Head of Data Engineering

Head of Data Engineering
Hybrid (Hook, Solihull, London)
UK&E Digital, Data and Technology
Circa £95k per annum plus benefits

At Serco, we deliver essential public services across defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare, and citizen services. Our work touches millions of lives every day, supporting governments and organisations to operate efficiently and effectively. Data is a critical asset that underpins our ability to drive operational excellence, improve service delivery, and enhance decision-making.

As our Head of Data Engineering, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering our data strategy, leading a team of talented data engineers to build scalable, secure, and cutting-edge data solutions. Sitting within our Enterprise Data Office (EDO), this role will be instrumental in developing our self-serve MI&A data platform, ensuring high-quality data products and analytics capabilities that empower teams across the business to make informed, data-driven decisions.

Main responsibilities of the role include:

• Lead and mentor a team of talented data engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Develop and execute the data platform strategy and functional roadmaps for data engineering aligned with the Data Strategy and technology roadmaps, working closing with the Enterprise Architecture team.
• Support in Data Platform and integrations solutions for new work and bid activity as required.
• Oversee the design, development, and maintenance of robust data pipelines, embedding DataOps practices to ensure the timely and accurate delivery of data to across the business.
• Oversee the adoption of Data Product thinking, development of data mesh architectures and agile ways of working for the delivery of Data Products
• Provide internal support to data engineering team and Reporting & Advanced Analytics team to implement data engineering practices within their reporting solutions.
• Manage and optimise the MI&A data platform to ensure scalability and security in compliance with industry standards and remain evergreen to new modern architecture.
• Oversee the development of solution architectural patterns that translate complex technical concepts into workable solutions aligned to the data platform.
• Implement and enforce data governance policies by design to the data engineering activities, standards to maintain data integrity and reliability.
• Set out and monitor adherence to data engineering standards, and architectural patterns related to coding, documentation, and quality assurance of solutions.
• Implement and establish wider data engineering competencies within the organisation collaborating with other data teams globally, to raise the level of maturity and adoption of standard concepts

What you’ll need:

• A master’s degree in a numerate discipline or engineering field.
• 8+ years’ experience in data engineering, data analytics, and reporting.
• Thorough understanding of modern data platforms and approaches to data product management, and the technology available to support these techniques.
• Expertise in data engineering concepts, ETL processes, data warehouse architectures, and DataOps practices.
• Demonstrable experience of devising and overseeing data-engineering projects.
• Strong leadership skills with a track record of managing high-performing teams.
• Proficiency in Azure, Boomi, Power BI, and Databricks.
• Experience implementing company-wide data platforms in a global environment.
• Ability to communicate complex data concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Must be able to obtain SC clearance.

What we offer:

• Company car / £4200 cash allowance.
• Bonus scheme – 10% on target, 20% exceeding targets.
• Private healthcare – Individual.
• Life assurance.
• Up to 6% contributory pension.
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Annual leave purchase scheme.
• A Serco benefits portal offering a wide range of discounts for major high street brands in Retail, Leisure & Hospitality.
• A range of benefits to support the health and wellbeing of you and your family such as Employee Assistance Programme, Health Cash Plans, free flu jabs and more.
• A wealth of career development training to suit your future aspirations. These range from role specific training, leadership coaching, formal study and much more to support you to build your career with Serco.
• A safe and supportive culture.
• A company passionate about diversity and inclusion.

About Serco
At Serco, not only is the nature of the work we do important, everyone has an important role to play, from caring for vulnerable people to managing complex public services.  We are a team of 50,000 people responsible for delivering essential public services around the world in areas including defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare and citizen services. We are innovators, committed to redesigning and improving public services for the benefit of everyone.

By joining Serco you will have unlimited access to our Global Employee Networks – SercoInspire (Gender), SercoEmbrace (Multicultural), SercoUnlimited (Disability) and In@Serco (LGBT & Networks). Serco Employee Networks, led by colleagues who are passionate about diversity, inclusion and belonging. 

Apply
Please click on the apply button to complete your application. Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment. 

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. We operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly Disability Confident Leader employers and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview.  For help with your application please contact 0345 010 4000.
 

At Serco we support fair access to employment for those with unspent criminal convictions through the ‘Ban the Box’ pledge (some may be exempt due to the nature of the role and the security clearance required). Please contact our recruitment team directly on 0345 010 4000 to discuss.