Data Engineer in Frimley

Location(s): UK, Europe & Africa: Frimley, Gloucester, Leeds; London with travel. On-site (London) at the customer site. Hybrid and flexible working arrangements are available – speak to your recruiter about options.

BAE Systems Digital Intelligence is home to 4,500 digital, cyber and intelligence experts. We work across 10 countries to collect, connect and understand complex data, enabling governments, armed forces and commercial businesses to unlock digital advantage in demanding environments.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced Data Engineer to join our Digital Defence Services team. In this unit, we are a critical partner to the UK Ministry of Defence in adopting secure digital solutions that enable multi-domain integration and data exploitation. You will be supported to learn and develop with clear pathways for career progression within the organisation. Our people are resourceful, innovative and dedicated. We value a mix of generalists and specialists and recognise the benefits of forming teams from diverse disciplines to deliver high-quality solutions. Our breadth of work across the public sector provides opportunities to develop in new areas with new clients.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, test and support data collection, data integration and ETL applications to make information and data available.
• Model data requirements, data sources and data flows to bring order and structure to programmes of work.
• Define how and where data is created, mastered and destroyed to ensure proper lifecycle governance of corporate data assets.
• Use open-source products to collect, integrate, store, visualise and govern data and metadata.
• Define metadata to provide search ability and governance (including Records Management) for unstructured data.

About You

• You have a strong background in data engineering, data analysis, or data science, with hands-on programming experience (Python, SQL, or similar); capable of building scalable data pipelines and integrating diverse data sources.
• Practical experience with data engineering and ETL tools (e.g., Apache NiFi); comfortable deploying and managing containerised applications using Docker.
• Experience with search and analytics platforms such as OpenSearch for fast, scalable data querying.
• Experience developing or interacting with APIs (ideally using frameworks like FastAPI) to support data services or integration points.
• Adaptable and quick to learn new technologies; solid understanding of open-source tools and their trade-offs vs proprietary solutions.
• Curious and proactive about optimising data workflows and improving data quality while maintaining governance and security.
• Growth mindset with eagerness to expand skills; cloud and modern data architectures experience is a plus.

Security & Eligibility

Due to the nature of our business and requirements of this role, you will need to hold a MoD/Partner DV and be a UK National. All applicants must achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard at minimum. Some roles require higher levels of National Security Vetting, typically with 5 to 10 years of continuous residency for vetting checks. These factors determine eligibility for roles within the organisation.

Life at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence

We embrace Hybrid Working, allowing work from home, another office or client site, and varying hours. This approach supports flexibility and well-being.

Division overview: Capabilities

Capabilities is the engine of Digital Intelligence, incorporating Engineering, Consulting and Project Management to design and implement defence solutions and digital transformation projects. As a member of the Capabilities team, you will help create and manage solutions that defend our clients in a changing digital world.

Division overview: Government

We have decades of experience in Government contracts. Government and critical infrastructure networks are targets to defend; as a member of the Government business unit, you will defend the connected world and support national security.