Head of Data Engineering

Justice Digital; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 68,000 - 94,000; Full time

Job summary

A government organization in the UK is seeking a Head of Data Engineering to oversee the creation of data products and pipelines across the justice system. You will manage engineering teams, set technical direction, and contribute to strategic objectives. Strong experience in data engineering is required, with familiarity in cloud tools like dbt and Apache Airflow essential. This role offers a hybrid working model with competitive salary ranging from £68,967 to £93,025.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Learning budget

Generous civil service pension

Wellbeing support

Qualifications

• Strong background in data engineering or analytics engineering.
• Experience leading engineering teams with modern tools.
• Track record of delivering pipelines and data products.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of data pipelines and products.
• Set and embed technical direction for the team.
• Grow the engineering team and manage development.

Skills

Data engineering

Technical leadership

Stakeholder management

Cloud-based infrastructure

Tools

dbt

Apache Airflow

Terraform

Athena

Docker

Job description

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(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)

Salary:
National: £68,967 £88,900 (inclusive of a potential allowance of up to £19,993)

London: £73,115 £93,025 (inclusive of a potential allowance of up to £19,910)

Working pattern : full-time, part-time, flexible working,

Contract Type: Permanent

*We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your local office. Office locations can be found ON THIS MAP

The Role Head of Data Engineering

Power the transformation of the justice system through data

This role aligns against Head of Data Engineering from the Government Digital and Data Framework

We’re looking for technically sharp and delivery-focused leaders to take on our major portfolios and help shape the future of data in the justice system.

As Head of Data Engineering (Portfolio), you’ll lead the delivery of modern, scalable, well-governed data pipelines and products across a major area like prisons, courts, or corporate services. You’ll be responsible for all aspects of engineering across your domain, from shaping priorities to leading teams, designing architecture, and ensuring we meet user needs.

Our work underpins everything from prison safety to sentencing reform to faster access to justice. Our teams use modern tools like dbt, Apache Airflow, Athena, Docker and Terraform on a cloud-native stack, deployed to the MoJ Analytical Platform.

You’ll sit alongside other Heads of Engineering in our Data & Analytics Engineering Hub, helping us deliver across domains while contributing to cross-cutting improvements, standards, and platforms. A summary of the type of work the teams are involved in can be found in our handbook .

What you’ll do?

Lead delivery within a portfolio

• Own delivery of pipelines and data products across one of our key domains (e.g. HMPPS, HMCTS, Corporate).
• Work closely with analysts, data scientists digital professionals and policy leads to understand needs and deliver value.
• Balance short-term delivery with long-term data stewardship and platform evolution.

Set and embed technical direction

• Provide technical leadership on how we build, test and maintain pipelines and models at scale.
• Drive high standards for code, quality, security, and operational resilience.
• Own architecture decisions in your domain and help shape our wider strategy.

Grow the team and the profession

• Lead, manage and develop a team of lead engineers and their teams.
• Build capability through coaching, recruitment and professional development.
• Contribute to growing the data engineering profession across government.

Shape the platform and community

• Act as a strategic contributor to our cross-cutting data engineering strategy, services and tooling.
• Help define and refine governance, standards, and best practice.
• Foster a strong culture of learning, collaboration and inclusion.

If this feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!

Person Specification

Who we’re looking for?

We’re after someone who brings deep technical credibility, great delivery instincts, and a collaborative leadership style. You should have:

• A strong background in data engineering, analytics engineering or similar.
• Experience leading engineering teams and setting technical direction using tools such as dbt, Airflow, Athena, Terraform or similar
• A track record of delivering pipelines and data products at scale.
• Strong stakeholder skills and the ability to work across functions.
• An understanding of cloud-based infrastructure, modern tooling and data platform principles.

Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for SC clearance

We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate based on culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.

Our values are Purpose, Humanity Openness and Together. Find out more here about how we celebrate diversity and an inclusive culture in our workplace.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy .

• 37 hours per week and flexible working options including working from home, working part-time, job sharing, or working compressed hours.
• A £1k per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best in class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms
• Staff have 10% time to dedicate to develop & grow
• Generous civil service pension based on defined benefit scheme, with employer contributions of 28.97% from April 1st 2024 ( Contribution Rates )
• 25 days leave (plus bank holidays) and 1 privilege day usually taken around the Kings’ birthday. 5 additional days of leave once you have reached 5 years of service.
• Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!
• Wellbeing support including access to the Calm app.
• Nurturing professional and interpersonal networks including those for Carers & Childcare, Gender Equality, PROUD and SPIRIT
• Bike loans up to £2500 and secure bike parking (subject to availability and location)
• Season ticket loans, childcare vouchers and eye-care vouchers.
• Some offices may have a subsidised onsite Gym.

How to Apply

Candidates must submit a CV & personal statement which describes how you meet the requirements set out in the Person Specification above.

In Justice Digital, we recruit using a combination of the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability and Success Profiles Frameworks. We will assess your Experience, Technical Skills and the following Behaviours during the assessment process:

A diverse panel will review your application against the Person Specification above.

Successful candidates who meet the required standard will be invited to a 1 hour panel interview held via video conference. Candidates will also be required to provide a 5-minute presentation during the interview stage. Details of the presentation will be sent across prior to interview.

Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift based on the below will be conducted before the sift.

Please submit your application with:

• A CV outlining your employment history, roles, and achievements.
• A 750-word personal statement explaining how you meet the person specification.
• A 250-word response to the mandatory question below:
  
  

“Describe an initiative where you have devised and implemented a data engineering strategy to enable business and deliver measurable value and benefits”

We’ll assess you against the Civil Service Success Profiles and the GDD Capability Framework.

Please note : Applications that do not include an answer to the mandatory question or personal statement will be automatically rejected and will not be reviewed

For those invited to interview , we’ll focus on:

• Experience (how you’ve applied your skills in real-world contexts)
• Technical skills (especially platform engineering, architecture and delivery)
• Behaviours , specifically:
  • Leadership
  • Working Together
  • Changing and Improving
  • Managing a Quality Service
  • Seeing the Big Picture

Should you be unsuccessful in the role that you have applied for but demonstrate the capability for a role at a lower level, we reserve the right to discuss this opportunity with you and offer you the position without needing a further application.

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, from which further appointments may be made.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Terms & Conditions

Please review our Terms and Conditions which set out how we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.