Data Engineer

Royal Mail; London Borough of Islington; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car allowance

Healthcare

25 days leave + bank holidays

Pension with CDC scheme

Job summary

Royal Mail is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to drive data strategy and deliver scalable data products across a large national organisation. You will collaborate with Data Analytics, Data Science, ML Engineering and Technology to design solutions that improve decision-making and operational efficiency.

This role offers visibility, opportunities to influence engineering standards, and mentorship of data engineers while advancing the data platform and governance.

Qualifications

• Significant Data Engineering experience delivering production data solutions.
• Proven ability to create measurable business value through data products.
• Experience with Python or Scala in large-scale environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development and delivery of scalable data pipelines and products.
• Design, optimise and monitor cloud data platform (focus on Google Cloud).
• Establish standardised approaches to ingesting, processing and analysing data.
• Lead teams sourcing, transforming and delivering data for operations and decision-making.
• Own lifecycle of data products from concept to BAU support.
• Collaborate with Data Scientists to deploy ML/AI use cases into production.
• Build automation across CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure management.
• Oversee priorities, resources and delivery estimates across portfolio.
• Work with Product Owners and stakeholders to resolve challenges and deliver outcomes.
• Support pilot and innovation activities; document data products for handover.
• Mentor Data Engineers and promote engineering best practices.

Skills

Python/Scala

Big Data/Streaming

SQL/Databases

CI/CD/Kubernetes

GCP/Azure/AWS

MLOps

Data modeling/ETL/ELT

Data governance

Jira/Confluence

Education

Relevant degree or Cloud certifications

Tools

Spark

Kafka

BigQuery

Dataflow

Dataproc

Pub/Sub

Composer

Dataplex

Job description

Data Engineer

Royal Mail Farringdon

Permanent, Full time

London Farringdon x3 days a week

Salary & Benefits

Competitive salary

Plus:

• Car allowance
• Healthcare
• Up to 18% annual bonus potential
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays rising with service
• Pension: access to the UK’s only Collective Defined Contribution scheme with industry-leading Royal Mail contributions of over 12%, flexible options to boost your savings, and a guaranteed retirement lump sum*

Senior Data Engineer

Royal Mail is transforming how it uses data and technology to improve efficiency, support better decision-making and create value for our customers and colleagues.

We’re looking for a Senior Data Engineer to play a pivotal role in delivering our data strategy. Working closely with Data Analytics, Data Science, Machine Learning Engineering and Technology teams, you’ll help design and build scalable data products that solve real business challenges across one of the UK’s largest and most complex organisations.

This is a highly visible role offering the opportunity to lead technical delivery, influence engineering standards and support the continued development of our Data Engineering capability.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Leading the design, development and delivery of scalable data pipelines and products that create measurable business value.
• Designing, optimising and monitoring our cloud data platform, with a particular focus on Google Cloud Platform.
• Establishing simple, standardised and innovative approaches to ingesting, processing, storing and analysing data.
• Leading teams responsible for sourcing, transforming and delivering data that supports frontline operations and strategic decision-making.
• Owning the technical lifecycle of data products, from initial concept and design through to delivery, incident management and BAU support.
• Working with Data Scientists and Machine Learning Engineers to deploy machine learning and AI use cases into production.
• Building automation across CI/CD pipelines, testing, infrastructure management, release processes and configuration.
• Overseeing technical priorities, resource allocation and delivery estimates across the data product portfolio.
• Working with Product Owners, Delivery Managers and business stakeholders to resolve technical challenges and deliver agreed outcomes.
• Supporting pilot and innovation activity across the organisation.
• Ensuring data products are documented effectively and handed over smoothly to internal teams and suppliers.
• Coaching and mentoring Data Engineers while promoting engineering best practice and reducing technical debt.

What We’re Looking For

You’ll be an experienced Data Engineer with a strong track record of building and delivering production-ready data solutions in complex environments.

You’ll bring:

• Significant Data Engineering experience, with evidence of delivering solutions that have created measurable business value.
• Strong experience using Python or Scala.
• Hands-on knowledge of Big Data and streaming technologies such as Spark and Kafka.
• Experience designing data models, ETL and ELT pipelines, data warehouses and data lakes.
• Practical experience with Google Cloud tools such as BigQuery, Dataflow, Dataproc, Pub/Sub, Composer and Dataplex, or comparable services within Azure or AWS.
• Strong knowledge of SQL, databases, metadata management and data governance.
• Experience working with CI/CD toolsets, Kubernetes, release management, automated testing and cloud deployments.
• Knowledge of test-driven or behaviour-driven development practices, including TDD and BDD.
• Experience using tools such as Jira and Confluence within Agile delivery environments.
• An understanding of MLOps practices and how data engineering supports scalable machine learning and AI deployment.
• Experience managing distributed applications across cloud environments, ideally including Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical topics clearly.
• A structured and analytical approach to solving problems, with the confidence to challenge constructively.
• Experience coaching or mentoring engineers and improving technical standards across a team.

A relevant degree or recognised Cloud Engineering certifications, ideally relating to Google Cloud, would also be valuable.

Why Join Royal Mail?

• Build data products with impact across a large and complex national organisation.
• Work with modern cloud, data engineering, machine learning and automation technologies.
• Influence engineering standards and the future direction of our data platform.
• Collaborate with Data Scientists, Machine Learning Engineers, Analysts and Technology specialists.
• Develop other engineers and help grow Royal Mail’s internal data capability.
• Take on a visible role within a business investing in data-led transformation.

Benefits & Rewards

In addition to the salary and benefits outlined above, you'll also enjoy:

• Family friendly support - enhanced maternity pay, paternity leave, adoption leave and shared parental leave
• Supportive and generous company sick pay
• Funded Dental – As a manager you are eligible to a level of employer funded dental insurance**
• Health Assessment – As a manager you are eligible to an employer funded health assessment every 2 years**
• Benefits Account – With more than 800 retail offers to help you save on things like groceries, days out, holidays and your household bills as well as employer provided and voluntary benefits to suit your lifestyle.
• Your Wellbeing - you and your family have 24/7 access to a range of free services and tools, offering support for physical and mental wellbeing, financial guidance, and social support whenever you need it.

*Eligible for enrolment in NEST pension plan after 3 months service and CDC pension scheme after 12 months service
**Available only to permanent employees

Next Steps

The next stage of the selection process will be a face to face/virtual interview.

Trust is the foundation of Royal Mail. We aim to be transparent about the qualities we seek and what a career with us entails, building trust from the start of your journey with us. Your interview is the first step, and we want you to shine.

We understand that candidates may not meet all the criteria for the role. If your experience is different, but you have relevant skills we’d love to hear from you.

Closing Date: 07/11/26. Please note, this advert may close early if the appropriate number of applications has been reached.