Data Engineering Academy: Kickstart Your Consulting Career in Leeds

Answer Digital is a proudly Employee-Owned digital transformation consultancy headquartered in Leeds. We’ve delivered large-scale, cutting edge and life-saving digital solutions in both the private and healthcare sectors. After a period of huge growth, we’re looking to invest in our people with our first Data Engineering Academy of the Year.

We’re passionate about investing in our people, so much so that “Nurturation” is one of our core values (our way of nurturing growth through collaboration!). We’re looking for motivated and ambitious people to join our Data Engineering Academy, a 12-week programme designed to give you all the tools to be a Data Engineering Consultant here at Answer Digital.

You’ll be employed with us from Day 1 and the programme has been designed by our talented consultants to accelerate the professional development of great people. The Academy will cover all the key tools and technologies our Data Engineers work with, so by the time the Academy is complete, you’ll have all the skills and knowledge to play a pivotal role on one of our projects.

Job Type: Academy Data Engineer

Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire (Upon Academy graduation, role may include travel, if/when project requires it)

Salary: £27,500 (rising to £30,000 upon graduation of the Academy)

Academy Structure: What to expect

Throughout the Data Academy, you will be given the tools and knowledge to be capable of handling large datasets for analytical uses, through hands-on experience with the latest tools and technologies. You'll have a strong grasp of the entire data lifecycle, from ingestion and storage through to transformation and analysis.

You will develop the skills to build and optimise data pipelines, ensuring data quality and efficiency, while understanding their role within modern data architectures. Your work will be geared towards making data usable and accessible for data analysts, data scientists, and other stakeholders who require processed data for decision-making.

Project Phase: Runs over 4 weeks where you’ll gain valuable experience in a live Answer project environment. You will join an existing team working for a client on a real project as a Data Engineer.

To be successful in this role:

• You will have a keen and active interest in data engineering, and looking to take those next steps to kickstart your professional career.
• You will have experience in Python and SQL, and a keen interest in cloud technologies, with a basic understanding of ETL processes.
• While direct experience is not mandatory, a strong willingness to learn and lead is essential.
• You’ll also be excited by the opportunity to work in agile teams to deliver value to clients.

About you

This isn’t just about your experience, we’re investing in you as a person and you’ll be set up for success if you have:

• A genuine commitment to developing a career in application development and digital transformation.
• A passion for continuous learning and professional development.
• Great communication skills, encompassing the ability to interact confidently with diverse individuals and groups at all organisational levels, and to adapt how you communicate to suit your audience.
• A strong focus on achieving positive outcomes for both end-users and clients.
• A collaborative and team-oriented approach to work.
• Commercial experience or the understanding of commercial impacts to project work.
• Effective time management skills and the ability to prioritise.

The perks of being at Answer

• We’re an Employee-Owned Company. After 12 months – through the Employee Ownership Trust you will be part of the ownership of Answer; a major factor in driving engagement, retention and growth for our people.
• Competitive salary, starting at £27,500 and increasing to £30,000 after the Academy.
• Flexible annual leave (buy/sell and carry forward).
• Twice a year income-tax free bonus if company-wide performance targets are met - we’re all in this together.
• Continuous training and development - if you want to learn, we’ll provide all the support you need.
• Flexible Pension - we match your own contributions up to 5%.
• A flexible Healthcare cash plan so you can fund the care you value most.
• A packed social calendar including; end of year party and Summer away days, monthly and quarterly company team socials.
• Free parking at Head Offices in central Leeds, plus Cycle2Work & Green Car Lease schemes to help get you here.
• The chance to give back – get involved nationally and regionally with partnerships to get people from different backgrounds into tech, as well as lots of charity and community events.
• Hybrid and flexible working – you can vary your working when and where you work, to allow you to collaborate better, feed your creativity, and take the time and space to focus when you need to.

Diversity and Inclusion

At Answer we proudly embrace diversity and inclusion - we want to create a safe environment for everyone to bring their true selves to work. We will do everything we can to support your application. If you require any adjustments to be made to your application (whether that’s support with our interview questions, adjusting how we interview, or financial support with our hiring process) then please speak to Jonny Hiles, TA Lead (jonny.hiles@answerdigital.com).

Our Interview Process

We pride ourselves on having a fair but flexible recruitment process, we want to create a platform where you can show us your best. For us, keeping it simple means you can focus on understanding if our people, values and the work we do are right for you. Our typical process can be broken down into 3 stages:

• Application Process: Depending on the volume of applications, our process may involve a couple of assessments. We focus on your inherent ability rather than your CV.
• Recruiter call: This will be with a member of the recruitment team, and normally lasts 15-30 minutes. We will talk to you about Answer Digital, the type of work we do, and an overview of the role. We’ll ask you some questions about your current situation and why you’re interested in working here. Here, we’d advise asking any questions about our people, such as our culture, career progression, or approach to flexible working.
• Skills based interview: This interview will be with 2 people, normally from the team you’re applying to work with and roughly lasts an hour. This interview will involve questions around your experience, the skills you’ve gained and the work you’ve done. We’ll also ask questions about the role and challenges you might face and how you’d face them. Here, we’d recommend asking questions about the role, the day to day responsibilities and what life in the team is like.
• Cultural/Value interview: The final interview stage is an hour-long discussion with two members of our Leadership team (either Directors or Capability Leads). This interview is a two-way conversation, as much about you assessing if Answer is the right fit for you as it is about us assessing your fit with Answer. The focus will be on our culture and values. We’ll discuss what our values mean to us, and we want to understand what values are important to you and how you like to work. We strongly encourage you to ask any questions you have about Answer as a business, including our business model and our ambitious growth plans.