Data Engineer - Database Specialist

Job description

Job responsibilities

Communication and key working relationships

Internal

• Other members of the Informatics and Surveillance Systems Division.
• Members of other divisions within the Data Operations Directorate and the wider Data, Analytics and Surveillance Group with whom you may collaborate on local and national work programmes.
• Colleagues working in other UKHSA Groups, especially surveillance system technical leads, health protection specialists and colleagues within the Technology Group.
• Public health colleagues working in local authorities, particularly those working in health protection roles.
• Colleagues in the Department of Health and other Government Departments.
• Colleagues working in NHS England and Improvement, NHS Digital, NHS X and local Clinical Commissioning Groups
• Colleagues in Office for National Statistics (ONS) and other external data providers.
• Members of the Government Statistical Service
• Other external partners relevant to the work of UKHSA.

External

• Public health colleagues working in local authorities, particularly those working in health protection roles.
• Colleagues in the Department of Health and other Government Departments.
• Colleagues working in NHS England and Improvement, NHS Digital, NHS X and local Clinical Commissioning Groups
• Colleagues in Office for National Statistics (ONS) and other external data providers.
• Members of the Government Statistical Service
• Other external partners relevant to the work of UKHSA.

Other Information

• In addition to the job specific requirements above, this role will require adherence to all UKHSA Policies and Procedures. A full list of these are available on UKHSA Intranet and form part of the employment contract
• All staff will adhere to the UKHSA People Charter actively demonstrating the positive behaviours
• All staff are expected to contribute to the delivery of corporate goals and objectives
• The role holder may be expected to support corporate service activity as set out in the Corporate Services Standard Operating Procedures
• As a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, UKHSA has a set of civil protection responsibilities which it must fulfil in the response to any emergency or major incident. Staff may be asked to contribute to the preparedness for and response to major incidents and emergencies (as defined in the UKHSA Concept of Operations) as required
• This document provides an outline of the tasks, responsibility and outcomes required of the role. The job holder will carry out any other duties that may reasonably be required by their line manager
• The job description and person specification may be reviewed on an ongoing basis in accordance with the changing needs of the team, Directorate and the Organisation

Main Duties of the Job

• Lead and perform analysis of current incident data warehouse and pipelines in order to identify opportunities to refactor, re-use or retire existing data storage systems (e.g. reduce technical debt and future waste)
• Following the in-depth analysis, you will be required for the planning, design, implementation, and post implementation tasks for health protection incident data management, comprising SQL Server and NoSQL technologies, working closely with UKHSA SQL and Infrastructure team members
• Coding using scripts, languages, and tools such as SQL, Python, R, C#, Ruby and Powershell.
• Lead the drive towards automation, thus reducing the management overhead, ongoing costs and developing a more resilient and reliable infrastructure.

Essential Criteria

• Educated to degree level in relevant subject or equivalent level of experience of working at a similar level in specialist area
• Excellent understanding of RDMS concepts including normalisation of data and the importance of the data lifecycle and can explain the state of the data across the processing pipeline.
• Ability to lead with technical expertise the design of complex data architecture solutions in close collaboration with other technical teams.
• Ability to direct the work of technical staff, taking ownership of areas of responsibility
• Ability to understand, author and relay complex technical information
• Strong technical background in Microsoft SQL Databases Microsoft Reporting Tools (SSRS, PowerBI) and Microsoft data extraction methods (SSIS) as well as Cloud technology, e.g. Azure Data Factory.
• You have a good knowledge of SQL Data Warehouses and have experience working with multi-dimensional data. Fluent in various development languages e.g., SQL, Python, Powershell, PL/SQL and maintaining ETL pipelines and supporting large scale data infra projects

Desirable Criteria

• Knowledge or experience of working on health data, including experience of data and information governance in this context
• Knowledge of PostgreSQL/MSSQL/MariaDB would be a distinct advantage as well as the ability to work across a range of technologies
• Knowledge of NoSQL DBs, e.g., MongoDB, Cosmos DB and Elastic
• Experience with cloud-based database service platforms a plus i.e. Demonstrate knowledge of cloud technology such as PaaS, DBaaS
• Understanding change management processes
• Certification (Advantageous)

We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

Selection Process

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Strengths

This part of the selection process should outline how you consider your skills, experience and achievements, and provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria outlined.

You will also be asked to provide information within the Employer/ Activity history section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history. This will be used in sifting process and will be scored.

Stage 1: Application & SiftAs part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a Statement of Suitability in no more than 750 words providing examples of how you meet the essential criteria. It should also detail what you and your experience can bring to the role. We suggest using the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method to demonstrate real-life examples for the specified essential criteria. Please note, only information provided within the stated word count will be considered.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview

Stage 2: Panel Interview

All candidates who are successful at the sift stage will undertake a single video interview AND a written technical skill test

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Making effective decisions

Benefits

• Alongside your salary of £49,592, UK Health Security Agency contributes £13,390 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• Range of health and wellbeing support

DBS - People working with government systems must complete Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks which includes a disclosure and barring security check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed for this role is BPSS however there may be a requirement for this role to be SC cleared and you should familiarise yourself with the criteria of security clearance.

This role is Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants. Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rulesThis job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of theEuropean Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• Certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

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 welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Government baseline personnel security standard

Its important to note that there are currently exceptions to applications being considered if your conviction relates to any of the following:

• life sentences
• arson
• sexual offences
• hate and terror offences

Person Specification

Education & Qualifications

Essential

• oEducated to degree level in relevant subject or equivalent level of experience of working at a similar level in specialist area

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

UK Health Security Agency

Address

Colindale

London

NW9 5EQ

Employer's website

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-health-security-agency (Opens in a new tab)