Senior Data Engineer

targetjobs UK; Titchfield; Hybrid; GBP 38,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Civil Service Pension

Hybrid working

Flexible working

Job summary

Office for National Statistics (ONS) is recruiting a Senior Data Engineer to design, build and maintain data pipelines supporting national statistics platforms. You will work across ETL/ELT pipelines, collaborating with data scientists, infra engineers and analysts to ensure data quality and governance.

The role emphasizes scalable, automated tooling and continuous improvement, with hybrid working and strong emphasis on training and capability building within the team.

Qualifications

• Experience building data pipelines and ETL/ELT processes.
• Proficiency with SQL, Python, and data processing tools.
• Ability to collaborate with multiple stakeholders and support data governance.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, build, operation and maintenance of data pipelines for ONS data platforms.
• Oversee improvements to data engineering processes across pipelines.
• Align data engineering work with governance and compliance policies.

Skills

SQL

Python

PySpark

Google Cloud Platform

Cloudera Data Platform

Tools

Cloudera Data Platform

Google Cloud

Job description

Job Summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.

Data Products, Services and Governance (DPSG)

Data Products, Services and Governance (DPSG), which sits centrally within ONS, provides a cross-ONS capability for data, including data access and preparation, and the provision of data and linked data products.

DPSG develops and manages the systems and processes that underpin the distribution of data across ONS and beyond. DPSG provides data to ONS, academia, wider government, and other external users in a safe and controlled way, supporting and encouraging users to maximise data utility, enabling innovation and statistical and research use.

Data Engineers are responsible for data products and services in ONS, primarily to support the ease-of-use and consistency of our data across our data platforms, enabling ONS statistical areas, researchers and wider external data users.

Job Description

We’re looking for someone with technical skills but also a great attitude, who is proactive, takes pride in the quality of their work and is eager to continually improve their technical skills. We welcome applications from varied technical backgrounds including but not limited to: data science, infrastructure engineering, software engineering or related technical disciplines.

As well as day to day processing and delivery, we work as a team to develop the capability of the organisation – developing re-usable and increasingly automated code, tools, and best practice so that we and others across the organisation can build the data pipelines needed to support the growing work of a changing organisation. Your work will include data cleansing, validation, and enhancement processes to refine the quality and integrity of the data and prepare it for onward linkage.

We encourage training and development so that we can stay on top of changing technology. We have and continue to invest in the development of our staff with internal and external training opportunities.

As a Senior Data Engineer In ONS You May:

• Work across the lifecycle of ETL/ELT (extract, transform, load / extract, load, transform) pipelines that facilitate the movement and transformation of data across our systems.
• Conduct data profiling and analysis to assess data quality, identify anomalies, and uncover insights that inform data pipeline design and business decision-making.
• Develop and maintain internal software packages for Data Engineering.
• Use tools across our tech-stacks, such as SQL, Python, PySpark, Cloudera Data Platform, Google Cloud Platform.
• Optimise the performance of our queries and data pipelines.
• Collaborate with various technical and business stakeholders to develop and deliver on requirements, to ensure our data and processes meet business needs.
• Set, follow and ensure adherence to standard ways of working and good practice in Data Engineering.
• Ensure governance and compliance of our data and processes in line with ONS policies and wider legal requirements.
• Contribute to the evaluation and adoption of new tools, frameworks, and technologies that enhance the data engineering ecosystem.
• Champion the role of Data Engineers within ONS and participate in ONS and Civil Service Data Engineering communities.
• Take an active role in building the capability of Data Engineers within ONS

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, build, operation and maintenance of a portfolio of repeatable pipelines to prepare and load data into strategic ONS data platforms.
• Oversee the rollout of improvements to data engineering processes across a portfolio of repeatable pipelines.
• Identify opportunities for innovation in our Data Engineering workflows and processes. Work as part of a team to deliver prioritised change projects to deliver efficiencies and improvements.

Person specification

• Programming and build (data engineering) - Practitioner -Use agreed standards and tools to design, code, test, correct and document moderate-to-complex programs and scripts from agreed specifications and subsequent iterations. Develop and review specifications where appropriate
• Communicating between the technical and non-technical - Working- Communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders. Support and host discussions within a multidisciplinary team, with potentially difficult dynamics. Be an advocate for the team externally. Manage differing stakeholder perspectives
• Problem management - Practitioner -Ensure that the right actions are taken to investigate, resolve and anticipate problems. Co-ordinate the team to investigate problems, implement solutions and take preventive measures.

Behaviours

• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

Technical Skills

• Programming and build (data engineering) - Practitioner
• Communicating between the technical and non-technical - Working
• Problem management - Practitioner

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,985, Office for National Statistics contributes £12,163 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

This Role Is Part Of The Cross-government Government Digital And Data (formerly DDaT) Profession Framework. As a Role Within Government Digital And Data (formerly DDaT) At The ONS, We Also Offer Benefits Such As:

• Protected Learning Time to spend on your personal development and side-projects.
• A supportive and active Community of Practice which you will be expected to contribute to, helping ensure you and your colleagues get the training, development and opportunities you need to progress your careers.

We are committed to supporting our people’s wellbeing by offering flexible ways of working that support a healthy work life balance. We are happy to explore opportunities with you about working flexibly in line with our hybrid working policies.