Role : Information Governance Administrative Assistant
Grade and Salary: Grade 4 - £24,215 - £26,707 per annum
FTE and working pattern: Full Time (1FTE), Open Ended
Directorate Name: Governance and Legal Services (GALS)
Holiday Entitlement : 28 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days per year after 5 years service, plus 9 buildings closed days for all full time staff
About our School/Directorate and Team
The Directorate seeks to deliver, enhance and adapt an effective and sustainable governance framework upholding the rights and obligations of all stakeholders, including international stakeholders. The purpose is to support sound, effective and accountable decision making and stewardship of the University's resources and reputation. The Directorate's core objective is to protect Heriot-Watt University's reputation, brand, values and assets and its definition of Success to maintain compliance with standards (legislation, codes of practice etc.) and enhance value.
The Information Governance Division works collaboratively with colleagues within the Directorate and across the University to support the University's mission and contribute to its strategic priorities, we promote effective information governance to support University business worldwide and manage information risk to meet relevant legal, regulatory and audit requirements.
Purpose of Role
The role holder will be an important member of the Information Governance Division and will be one of the two administrative roles that support the timely and efficient delivery of our service. The role holder will support the Information Governance team in managing and responding to freedom of information and data subject requests, providing advice and guidance to the University community, and supporting effective information governance across the global University.
Summary of Key duties and responsibilities
- Provide high quality and efficient administrative support to the Information Governance team across its service functions.
- Maintain accurate and efficient case handling records systems for managing data protection, freedom of information and information governance requests and enquiries
- Assist the Information Governance Officer (Information Rights) and work together with the Senior Information Governance Assistant in managing and providing an appropriate response to freedom of information and data subject requests from students, staff and external requesters within the statutory deadlines; liaising closely with colleagues in professional services and Schools as required to retrieve, collate and process relevant information
- Provide support by ensuring that appropriate responses are issued in a timely manner
- Clerk and take concise formal minutes for the Global Information Governance and Data Protection Committee and working groups
- Assist the Records Manager in managing contracted records storage and retrieval services and providing advice on record keeping
- Contribute to a productive and cooperative team ethos, building a wide network of mutually beneficial relationships across the University.
Education, qualifications, and experience
Essential
- Excellent written and oral communications skills, and the ability independently to produce high quality written work;
- Experience of working on their own initiative with minimal day-to-day supervision, and proactivity in their approach to managing the day-to-day affairs of their work and identifying and implementing improvements;
- A flexible and adaptable approach, coupled with the ability to prioritise workload to meet deadlines;
- Good all round organisational and forward planning abilities. The post-holder will be expected to balance a varied group of concurrent projects and activities;
- A high degree of attention to detail and accuracy of working in all areas relating to the post;
- The ability to operate with a high degree of tact and discretion due to the highly sensitive and confidential nature of the material that may be handled;
- A pleasant, helpful and professional manner;
- Experience of team working and effectiveness as a good team player;
- IT literacy with good keyboard skills, a good working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications (especially Teams, SharePoint, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint), and the Internet, and the ability to develop a good working knowledge of the specialist systems used by the Information Governance Division (which include: eCase and OneTrust).
- Maintain awareness of own digital wellbeing by being mindful of the length of time spent at a screen and the impact on mental and physical health in using digital technologies.
Desirable
- Relevant work experience within a higher education or public-sector environment
- Relevant tertiary-level educational or vocational qualifications.
How to Apply
Please submit your CV via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment.
Applications can be submitted up to midnight (UK time) on Wednesday 17 th June 2026.
Interviews expected to take place on 30 June and 01 July 2026.
We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g., part-time working and job share options.
Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised, and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.
Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our university community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .
Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.
About Heriot-Watt University
At Heriot-Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.
Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.
