making, and developing new skills in co-operative business management.

Who we are

Open Data Services is a workers cooperative that helps organisations across the world to use data to make and measure change. We offer the technical know-how, community engagement and capacity building needed to create initiatives that are collaborative, impactful and sustainable.

Joining our team means you’ll contribute to our mission to help people use data to deliver social impact. Since 2015, we’ve worked on projects that have made a difference – like finding out who owns and controls companies, making public procurement more open, or tracking international aid spending.

We’re a workers co-operative, which means we’re owned and run by the people who work here. Together, we’re committed to building a world-class organisation that delivers benefits to our team, our clients, and the world we live in.

We’re a remote team, working all across the UK. We care about creating a good work/life balance and work to build an environment where everyone’s unique experiences are welcomed, valued and appreciated. 

Who You Are

You are an excellent communicator, both written and verbal. You are confident in presenting complex technical information and analysis to groups with mixed levels of technical expertise. Writing technical documentation and reports comes easily to you. 

You are able to write code and are comfortable with using libraries and APIs to access and analyse data. You understand different data formats, have had some exposure to schemas and data standards, and can clean and wrangle large and messy datasets. You are used to working both independently and alongside other analysts or developers to develop and deploy analytical products. This includes descriptive and complex analysis, visualisation, reporting and dashboarding.

You enjoy organising project work. You are used to discussing the needs of clients, helping them to understand how those can be met or supported by technology, and translating them into technical requirements. You work collaboratively with other team members, including data analysts and developers, to ensure that deliverables are high quality and on time.

You believe strongly in co-operative principles of democratic working, equitability, and mutual support. You are confident in managing complex tasks, and working accurately with minimal supervision. You are keen to improve processes and drive change across the organisation.

Experience working with a fully remote, distributed team is desirable.

How we work

As a fully remote team, we collaborate using an issue-tracking system and shared documents. We hold meetings using Google Meet, schedule things with a shared calendar, and message each other in a company-wide chat for quick questions, or to arrange ad-hoc calls. We work transparently and in the open: except for confidential or sensitive personal information, almost all company information - including financial - is accessible to all staff.

We offer a flexible working policy to promote a good work-life balance, and so that you can adjust your working pattern to accommodate your personal circumstances. Around half our workers are part-time.

What does the job involve?

First week

You’ll meet some colleagues in person and build a plan for training and delivery over the next month. You’ll be set up with accounts and familiarise yourself with the software and systems used by our remote team. We will set you up with the equipment needed for a comfortable home working environment or coworking space. You’ll join standups with your delivery team and start to get a sense of how we work. You’ll start to familiarise yourself with one of our data projects from a technical and policy perspective so that you understand why we do the work we do.

First month

You’ll start working on one of our data standards or data projects, delivering on areas of priority work specified with your delivery team. You’ll meet clients and work your way through induction materials specific to your role and project. You’ll have introductory calls with other staff so that you can understand our co-op and start getting to know the team.

Three months in

You’ll be working in an increasingly independent manner, still supported by a wider delivery team but now taking ownership of designing and executing specific deliverables. You will have familiarised yourself with the technical, policy and organisational environment that you are working in, and be on your way to being an expert in one or more of the fields we work in. You will have attended one of our quarterly co-op gatherings and started to get a sense of the co-op. 

Six months in

You will have taken ownership of an area of delivery, supported by a wider team. You will be working regularly with other analysts, software developers and clients to design and manage delivery.  

Benefits

• We operate a flat rate of pay for all staff, currently set at £43,120 per calendar year (pro rata). The Members may also decide to distribute a portion of company profits between all staff at the end of the financial year.

• We provide a 4% pension contribution to our Workplace Pension scheme.

• We will provide all of the hardware, tools and software required for the job, including a laptop or desktop computer and any equipment or furniture required for a safe and comfortable home-working setup. Staff are also free to use their own devices.

• We will pay for a local co-working space if you don't want to work from home.

• We offer a training budget of £1,000 and 5 paid days per year, and are committed to supporting appropriate staff development and training.

• Our benefits package includes a health cash plan, group life insurance, generous parental leave, a health and wellbeing service that includes GP consultations and counselling, a cycle-to-work scheme, and an allowance for eye tests.

Further details

• As we are a remote working organisation we will consider applications from anywhere in the UK. You must have the right to live and work in the UK.

• Full-time hours are set at 37.5 hours a week with 33 days' holiday (inclusive of bank holidays). We welcome applications for part-time working.

• This role requires occasional national travel to meet with colleagues in-person. We are committed to the safety and well-being of our members and employees and offer a range of support for employees, to ensure that work travel complements their life situation, particularly during the ongoing pandemic.

Next steps

You can start the application process by clicking on the apply button.

You’ll answer some questions that are related to your day-to-day job. After the job closes, your answers will go through our de-biased sift process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised and then scored by members of our team.

If you are shortlisted, we’ll invite you to the next step, which includes a remote interview. At the end of the application process, we'll provide some feedback and let you know how well you performed.

Interviews are expected to take place in late April or early May.

If we can do anything to facilitate your application please get in touch via jobs@opendataservices.coop. Your application will still remain anonymous to people involved in the hiring process.

We are an equal opportunities employer

We are committed to equal employment opportunity and are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, belief, disability, gender, marital status, religion, race, sex, or sexual orientation, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled, ethnic minority and women candidates as these groups are underrepresented in our organisation.