Senior Data Engineer - DWP - G7

Please note this role requires you to pass Security Check clearance. For more information on vetting and UK residency requirements, please read the 'Security Clearance Requirement' section.

Do you enjoy bringing data to life? Does data visualisation interest you? Would you enjoy steering a new real-time data strategy?

DWP is the UK's largest government department. We help people into work and make payments worth over £195bn a year to support the most vulnerable people in our society.

DWP Digital creates digital services that almost everyone in the UK relies on at some point in their lives. Join us as a Senior Data Engineer and directly deliver benefits to millions of UK citizens.

If you have Splunk or Power BI build and development experience, are passionate about data visualisation and have ideas on how we can make the shift from reporting to preventative data, we’d love to hear from you.

Job description

You will join the Service Performance team that monitors the entire suite of DWP’s digital services – a grand total of 700 software applications and systems. We use Splunk, ServiceNow and Power BI tooling to bring data together and develop quality dashboards which are relied upon and widely used by service managers and monitoring teams.

You and your team of data engineers will steer the creation and maintenance of analytics dashboards to monitor and evaluate the performance of services against an ITIL measurement framework. You will be playing an important role in developing prototypes and other data models to demonstrate the art of possible in data visualisation.

You will be instrumental in joining up our key projects, technical teams and stakeholders – there will be lots of opportunities to interact across teams with colleagues at all levels. Your role will be to collaborate with people to get the best out of their technologies and strive for continuous improvement.

You will also lead the creation of a new strategy to help DWP move from traditional reporting to real-time data provision, helping  to fix services before they fail. This will provide an opportunity to be creative and innovative, potentially bringing in new tooling ideas, data items and ways of working to bring data to life. The new strategy will also set the future direction for our build teams and allow us to think differently about data.

As the Senior Data Engineer, you will manage  the development  team, setting clear objectives and delivery standards, line managing, as well as developing the team in new and emerging tools, technology and requirements. You will explore new ideas and support your team in developing both their technical and interpersonal skills. You will also provide technical leadership along with oversight on the products they develop, the quality of the development and the data integrity.

We care about our employees and can offer you an environment that is family-friendly, supportive and inclusive in an organisation with real social purpose.

Person specification

When giving details in your employment history you should highlight your experience in line with the essential criteria below:

• Experience of Splunk or Power BI build and development to ensure we can maximise the technology available.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels.
• Experience of relevant data sources, tools and systems, approaches for verifying and validating data.
• Experience of building team capability through role modelling, mentoring or coaching.

Desirable criteria

• Working knowledge of ServiceNow.
• Understanding of ITIL and/or IT service management.
• Line management experience.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact Caicy.sandford1@dwp.gov.uk

Technical skills

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

• Lead Statement - Tell us about your experience of building data team capability through role modelling, mentoring or coaching.
• Describe an example of how you have used data to solve a complex problem.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £55,557, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £16,094 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Alongside your salary, the Department for Work and Pensions contributes 28.97% towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Salary Information

Pay for this role is from £55,557 to £66,058.  

The maximum salary for the grade is £66,058, however a Digital Allowance of up to £7,459 per annum is available for exceptional candidates. Digital Allowance is non-salary, and non-pensionable, and is classed as a temporary allowance. It is reviewed annually where it could be retained, amended, or removed.  

Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview.  

Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer should maintain their current salary.  

Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion may move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or 10% increase in salary whichever would be the greater. 

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

Stage 1: Application

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and Technical Statements (up to 250 words each). Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Your application will consist of three parts:

1. A Personal Details application form.

2. Your employment history detailing your responsibilities, skills, accomplishments, plus your qualifications and relevant training. Please copy this information into the box field provided. When giving details in your employment history you should highlight your experience in line with essential criteria detailed within the person specification section:

3. Technical statements (up to 250 words each). These include:

• Lead Statement - Tell us about your experience of building data team capability through role modelling, mentoring or coaching.
• Describe an example of how you have used data to solve a complex problem. 

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the Lead Statement stated above. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The sift panel will use the information in your employment history and technical statements to assess your experience, skills and knowledge.

Important Information

• You will be asked to complete your employment history any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
• Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.

If your employment history and technical statements contains any personal details your application will be withdrawn.

Stage 2: Interview

Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview. There, you will be assessed against the experiences listed in the essential criteria.

You will be asked to do a (5 minutes) presentation on a specific topic. Further details will be provided to candidates invited to interview.

Interviews will take place from early-December 2024.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.

Further information

Find out more about Working for DWP

For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Reserve list candidates will be posted in merit order by location.

Security Clearance Requirement

You must meet the security requirements before you can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Reasonable Adjustment

At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via DigitalRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How We Recruit, page

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

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