Lead Data Engineer

Client Authorisation Required

Opportunity to be a part of The MHRA's New Digital and Technology Group In Leeds
Excellent opport unity for career growth and development

About Our Client

If you have had a COVID-19 vaccine or have ever taken a medicine, or used a medical device, then you have already come into contact with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Our vision, One Agency - Delivering for Patients, underpins all that we do as we set out on an ambitious roadmap for change to become a truly world-leading, enabling regulator that protects public health through excellence in regulation and science. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency enhance and improve the health of millions of people every day through the effective regulation of medicines and medical devices, underpinned by science and research.

The Digital and Technology Group (DTG) lies at the heart of the Agency and is responsible for delivering an optimised IT infrastructure and maximising the secure use of data to enable our scientists, inspectors, and the rest of the organisation to deliver world class services which can improve outcomes for patients and the general public. The Group was essential in the race to approve COVID-19 vaccines in 2020 and in supporting the UK to set up its own medicines and devices approvals systems following our exit from the EU. The work we do matters!

Its centre of excellence is also responsible for delivering a broad portfolio of change initiatives, both to transform the Agency's legacy technologies and to deliver innovative new solutions, designed around our customers' needs. DTG works in a holistic way to combine digital and technology change, data and information management, project delivery, business process, product management and cultural change to maximise out impact and ensure sustainability.

We plan to be at the heart of one of the most digitally advanced medical regulators in the world and we need people who can help us deliver that ambition. DTG is a great place to build your career and we are committed to enabling our people to do the best work of their lives.

The Technology & Service Operations function is responsible for managing the existing IT infrastructure including both software and hardware, databases, and other technology platforms; leading the support and maintenance of applications; development and testing of new applications and platforms; and cyber and information security for the Agency.

The Engineering team, made up of software developers, DevOps engineers, Quality Assurance testers, and data professionals including engineers, scientists, and visualisation experts, is tasked with the creation of applications and services, ensuring quality for both new and existing agency offerings, and developing data visualisations through their expertise in data engineering and science.

Job Description

Role Purpose:

The Lead Data Engineer will lead the data engineering team and be responsible for designing, implementation, and maintenance of our data platforms as well as management of ETL pipelines. The role will ensure optimisation and performance of data processing to meet user requirements. The successful candidate will be proficient in the use of data engineering tools on the Azure platform such as Azure Data Factory and Synapse as well as PySpark and SQL Server. The successful candidate will create and optimise data pipelines for various applications, while ensuring security and quality, in collaboration with others within the team, including data reporting professionals, data scientists, Quality Assurance Testers, Devops and software engineers. The successful candidate will also work closely with business stakeholders and other Digital and Technology professionals in Architecture and Service Design. This role is a hands-on role which will require you to build pipelines while also leading a small team of data engineers and contributing to wider discussions with others, including suppliers, around data engineering best practices.

Key Responsibilities and Results Areas:

Lead the design and implementation of robust ETL processes, evaluating gaps in data and data platform designs and how they may be improved with the team's capacity whilst reporting back to senior management.
Identifying what is considered Data Engineering best practice based on the agency's tech stack to deliver, and continue to deliver, the highest standard of work. Promoting and evolving ways of working around data engineering code management, peer reviews, testing and documentation, but also actively seeking and suggesting improvements through the data engineering's teams feedback to challenge your own experience and assumptions.
Guiding the data engineering team as a whole, and supporting more junior staff in regards to their own development and create a supportive team atmosphere and driving long term data engineering capacity at the MHRA.
Identifying areas of innovation and keeping up with the latest best practices and tools from across the industry.
Proactively using self-development time to grow your own understand of the latest advances in data engineering practices, leadership development for yourself and how to communicate and manage others.
Contributing to both leading the immediate team and steering new ideas and processes for reuse across the Data Engineering landscape at the MHRA.

The job description is not intended to be exhaustive, and it is likely that responsibilities and outcomes may be altered from time to time in the light of changing circumstances and after consultation with the postholder.

If you would like to find out more about this fantastic opportunity, please click here for further details.

The Successful Applicant

The successful Lead Data Engineer will be able to demonstrate:

Previous experience in data engineering roles
Knowledge of cloud platforms, with specific expertise in Microsoft Azure
Understanding of data engineering best practices, including ETL management, data governance and practices, and data processing optimisation techniques
Good technical skills across multiple domains, including data platform design, data validation and data quality checking, monitoring of data ETL processes
A track record of delivering complex technical solutions

We use the Civil Service Success Profiles to assess our candidates, find out more here.

Application, which will include a CV, which should demonstrate how you meet the Experience and Technical Success Profile criteria.
Interview, which can include questions based on the Behaviour, Experience, Technical and Strengths Success Profiles.

Candidates will be subject to UK immigration requirements as well as Civil Service nationality rules. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here.

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check as well as animal rights and pro-life activism checks. People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Certain roles within the MHRA will require post holders to have vaccinations, and in some circumstances, routine health surveillance. These roles include:

Laboratory-based roles working directly with known pathogens
Maintenance roles, particularly those required to work in laboratory settings
Roles that involve visiting other establishments where vaccination is required
Roles required to travel overseas where specific vaccination may be required.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Any move to the MHRA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility here.

Successful candidates may be subject to annual Occupational Health reviews dependent on role requirements.

In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment Principles our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of selection for appointment on the basis of merit by a fair and open competition. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should firstly contact Florentina Oyelami, Head of Talent Acquisition

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Closing date: 8 August 2025

Shortlisting date: W/C 18 August 2025

Interview date: W/C 25 August 2025

Candidates will be contacted within a week of the sift and the interviews completed to inform them of the outcome.

What's on Offer

The Civil Service Code

These core values support good government and ensure the achievement of the highest possible standards in all that the Civil Service does. You can find out more about our values, standards of behaviour and rights and responsibilities in The Civil Service Code.

Civil Service Values.

Integrity - putting the obligations of public service above you own personal interests
Honesty - Being truthful and open
Objectivity - Basing your advice on decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence
Impartiality - Acting solely according to the merits of the case and service equally well governments of different political persuasions

Agency Values

The code is reflected in the Agency's values, which state that:

We focus on patients and public health
We work together with respect
We take responsibility and are accountable
We create an environment where learning and innovation thrive

Salary £55,233

Alpha pension scheme, which all new starters are enrolled into automatically, is 28.97%.

We are currently implementing a flexible, hybrid way of working, with a minimum of 8 days per month working on site to enable the collaboration and contact with partners and stakeholders needed to deliver MHRA business. Attendance on site is driven by business needs so depending on the nature of the role, this can flex up to 12 days a month, with the remainder of time worked either remotely or in the office. Some roles will need to be on site more regularly.

Contact

Ross Quilliam

Quote job ref

JN-072025-6791952

Phone number

+44 161 829 0389