Data Engineer, Government Digital Service

About The Job

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government, responsible for setting, leading, and delivering the vision for a modern digital government. Our priorities include joining up public sector services, harnessing AI for public good, strengthening digital and data infrastructure, elevating leadership, and investing in talent. We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK, and coordinate the UK’s geospatial strategy. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ over 1,000 people across the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London, and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. You’ll work with highly-skilled digital professionals, contributing to change on a national scale. Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK, solving high-priority digital challenges and helping millions access essential services.

Job Description

As a Data Engineer, Government Digital Service, you will serve as the technical data expert within GOV.UK, acting as the voice of authority regarding data infrastructure. You will be a key point of contact for our use of Google Cloud and for adopting new technologies to support data utilization within GOV.UK and GDS, driving innovation and best practice. This role is uniquely positioned, spanning data professionals and technical communities to build links and support cross-pollination of work.

As a Data Engineer You’ll:

• Support the design and implementation of numerous complex data flows to connect operational systems, data for analytics, and business intelligence (BI) systems.
• Enable teams to make better use of data to improve user experience of government services, including web analytics data (BigQuery), GOV.UK content data (AWS), content metadata, and user feedback (SmartSurvey API).
• Identify areas of innovation in data tools and techniques, then test and implement improvements.
• Maintain and continuously improve GOV.UK's data pipelines and oversee the implementation and management of a semantic layer for GOV.UK data.
• Be an active member of the tech community in GOV.UK and a technical expert for the GOV.UK Insights and Analytics team, serving as the link between data and technical communities.
• Identify, define, and roll out standards and best practice for our data infrastructure across GOV.UK teams, ensuring compliance.

Person Specification

We’re interested in people who:

• Can translate user requirements and data models into effective, scalable, robust ETL solutions in line with build standards and data regulations, ensuring code is production ready.
• Have experience defining data infrastructure to bring multiple data sources together in a conformed model for analysis.
• Can work as part of a multidisciplinary team to plan and prioritize work, sometimes independently and sometimes pairing with developers/data practitioners or technical writers to update documentation.
• Can demonstrate a strong practical background using Google Cloud technologies such as BigQuery and Dataform.
• Identify areas of innovation in data tools and techniques, and recognize appropriate timing for adoption.
• Establish standards in terms of data infrastructure, access, and policies, keeping them up to date and ensuring adherence.
• Make changes which add value and clearly articulate how changes will benefit the business.

Key skills/competency

• Data Engineering
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• BigQuery
• Dataform
• ETL Solutions
• Data Pipelines
• Data Infrastructure
• AWS
• Web Analytics
• Business Intelligence (BI)