Senior Data Engineer

Pay up to £73,517, plus 28.97% employer pension contributions, hybrid working, flexible hours, and great work life balance.

Our DWP Data Engineer work in high-performing team with engineers, architects, designers and more – we offer guidance and support, develop data-centric solutions that positively impact millions of DWP users, helping them to find and use essential DWP services.

DWP. Digital with Purpose.

We are looking for a Senior Data Engineer to join our community of tech experts in DWP Digital.

We’re using fresh ideas and leading-edge tech to build and maintain digital solutions that will be used by nearly every person in the UK, every day and at key moments in their lives.

DWP is the UK’s largest government department. We help people into work, and make payments worth over £195bn a year to support and empower millions of people.

The scale of what we do is extraordinary, and our purpose is unique. We’d love you to join us.

You and your role

This role is all about leading from within, helping shape how DWP’s Business Audit team approaches data engineering, without the need for a formal leadership title. You’ll be translating technical requirements into real, workable solutions, especially as we move through platform migrations and system upgrades.

You’ll work closely with a team of data engineers, offering guidance, sharing ideas, and helping steer the direction of our work.

Collaboration is a big part of the job, so you’ll be connecting with teams across Digital and the wider Data & Analytics space to keep things aligned and make sure we’re all moving in the same direction.

There’s a lot of variety in this role - you might be helping to redesign an ETL pipeline to boost performance or resilience, or you could be supporting a shift to a new data platform or architecture.

You’ll be involved in big-picture thinking, like how we adopt modern tools and patterns, as well as the day-to-day work that keeps everything running smoothly.

You’ll also play a key role in helping the team grow, mentoring others, encouraging best practices, and making sure we’re always learning and improving, as well as influencing how we work, what we prioritise, and how we deliver.

What skills, knowledge and experience will you need?

• Comfortable working with a range of programming languages like Python, SQL, and Proc SQL—with a particular focus on SAS, SAS Enterprise Guide, and Informatica.
• Skilled at digging into complex data and code to troubleshoot issues and ensure everything runs smoothly and accurately.
• Experienced in using industry standards and tools to design, build, test, and document programs and scripts—especially those that are a bit more involved or require iteration.
• Confident leading the development of ETL pipelines, even when dealing with large or complex datasets, and good at delegating tasks to keep things moving efficiently.
• Able to guide the team through in-depth data and code reviews to maintain high quality and quickly resolve any processing hiccups.
• Set clear standards for how we work with data and code, keep them current, and make sure the team sticks to them.

Details. Wages. Perks.

Location: You’ll join us in one of our brilliant digital hubs in Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle or Sheffield, whichever is most convenient for you.

Hybrid Working: We work a hybrid model – you'll spend some time working at home and some time collaborating face to face in a hub.

Pay: We offer competitive pay of up to £73,517.

Pension: You’ll get a brilliant civil service pension with employer contributions worth 28.97%.

Holidays: A generous leave package starting at 26 days and rising to 27 days after one year.

You can also take up to 3 extra days off a month on flexi-time. You’ll also get all the usual public holidays.

We have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• An award-winning environment and culture: Employer of the Year 2023 (Women In IT Awards), Founders Award for Outstanding Digital Leadership 2023 (Digital 100)
• Flexible working including flexible hours and flex-friendly policies
• Time off volunteering and charitable giving
• Bring your authentic self to work with ‘I Can Be Me in DWP’
• Discounts and savings on shopping, fun days out and more
• Interest-free loans to buy a bike or a season ticket, so it’s even easier for you to get to work and start making a difference
• Sports and social activities
• Professional development, coaching, mentoring and career progression opportunities.

Process:

We know your time is valuable so our application and selection process is just two stages:

1. Apply: complete your application on Civil Service Jobs. There’ll be full instructions when you click through.
2. Interview: a single stage interview online