Lead Data Engineer in London

As part of the development of our Digital Services function, we are strengthening internal digital capability within the Data Team. These roles are central to building sustainable in-house expertise that supports the design, development, and delivery of digital solutions across the transport network.

A key focus of this campaign is creating new opportunities, and as a result, we are recruiting Lead Data Engineers. This is a pivotal role within the organisation.

In this role, you will design, build, and support data pipelines within our Data as a Service (DaaS) platform. Working closely with stakeholders, you will bring together traffic, asset, event, and business data, ensuring it is secure, well-structured, and reliable throughout its lifecycle. You will enable teams across the business to easily access, analyse, and use trusted data for operational insight, reporting, and improved decision-making. This is an opportunity to work with large and complex datasets, contributing to the country's growth through a safe and efficient road network.

This is a hybrid role, requiring two days per week in the office, based at any National Highways office location.

• Deliver the Data as a Service (DaaS) roadmap, improving trust in data, building data products, and strengthening the enterprise data platform.
• Design, build, and operate scalable data pipelines from operational systems into DaaS, working as part of a DevOps-aligned engineering team using Azure DevOps. The platform is centred on Databricks, with Azure Data Factory for orchestration and Azure services for storage.
• Translate analytical and reporting needs into robust data products by collaborating closely with stakeholders at all levels across the organisation. Develop clear user stories that support analytics and decision-making use cases, enabling consumers through Databricks workspaces, Power BI, and ThoughtSpot.
• Embed data governance, quality, and assurance across the full data lifecycle, ensuring compliance with organisational policy, responsible use of AI, strong metadata management, and high data quality standards. Governance is enabled through Unity Catalog and Microsoft Purview.
• Define, embed, and champion data engineering best practices and standards, while driving adoption and effective use of enterprise data capabilities across the organisation.

About you:

• Experience communicating with non-technical stakeholders in support of effective requirement gathering and in translating complex data engineering concepts into clear, accessible language.
• Able to develop an understanding of complex datasets, their source systems design and then describe them through techniques such as data modelling.
• Experience designing, building, testing, and supporting moderate to complex data pipelines within a collaborative (DevOps) team.
• Strong understanding of the development lifecycle ensuring that teams adhere to processes and capable of managing stakeholders' expectations for delivery.
• Able to apply industry best practices awareness of emergent technologies and experience with the technology described.

About us:

Here at National Highways, we manage and improve England's motorways and major A roads, helping our customers have safer, smoother and more reliable journeys. Our priorities are safety, customers and delivery, and at the core of this, are our values of passion, integrity, safety, teamwork and ownership.

The Digital Services Directorate is helping to reshape the way National Highways operates by delivering digital, data, and technology services across all areas, from frontline to back office, in a modern and efficient manner. Our vision is to develop integrated information and technology that empowers our colleagues and provides real-time information to our customers, as well as integrating with intelligent vehicle and transport systems as they evolve, to enhance journey safety and reliability.

External candidates will be offered a starting salary at the lower end of the pay scale, while current employees will be appointed in accordance with our established pay policy. We are committed to creating a diverse environment and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Why you should join us:

At National Highways we believe in a connected country. We are passionate about creating a culture where colleagues feel connected, included and enjoy greater wellbeing to achieve this. We're proud that as an organisation we are continually striving to do better and actively encourage and support our colleagues to do the same with their careers.

So, if you put safety first, take ownership of your work, show passion for what you do, work effectively in a team, and demonstrate integrity in how you do it then you'll be a great fit for our organisation.

A connected and sustainable working approach has been adopted across National Highways. For some roles, this means being able to work in a hybrid way spending up to 60% of time working from a remote location such as home. Please wait until the interview stage before asking us about flexibility, and we will explore what is possible.

Our benefits package:

• Basic salary, the potential for a performance related bonus.
• Contributory pension scheme with employer contribution of up to 10%.
• Annual Leave starting at 26 days (plus Bank Holidays) rising by 1 day each year up to 31 days (plus Bank Holidays).
• Flexible hours and an approach driven by connected and sustainable working which includes hybrid working.
• Life assurance of 4 times annual salary.
• Health and wellbeing support, including an Employee Assistance Programme, available 24/7 365 days and network of mental health first aiders. Plus access to a wellbeing app to enhance your self-care 24/7, Occupational health service and flu vaccines.
• A cycle to work scheme for the purchase of a bicycle and equipment for healthy, low carbon travel.
• Significant investment in your career development, through learning and development, talent management, coaching, mentoring and on job experience.
• Family friendly with enhanced maternity leave and pay, paternity leave (15 days), shared parental leave, adoption leave. Plus access to financial support for holiday play schemes and paid special leave (up to 5 days pa), e.g. for caring responsibilities.
• Money friendly with access to a discounts platform including over 3000 discounts for supermarkets, eating out, leisure, holidays. Alongside a financial wellbeing programme.
• Community friendly offering paid leave to volunteer, 3 days basic/year.

If you are successful, it is key to know all offers of employment are subject to satisfactory completion of our pre-employment checks which include: Right to work check, 3 year employment history references, DBS criminal record check, Social media and adverse journalism check, Driving licence check (if applicable), Fit to work questionnaire (for all), followed by a medical check (if applicable), Qualifications and/or professional membership check (if applicable).

We reserve the right to close before the advertisement expires.