Description
The Head of Data Engineering will deliver robust data products and services for all SFC, in support of its priorities and needs of our partners.
As a leader, you'll need to be experienced, humble and highly skilled. And whatever the problem, you'll find the solution by inspiring your team to work as one, getting them to perform with clear technical direction. You’ll guide your team to build robust, creative products, providing support and occasionally hands on development. Though you'll be accountable for your own projects and trusted to deliver, you'll also form part of a broader team that takes collective responsibility for making success happen across SFC’s Data & Analytics function.
Key Responsibilities
* Co-create the SFC data vision and roadmap with the Head of Analytics and Head of Cloud Technology, aligning to Azure Well-Architected Framework and Cloud Adoption Framework governance principles.
* Define technical data strategy to build sustainable data infrastructure and guide product strategy through data.
* Act as design authority for SFC's data architecture across Microsoft Fabric, Azure data services, and Power BI semantic models, with responsibility for Lakehouse and Delta Lake implementations.
* Develop roadmaps for both product related data engineering work and SFC's overall data maturity.
* Lead the Data Engineering workstream for SFC's Reform programme, delivering the technical integration of apprenticeship funding systems and data assets.
* Design and oversee data migration from legacy systems, ensuring data quality, lineage, and continuity throughout transition.
* Establish data governance frameworks that support both existing SFC operations and incoming apprenticeship functions.
* Work with leads and senior management across SFC to identify and build data products that deliver efficient data models and integrations, driving data democratisation and an evidence based culture.
* Lead the design and build of data products and services, establishing and enforcing standards for quality, documentation, and maintainability.
* Define the processes needed to achieve operational data excellence, including analytics and integration of processes and systems to deliver efficiencies.
* Establish and maintain metadata management practices that ensure data assets are discoverable, documented, and understood across SFC.
* Define data governance policies and standards, working with information governance colleagues to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements
* Implement data cataloguing and lineage tracking to support audit, accountability, and operational resilience.
* Manage, mentor, and grow a team of data engineers, providing technical guidance on data product and service development.
* Build data engineering capability through technical leadership, skills development, and career progression.
* Provide appropriate advice and guidance to internal and external stakeholders at all levels.
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
It is important through your CV / Cover Letter that you give evidence of proven experience of each of the following essential criteria:
Essential
* Substantial experience delivering data products and solutions using Microsoft Azure data technologies, with demonstrable expertise in modern Lakehouse architecture (e.g. Microsoft Fabric, Delta Lake).
* Strong programming capability in Python and T-SQL, with experience of test-driven development practices.
* Demonstrable experience in data architecture design, including data modelling, integration patterns, and platform migration.
* Strong experience with distributed data processing frameworks (Apache Spark or equivalent).
* Understanding of CI/CD principles and their application to data engineering workflows.
* Experience leading and developing data engineering teams, with a track record of building capability and establishing standards.
* At least two substantial data migration projects delivered end-to-end, ideally involving system integration or platform consolidation.
* Experience managing cost, schedule, quality, and risk across technical delivery, whether with internal teams or third-party suppliers.
* Track record of leading cultural or capability change within a data, analytics, or technology function.
* Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences and influence at senior levels.
* Experience establishing or significantly improving data governance practices within an organisation.
* Strong organisational abilities to manage diverse and changing workloads while maintaining quality standards.
Terms and Benefits
· Normal full-time hours of work are 35 per week. We will consider flexible working arrangements. A flexi-time system is in operation.
· Annual leave entitlement of 30 days pro-rata. Public and privilege holiday entitlement of 13 days pro-rata.
· A flexible approach to hybrid working, giving you flexibility to work from home anywhere in the UK for some of the time while also maintaining regular in-person contact with colleagues.
· Annual pay review: approved within the framework of the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy and negotiated with our recognised trade union, Unite. Salaries are reviewed annually in April for employees who commence employment prior to 1 October in the preceding year.
· Eligibility to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme. With its low member contribution rates and generous employer contributions, this gives you a secure, inflation-proof pension for life with no investment uncertainty. Details of contribution rates together with further details of the pension benefits are available on the Civil Service Pensions website. There is also the option of a Partnership pension account.
· Support for continuous professional development: as a part of SFC, we are dedicated to providing comprehensive support for continuous learning and professional development. Civil Service-Learning curriculum has thoughtfully designed to cater to various learning preferences, allowing employees to engage in a manner that best suits their needs. All our educational resources are conveniently accessible through the CSL website.
· Support for health and wellbeing, including generous occupational sick pay, free access to confidential advice and support through our 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, Special Leave (paid and unpaid), a contribution to learning outside work through our Lifelong Learning Fund, free winter flu vaccination, and access to occupational health support.
· We provide support to SFC employees with Volunteering Days.
· Support for travel to and from work, including a salary sacrifice cycle loan scheme, cycle storage and shower facilities, an interest-free loan for bus or rail season tickets and free office car parking for employees on a first-come basis.
Although most salaried roles are advertised as full time positions (35 hours a week), we are happy to discuss part-time or compressed hours to suit a candidates circumstances. We also operate a flexible working scheme to work around a candidate's other commitments such as caring responsibilities.
We will consider secondment applications for most salaried fixed-term or temporary positions and in many cases also for salaried permanent positions. If you are interested in applying on a secondment basis and this option is not explicitly mentioned in the job advert, please contact recruitment@sfc.ac.uk for further information.
We are the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, more commonly known as the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
We are Scotland’s tertiary education and research authority and our purpose is to sustain a world-leading system of tertiary education, research and innovation that enables students to flourish, changes lives for the better, and supports social, economic and environmental wellbeing and prosperity.
We do this by investing around £2 billion of public money to deliver:
* Tertiary learning and teaching.
* Skills and apprenticeships.
* Student support and participation.
* Research, innovation and knowledge exchange.
* Data collection and dissemination.
* National quality assurance and enhancement processes.
* Capital and digital infrastructure for the sector.
* Strategic change, responsive provision and research priorities.
As a non-departmental public body established by the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005, we are directly accountable to Scottish Government Ministers and the Scottish Parliament. We work across many government portfolios and are sponsored by the Lifelong Learning Directorate.
We hold colleges, universities and other funded bodies to account for their delivery of required outcomes. We are also the statistical authority for colleges, and work closely with the UK-wide Higher Education Statistical Authority (HESA), to provide data and statistics for government, decision-makers, and the wider public.
We work in partnership with a wide range of partners and bodies, including those we fund, across all aspects of our remit.
General information for applicants for SFC roles
You must already be eligible to work in the UK to apply for these roles. SFC do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skills Worker License and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.
We are pleased to support applications from everyone regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, socio-economic background, gender, sexual orientation, sex, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, as well as those who have skills in Scottish Gaelic or British Sign Language, who have the right skills for the job.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and actively encourage interviews through the scheme.
Further information about SFC is available on our website Scottish Funding Council home page (sfc.ac.uk). Additional information about our recruitment process can be found at Recruitment FAQs | Scottish Funding Council Careers (sfc.ac.uk) .