Senior Data Engineer

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced Senior Data Engineer with strong technical expertise and innovative mindset to drive our team forward. The primary purpose of the role is to be responsible for designing, building, optimising and maintaining the infrastructure that allows data to flow from various sources to storage systems, supports data storage, processing, and analysis, enables high-quality, secure, and scalable data delivery across the organisation. Data Engineer will be involved in the entire data pipeline from data acquisition to data extraction, ensuring that the data is accurate, reliable, and accessible, and fit-for-purpose for business intelligence, analytics, and data science functions. Data Engineer will be collaborating with cross-functional teams to support the delivery of impactful analytics work for our clients.

Job Opportunity

1. Designing, building and maintaining data pipelines.
2. Building and maintaining data warehouses.
3. Data cleansing and transformation.
4. Developing and maintaining ETL processes (ELT = extract, transform, load) to extract, transform, and load data from various sources into data warehouses.
5. Validating charts and reports created by systems built in-house. Creating validation tools.
6. Developing and maintaining data models, data tools.
7. Monitoring and optimising the performance of data pipelines, data storage and processes, identifying and resolving bottlenecks to ensure efficient data processing and retrieval.
8. Ability to integrate data from multiple sources, including databases, APIs, websites, and flat files for efficient data processing.
9. Selecting and integrating appropriate tools and technologies
10. Troubleshooting and resolving data-related issues.
11. Architect scalable data solutions to support advanced analytics, machine learning, and real-time processing needs.
12. Design and implement data governance frameworks, including metadata management, lineage tracking, and cataloging.
13. Ensuring data quality and reliability; ensuring data security and compliance, including GDPR.
14. Document data engineering standards, design decisions, and infrastructure setup for operational transparency.
15. Collaborating with other teams to ensure data availability.
16. Collaborate with data scientists and analysts to ensure data availability for experimentation, model training, and deployment.
17. Defining and delivering clear data engineering work packages and deliverables.
18. Supporting the implementation of new infrastructure to improve the quality and efficiency of projects delivery.
19. Identify opportunities for innovation, improved productivity, efficiency, and quality.
20. Evaluate and prototype new tools or technologies, recommending enhancements to the existing data stack.

Essential Skills

• At least 3 years industry experience.
• Experience in R programming language.
• Experience in Python programming language.
• Knowledge and proficiency in working with database systems (SQL/PostgreSQL) and writing performant SQL queries.
• Experience in designing, building and maintaining data pipelines.
• Experience with data warehousing and data lakes.
• Experience in developing and maintaining ETL processes.
• Experience in developing data integration tools.
• Experience in data manipulation, data analysis, data modelling.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, etc.)
• Experience in designing scalable, secure, and cost-efficient data architectures aligned with business needs.
• Proficiency in optimising database queries, pipelines, and storage for speed, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
• Skilled in using Git.
• Strong track record of problem-solving ability and troubleshooting skills.
• Excellent IT skills including fluency with all Microsoft packages, particularly Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PowerBi.
• Evidence of excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Clearly communicate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Adaptability and willingness to learn new technologies.

About Company

We are the official research support team for the NHS Benchmarking Network, working with over 300 healthcare organisations across the UK to identify opportunities for service development and quality improvement.

We also serve as the primary source of benchmarking data for the NHS England Workforce, Training and Education team, providing in-depth analysis across national mental health services. Our unique and comprehensive datasets support strategic decision-making and resource allocation across the UK healthcare system.

In addition, we are proud to facilitate two major national audits: the National Audit for Care at the End of Life (NACEL) and the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Audit (CVDPREVENT).

Benefits

• Annual bonus scheme (subject to personal and business performance)
• 25 days holiday increasing to 28 after 18 months service, plus statutory bank holidays
• Flexible 8-hour shift around 6 core working hours
• Contributory pension
• Wellbeing programme, including EAP
• Life Assurance