ABOUT US

We are the independent regulator of higher education in England.
We aim to ensure that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their lives and careers.
We’re proud of our people, our culture and the benefits we offer. We care about supporting and developing our staff. At the OfS we want to create a welcoming and engaging working environment which is free from discrimination.
We’re looking for skilled, committed people who care about students and their experience of higher education. Join us and you’ll be part of an energetic, forward-looking organisation with high ambitions and big opportunities for our people.
The analytics & data engineering team are a newly formed team in the OfS. The team is there to make sure the analyst team and subsequently the business has the right information to carry out the functions of the organisation.

WHY WORK FOR THE OFS

The OfS’s Data function is currently undergoing an exciting and major transformation and we’re looking for a talented data engineer to help lead the change.
We’re moving away from a legacy on-premises platform to an Azure Databricks platform, unlocking new possibilities for automation and innovation. This is your opportunity to help develop new robust data products from the ground up, set best practice and introduce AI into the organisation to improve how we support the higher education sector and the needs of students.

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE & SKILLS:

• Strong Python programming knowledge, ideally Pyspark
• Strong knowledge of the Azure Databricks platform and associated functionalities
• Adaptable, with a willingness to work flexibly as the needs of the organisation evolve.
• Working well within a team, and able to work closely with internal and external stakeholders.
• An ability to take a logical and analytical approach, and to take a pragmatic, collaborative approach to solving problems.
• Adept at communicating technical concepts to a nontechnical audience.
• Awareness of the modern data stack and associated methodologies

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

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)
• 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

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

You will be a key individual contributor and be responsible for:

• Building and developing re-useable pipelines for analytics and AI projects
• Pushing for innovation within the platform to enable great efficiencies and detailed insights and outputs
• Leading key relationships between IT and Data to grow the platform and release new capabilities
• Deploying production AI models with automated monitoring from the data pipeline to the model runs and outputs

As well as supporting the team responsibilities on:

• Work to Extract, Load & Transform (ELT) data sets from a variety of data sources across the OfS enterprise technology stack. With a particular focus to the Extract & Load parts.
• Monitoring the execution of data workflows, including identifying and mitigating risks, setting service level indicators and configuring alerts.
• Adopting data governance best practice when processing raw data to develop, test and maintain datasets, including the use and maintenance of relevant resources (such as, but not limited to, a data catalogue, data dictionary, logical data models).
• Developing coding standards for Python programming to be used across the Data function.
• Supporting continuous data quality improvements across the organisation by exploring enhancements to: automated quality assurance processes; the reliability of data workflows; and the effectiveness of data transformations.
• Applying dimensional data modelling concepts and practices across the OfS data to develop conceptual, logical and physical data models that support efficiency and effectiveness of business operations
• Advocating and supporting an evidence-led culture across the organisation, assisting with driving enhancements to the organisation’s data capability