Senior Data Engineer

Job summary

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1600 people. We play a critical role in protecting public health and consumers’ wider interests in food across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our vision is an important one - to drive change, delivering “food you can trust” and working towards a healthier and more sustainable food system.

Data sits at the heart of how the Food Standards Agency protects consumers and public health. This role ensures the decisions we make are supported by reliable, well prepared data. As a Senior Data Engineer, you will work closely with Data Scientists in a collaborative team to connect data producers with data users, design dependable automated data flows and analytical pipelines, and make high quality data available through our Azure Databricks platform. You will turn user needs into practical technical solutions, keep documentation and engineering practice in good shape, respond to pipeline incidents with clear technical context, and help colleagues across the agency use our data and tools with confidence.

The role aligns with the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework.

Job description

As a Senior Data Engineer at the Food Standards Agency, you will take ownership of building and maintaining the technical foundations that allow data to flow seamlessly across the organisation. Your focus will be on creating reliable, scalable solutions that enable colleagues to access and use data effectively for analysis and decision making.

You will design and implement automated processes to move and transform data from operational systems into formats suitable for reporting and advanced analytics. Working with modern cloud technologies, you will develop and optimise code that supports high-performance data pipelines and ensures they run efficiently and securely. Collaboration is central to this role: you will work closely with data specialists and business teams to understand requirements and translate them into practical solutions.

Beyond development, you will contribute to the continuous improvement of our data platform by promoting best practice, maintaining clear technical documentation, and troubleshooting issues when they arise. You will also play a key role in supporting users, helping them to make the most of the tools and services available. This is an opportunity to apply your expertise to a mission driven organisation where data is critical to protecting public health.

Working pattern guidance

If applying as a job share partnership you should both complete separate application forms on Civil Service Jobs but should make it clear that you are applying as job sharers. Further details on job sharing can be found here JSF – What is the recruitment process for job sharers? , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk)

Applicants who wish to work part time / compressed hours are welcome to apply - however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Due to the nature of the role we are unable to consider requests for part time working of less than 30 hours per week.

Person specification

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process.

We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Programming and build (data and analytics engineering) (practitioner level)
• Communicating between the technical and non-technical (working level)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,125, Food Standards Agency contributes £13,072 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer. Please also refer to the attached Terms and Conditions statement.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Full details of the selection process are detailed in the attached candidate pack.

Application and shortlisting

You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.

You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the following essential criteria.

Essential criteria

Experience

• Lead criteria: Experience of working in a technical team, that uses Python and SQL, as well as strong technical skills in these languages

• Experience of working with a range of disparate data sources to build data products

• Ability to work with data to perform Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) processes, including data wrangling, loading, and manipulation.

• Knowledge of Databricks or similar platforms.

Lead Criteria An initial sift will take place on the Lead Criteria.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the minimum pass mark for the Lead Criteria may be raised at shortlisting stage. Candidates who apply under the DCS, GPTW or RIS schemes and meet the minimum requirements will be unaffected by the pass mark raise.

Interview

If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to a final interview in whichwe will assess you against the following Experience / Technical requirements of the role and Civil Service Behaviours.

Behaviours

• Changing and Improving

• Managing a Quality Service

Full details of the positive indicators being assessed for each Behaviour can be found in the Candidate Pack.

Technical

You will be tested against the following sections of the Government Digital and Data Framework – Senior Data Engineer.

• Programming and build (data and analytics engineering) (practitioner level):
  
  - lead the design, code, testing and deployment of secure, resilient and maintainable solutions

- continuously improve the codebase and reliability of solutions

• Communicating between the technical and non-technical (working level):
  
  - communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders

Experience

• Knowledge of Databricks or similar platforms.

Assessment exercise

As part of the interview process, you will be asked to prepare a seen presentation. Further information will be provided to you on the invitation to interview email.

Expected Timeline

Advert closes: 26th January

Sift: Expected to take place from 27th January

Final panel interview: Expected to take place w/c 23rd February

Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams. (If you do not have the Microsoft Teams application installed on your computer, you can join on the web without installing the application).

Please note that indicated dates may be subject to change.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to the Food Standards Agency 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 at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Reserve List

A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that the FSA does not offer visa sponsorship and cannot provide advice on visa applications

Making a complaint

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

If you feel your application has not been treated fairly in accordance with the principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should email the FSA’s Director of People at jo.bushnell@food.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Jessica Layton
• Email : jessica.layton@food.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk

Further information

If you wish to raise a complaint then please email hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk in the first instance.

Attachments

FINAL Candidate Pack - Senior Data Engineer (SEO) 444259 Opens in new window (pdf, 1203kB)Terms and Conditions as at April 2020 Opens in new window (pdf, 42kB)