Expression of Interest: Policing Lead – Joint Head of the National Data Integration and Exploitation Service (NDIES)
Expression of Interest: Policing Lead – Joint Head of the National Data Integration and Exploitation Service (NDIES)
Hosted by the National Data & Analytics Office (NDAO)
Role Type: Chief Superintendent or Police Staff equivalent Band A
Length: 12 months with the possibility of extension
Location: National (Flexible / hybrid)
Closing Date: 6th March 2026
About the National Data Integration and Exploitation Service (NDIES)
Policing’s ability to keep the public safe increasingly depends on fast, reliable access to high‑quality data. Today, most forces operate with over 100 separate systems that are not interoperable, leading to siloed information, reduced productivity, and critical information gaps. Crime is now more complex and routinely crosses force boundaries, yet our data systems don’t.
Multiple national reviews have consistently found that limited data access, sharing, and exploitation are major contributors to system failures.
To address this, the Home Office and National Data and Analytics Office (NDAO) in NPCC have jointly committed to a new national approach.
The National Data Integration and Exploitation Service (NDIES) will:
- Procure and operate a national data integration solution that provides a minimum national capability accessible to all forces.
- Develop guidance and standards for local and regional integration, ensuring local innovation thrives while maintaining national interoperability.
- Prevent new data silos, ensuring forces can adopt flexible, cost‑effective tools at pace.
- Enable better use of existing exploitation tools, and ensure new tools are chosen strategically and align with the national policing requirement.
- Deliver early value by bringing existing initiatives under the NDAO, reducing duplication and embedding a coherent national approach.
The service will operate incrementally to deliver early benefits while building towards full national integration.
NDIES will also work alongside the new Police.AI capability, the College of Policing, PDS, BLC, and exemplar forces to ensure policing adopts modern tools responsibly and at scale. In time, NDIES will transition into the future National Police Service (NPS) once established, forming part of policing’s unified national digital and data model.
About the Role – Policing Lead for NDIES
Working to the Director of the NDAO, we are seeking an experienced, influential policing leader to work alongside the Technical Lead – Head of the National Data Integration and Exploitation Service to shape, build, champion, and embed the NDIES service across national, regional, and force environments.
Your core mission:
Ensure that policing’s operational, investigative, safeguarding, and strategic needs are prioritised and embedded throughout NDIES design, implementation, deployment, and continuous improvement.
This role is critical to making NDIES a service built for policing, by policing.
Key Responsibilities
As the Policing Lead, you will:
1. Represent policing’s operational voice
- Lead engagement with forces, regions, and national bodies to capture and articulate policing requirements.
- Ensure the service reflects frontline, investigative, intelligence, safeguarding and command needs.
2. Shape national standards and guidance
- Co‑develop the national guidance for forces procuring local integration and exploitation solutions.
- Advise on how standards can enable local flexibility while preventing new data silos.
3. Provide strategic leadership within NDIES
- Work in tandem with the Technical Lead to ensure technical decisions reflect operational priorities.
- Influence procurement requirements for the national integration solution, ensuring alignment with the National Intelligence Model, Digital Strategy, and Technology Strategy.
- Work closely with Police.AI and the RPA Programme where data exploitation intersects with AI or automation, ensuring coherence across the national ecosystem.
4. Drive adoption across policing
- Champion NDIES across policing to build trust, support, and understanding.
- Support forces in transitions from existing regional or local arrangements to the new national approach.
5. Improve how national data assets are used
- Lead on embedding early pilots, including to time and quality standards.
- Ensure insights from pilots and early delivery activity shape final service design.
6. Identify and mitigate operational risks
- Highlight operational dependencies, gaps, or risks as data integration evolves.
- Support the national roadmap to ensure safe, coherent roll‑out across all forces
Who We’re Looking For
A candidate who brings:
Essential experience
- Senior policing experience (Superintendent or staff equivalent).
- Proven track record in delivering cross‑force or national programmes.
- Strong understanding of investigative, intelligence, and safeguarding workflows.
- Strong understanding of Policing’s organisational and performance data requirements
- Ability to communicate with credibility to Chief Officers and national bodies.
Desirable experience
- Experience in data, digital transformation, or information management.
- Background in leading change in complex environments.
- Knowledge of existing data integration or exploitation capabilities within policing.
Personal qualities
- Confident, collaborative, and able to influence without authority.
- Highly resilient and able to operate in fast-moving strategic environments.
- Committed to improving public safety through better use of data.
What This Role Offers
- A central leadership role in one of policing’s most significant data reform initiatives.
- Direct influence on how policing integrates and exploits data nationally.
- A chance to help shape the service as it transitions to the future National Police Service (NPS).
- Close collaboration with the Home Office, Police.AI, College of Policing, PDS, BLC, and exemplar forces.
- The opportunity to materially improve public safety, productivity, and decision‑making across policing.
How to Express Interest
Please submit:
- A short EOI (max 2 pages) outlining your suitability and motivation.
- Confirmation of line manager support.
- A CV
Submissions should be sent to: NationalDataandAnalytics@npcc.police.uk
If you would like an informal conversation about the role, please get in touch via the email above.