Data Engineering Centre of Excellence Lead

Data Engineering Centre of Excellence Lead

Location: National

Closing Date: 23rd April

Interviews: Week commencing 12th May (may be subject to change)

Grade: G7

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

Salary:

London: £61,201 - £78,225 (which may include an allowance of up to £17,024)

National: £56,532 - £73,450 (which may include an allowance of up to £16,918)

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 foundON THIS MAP

The Role

We’re recruiting for a Data Engineering Centre of Excellence Lead here at theMinistry of Justice, to be part of our warm and collaborative Data & Analytics Engineering team.

This role aligns againstLeadData Engineer from the Government Digital and Data Framework.

This is a great opportunity to work with leading cloud technology and help change the way data is used in the public sector. Data engineers at MoJ play a critical role in our mission to put data at the heart of decision-making. We're looking for people with the drive to develop a deep understanding of data needs and data availability across specific areas of the Ministry of Justice.

You will lead our Centre for Excellence across the Data and Analytics Engineering Hub. This is a critical technical leadership role that will be responsible for ensuring we continue to develop and embed consistent technical, process and cultural capabilities across our teams, cementing our position as the leader in data and analytics engineering across government.

You will work alongside other Data Engineers and Analytics Engineers as they bridge the gap between data producers and data users, developing analytical pipelines and self-service tools to acquire and transform data, making it available on ourAnalytical Platform. A summary of the type of work the teams are involved in can be found in ourhandbook.

Key Responsibilities:

You will:

• act as a thought leader and subject matter expert for data and analytics engineering

• shape the overall technical strategy for data and analytics engineering and set the direction and vision for the Centre for Excellence

• collaborate with other Centres of Excellence across the directorate as they are stood up and share good practice

• partner with technical and data leads in the Data Directorate and Justice Digital to improve our overall data architecture and data maturity

• establish and lead technical governance processes for data and analytics engineering

• set and champion technical standards, principles and practices

• maintain and update our tech radar

• identify new tools, techniques, platforms and frameworks that could improve the way we work and lead the evaluation and adoption of these

• build networks across government, with technology partners, and with industry to share and develop good practice

• support internal and external communication and engagement through blogs and events

• promote the development and use of the data and analytics engineering handbook

• champion learning, development and innovation and proactively create opportunities for this across the function

• coordinate the delivery of cross-cutting technical initiatives

• support the joint heads of data and analytics engineering to demonstrate measuring value and impact, including through improved observability

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

Benefits

• 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

• Generouscivil service pensionbased 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.

• Bike loans up to £2500 and secure bike parking (subject to availability and location)

• Season ticket loans, childcare vouchers and eye-care vouchers.

• 5 days volunteering paid leave.

• Free membership to BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

• Some offices may have a subsidised onsite Gym.

Person Specification

You will be an established technical leader with deep expertise in data and analytics engineering.

Essential

• knowledge of software engineering and infrastructure best practices and being able to apply them across data engineering projects.

• designing and building complex data pipelines, products and services

• leading the evaluation and adoption of new tools, techniques, platforms or frameworks in a data and analytics engineering context

• driving change and improvement across teams, including where you don’t have direct control

• promoting technical excellence through learning, development and innovation

• championing the value of data and analytics engineering with stakeholders and users to unlock opportunities for transformation

Willingness to be assessed againstthe requirementsfor SC clearance.

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

How to Apply

Candidates must submit the following:

• An anonymised CV, which includes:

• Career history

• Key responsibilities

• Achievements in previous roles

• A cover letter that addresses how you meet the requirements outlined in the Person Specification. This should be no longer than 750 words.

• An additional 300-word response within your cover letter, answering the following technical question:

• “How would you ensure teams follow software engineering and infrastructure best practices in their data engineering projects?”

Please note: Applications that do not include an answer to the technical question will be automatically rejected and will not be reviewed.

We are recruiting using a combination of theGovernment Digital and Data Profession CapabilityandSuccess ProfilesFrameworks. We will assess your Experience, Technical Skills and the following Behaviours during the assessment process:

• Changing and Improving

• Managing a Quality Service

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

Successful candidates who meet the required standard will then be invited to interview. There will be one interview, covered in two sections, which will include a technical exercise and assessment of civil service behaviours. More information on the exercise will be provided to candidates invited to interview.

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

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.

Terms & Conditions

Please review ourTerms & Conditionswhich set out how we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact