The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more. Find out more about our benefits (opens in a new window) and join us to become part of something special.

Overview

The Careers & Employability Service sits within the Student & Academic Services division, and contributes directly to the delivery of the University of Sheffield’s Education strategy and the specific priorities regarding student employability and Graduate Outcomes. The Service provides a range of support and resources for students of all levels and disciplines including a focus on embedded skills development and work-related learning in all taught programmes.

The Data & Systems Manager fulfils a crucial role and leads a small team with responsibility for a portfolio of careers service management, information and data systems, data analysis, evaluation and reporting. The Manager also holds institutional responsibility for delivery of the statutory requirements in relation to the HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey. As the University’s careers and employability provision and support for students and graduates has become increasingly data-informed, this team plays a vital role in ensuring the systems being used are effective, and that data, analysis and reports are providing the insights required.

The role also requires the development and maintenance of effective working relationships with teams and colleagues across Student & Academic Services, central IT Services, and the University’s strategic planning teams, taking a strategic and proactive approach to system and service improvements, and ensuring compliance with HESA and GDPR requirements.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Reporting to the senior leadership team in the Careers & Employability Service (CES) and contributing directly to the University’s employability priorities and objectives through participation in activity across the Service, working with fellow managers to develop and deliver strategic and operational action plans.
• Providing leadership and management for the Data and Systems team, identifying priorities, developing project plans and solutions, and ensuring delivery within agreed deadlines.
• Working with the Data & Reporting Analyst and other stakeholders to continually review and enhance the data and reporting strategy for the Service to support data-informed decision making within other teams, contributing to student employability, participation and outcomes goals.
• Taking personal responsibility for the statutory responsibilities related to the University’s participation in the HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey, and other measures such as the Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO). This involves the management of data submissions at various points in the year, data accuracy and security, and the analysis of the data captured, including the development and enhancement of PowerBI dashboards.
• Managing and ensuring the provision of timely and effective reporting on additional sources of employability data including the student Career Confidence survey and student mySkills engagement.
• Ensuring the provision of regular and timely data reports to various colleagues, groups and meetings within the University, on a range of quantitative and qualitative data.
• Making suggestions for additional reporting which may assist colleagues and managers across the CES to identify priorities and target activity related to employability benchmarks, specific student demographic groups, variances in Graduate Outcomes, and related external measures and benchmarks.
• Guiding the Careers Information Systems Officer in the maintenance and updating of the CES website structure and content, monitoring usage data, enhancing the user experience, and prompting colleagues to annually review and update content.
• Overseeing the maintenance and consistent operation of the University’s careers and employability management and information systems, ensuring system resilience, updating functionality, and effective reporting.
• Working closely with IT Services and the Product Manager for employability and skills systems, to assess and continually review the system requirements of the CES, assessing the performance of existing systems and suppliers, and considering alternative providers to ensure cost effective and resilient solutions, within the context of the University's wider system and data management frameworks.
• Providing guidance and training for CES colleagues and other users in relation to all CES systems, platforms and sources of data.
• Liaising effectively with other professional services teams and colleagues to coordinate data capture and reporting activity, contributing to the development of university-wide student experience data, sharing best practice and avoiding duplication of effort or responsibility.
• To be the information security lead for the CES liaising with colleagues in S&AS, Information Security and IT Services on information and data security issues, and ensure compliance with external legal and regulatory requirements, eg. GDPR.
• Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post.

Person Specification

Our diverse community of staff and students recognises the unique abilities, backgrounds, and beliefs of all. We foster a culture where everyone feels they belong and is respected. Even if your past experience doesn't match perfectly with this role's criteria, your contribution is valuable, and we encourage you to apply. Please ensure that you reference the application criteria in the application statement when you apply.

Further Information

Next steps in the recruitment process

It is anticipated that the selection process will take place on 10th October 2025. This will consist of an interview and a test. We plan to let candidates know if they have progressed to the selection stage in the week commencing 29th September 2025. If you need any support, equipment or adjustments to enable you to participate in any element of the recruitment process you can contact interviews@sheffield.ac.uk

Our vision and strategic plan

We are the University of Sheffield. This is our vision: sheffield.ac.uk/vision (opens in new window).

What we offer

• A minimum of 41 days annual leave including bank holiday and closure days (pro rata) with the ability to purchase more.
• Flexible working opportunities, including hybrid working for some roles.
• Generous pension scheme.
• A wide range of discounts and rewards on shopping, eating out and travel.
• A variety of staff networks, providing opportunities for social interaction, peer support and personal development (for example, Race Equality, LGBT+, Women’s and Parent’s networks).
• Recognition Awards to reward staff who go above and beyond in their role.
• A commitment to your development access to learning and mentoring schemes; Professional Services Shared Skills Framework
• A range of generous family-friendly policies
  • paid time off for parenting and caring emergencies
  • support for those going through the menopause
  • paid time off and support for fertility treatment
  • and more

More details can be found on our benefits page: sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/benefits (opens in a new window).

We are a Disability Confident Employer. If you have a disability and meet the essential criteria for this job you will be invited to take part in the next stage of the selection process.

We are a research university with a global reputation for excellence. Our ideas and expertise change the world for the better, making a real difference to society. We know that when people come together with different views, approaches and insights it can lead to richer, more creative and innovative teaching and research and the highest levels of student experience. Our University Vision (www.sheffield.ac.uk/vision) outlines our commitment to building a diverse community of staff and students that recognises and values the abilities, backgrounds, beliefs and ways of living for everyone.