Principal Data Engineer

Principal Data Engineer

£92,500 per annum

Bedford

Permanent

Hybrid working

Join us at the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) as a Principal Data Engineer. The Principal Data Engineer reports to the Head of Data and Analytics. The role is aligned to the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework and represents the most senior technical leadership role within the data engineering function.

Key Responsibilities:

Data Platform Strategy and Engineering Leadership

• Data Platform Ownership: Own the strategic direction, roadmap and overall technical architecture of the MaPS data platform, ensuring it supports current and future organisational needs.
• Engineering Standards: Establish and maintain engineering standards, patterns, frameworks and best practices across all data engineering activities.
• Technology Leadership: Evaluate and guide the adoption of new technologies, tools and approaches that improve scalability, reliability, efficiency and value.
• Technical Assurance: Provide technical oversight and assurance across all significant data engineering initiatives, ensuring consistency, quality and alignment with enterprise architecture.

Data Engineering Capability

• Capability Leadership: Lead and develop the data engineering function, ensuring the right skills, operating model and ways of working are in place to meet organisational needs.
• People Leadership: Provide leadership, coaching and mentoring to Data Engineering team, supporting professional growth and capability development.
• Resource Planning: Work with delivery and technology leaders to ensure appropriate engineering capacity, capability and prioritisation across the portfolio.

Data Platform and Architecture

• Platform Strategy: Define and maintain the target state architecture for data platforms, pipelines and supporting services.
• Technical Governance: Ensure data engineering solutions are designed and implemented in accordance with organisational standards, security requirements and architectural principles.
• Platform Reliability: Provide overall accountability for the resilience, scalability, performance and operational effectiveness of the data platform.
• Engineering Patterns: Promote reusable, metadata-driven and automated engineering approaches to reduce complexity and improve delivery efficiency.

Azure Services and Cloud Data Engineering

• Provide strategic oversight of cloud-based data platforms, storage technologies, data integration services and analytics infrastructure.
• Ensure effective use of Azure services including Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory, Synapse Analytics, Azure Data Lake Storage and related technologies.
• Drive platform optimisation and cost-effective use of cloud technologies.

Collaboration and Stakeholder Leadership

• Strategic Partnership: Act as the senior technical advisor for data engineering, working with senior stakeholders across Technology & Change and the wider organisation.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Collaborate with Data Product Managers, Data Scientists, Analysts, Enterprise Architecture, Security and Delivery teams to ensure successful outcomes.
• Supplier Engagement: Provide technical leadership in engagements with third-party suppliers and partners where required.

Data Governance and Quality

• Ensure engineering practices support organisational data governance, security and compliance requirements.
• Work closely with data governance colleagues to embed governance controls within engineering processes and platforms.
• Champion the adoption of engineering practices that support secure, reliable and well-managed data products.

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

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Recruitment Process:

• Initial Review: Our recruiter will review your CV. If it looks like a good fit, they'll reach out to arrange a call.
• Hiring Manager Review: If the recruiter thinks you're suitable, your CV will be passed to the hiring manager, who will decide whether to invite you for an interview.
• Interview: If selected, you'll participate in a virtual interview. This single-stage process allows you to demonstrate your skills and experience through competency-based questions. This will also require you to deliver a short presentation.

Career Development

In MaPS, we take career development seriously. We actively encourage and support applications from our existing MaPS colleagues. However, we do follow the Civil Service Commissioner recruitment principles, which means that you will be required to participate in a full, open, and fair process.

Reserve List

If you are successful at interview, we operate a reserve list where your details will be held for up to 6 months. Should a vacancy come available in that time with the same essential criteria, reserve list candidates will be offered that position with no further assessment required.

Application Process

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact the Money and Pensions Service via email: recruitment@maps.org.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website.

Job Reference: MaPS01306

Close Date: 11/09/2026

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