The Scottish Government provided pay range
This range is provided by The Scottish Government. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.
Base pay range
Are you an organised worker who would like the opportunity to develop your technical skills in a wide-reaching role? This post sits within the National Records of Scotland (NRS) Geography team. Their remit is both varied and challenging and they are responsible for maintaining postcode boundaries for Scotland, which are the main building block for higher area geographies used to disseminate statistics. The team also produce the NRS Scottish Address Directory and maintain a list of communal establishments, managed residential accommodation, both of which feed into several government surveys. Geographic products are created and issued on a regular basis and many requests for geographic information are processed, some often requiring complex spatial analysis. As the postholder, you will be responsible for helping maintain the postcode and address management systems as well as investigating and developing geographic products and boundaries for use in future work on population statistics. You will be required to use your specialist skills to develop GIS methodologies, carry out complex spatial analyses, test processes and systems, and provide recommendations and outputs, in a timely manner and to the required quality standards.
Responsibilities
* Maintain internal systems, using FME, Python and GIS, required to undertake digitising tasks and for the creation of geography postcode and addressing products.
* Produce complex geospatial and geo-statistical analysis and create output files in a variety of formats e.g. shapefiles or GeoJson.
* Bring multiple data sources together in a conformed model for analysis.
* Design, build and test data products that are complex or large scale.
* Select and implement appropriate technologies from an approved portfolio to deliver scalable and future proofed data solutions.
* Investigate the use of a range of tools for storing and working with meta data.
* Respond to problems in databases, data processes, data products and services as they occur. Determine the appropriate remedy and assist with its implementation, and with preventative measures.
* Use agreed standards and tools to design, code, test, correct and document moderate-to-complex programs and scripts from agreed specifications and subsequent iterations.
* Review requirements and specifications and define test conditions, generate synthetic test data, identify issues and risks associated with this work and analyse and report test activities and results.
* You will be expected to spend a portion of your time engaging with your DDaT specialist community, for example attending community knowledge exchanges, and providing technical peer support of various kinds – whether expert consultancy advice, code review, or pair programming, as well as keeping up to date with relevant technologies, concepts, and frameworks.
Success profile
Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.
Technical / Professional Skills
* Communicating between the technical and non-technical – Working
* Data development process – Practitioner
* Data innovation – Working
* Data integration design – Practitioner
* Problem management – Working
* Programming and build (data engineering) – Practitioner
* Technical understanding – Working
* Technical understanding (data engineering) - Working
* Testing - Working
This role is aligned to the Senior Data Engineer level within the Data job family. You can find out more about the skills required, here: Data engineer - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework. These skills are assessed by technical assessment and full details will be shared in advance with all candidates who are invited to this stage.
Experience
* You have used agreed standards and tools (e.g. FME, ArcGIS) to design, code, test, correct and document programs and scripts to deliver reproducible and automated data systems.
* You have reviewed requirements and specifications and have defined test conditions that enable the development of data products and identified associated risks.
* You have responded to problems in data, data processes, data products and the services as they occur.
Behaviours
* Changing and improving – Level 3
How To Apply
Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1000 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the skills, experience and behaviours listed in the Success Profile above. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment. If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and DDaT Technical assessment where the behaviours, experiences and technical skills outlined in the Success Profile will be assessed. Interviews and assessments are scheduled for w/c 26 January 2026 however this may be subject to change.
About Us
National Records of Scotland (NRS) is Scotland’s record keeper. Our purpose is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles. NRS is a Non-Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government & our staff are part UK Civil Service, working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland. We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer.
DDaT Pay Supplement
This post is part of the Scottish Government Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) profession, as a member of the profession you will join the professional development system. This post currently attracts a £5,000 annual DDAT pay supplement, applicable after a 3 months competency qualifying period. The payment will be backdated to your start date in the role. Pay supplements are reviewed regularly and there is one currently underway. Changes will be communicated when the review is concluded.
Working pattern
Our standard hours are 35 hours per week, we offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options depending on the needs of the role. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.
Security checks
Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions). You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, or read about the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide.
Equality statement
We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation. Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.
Further information
Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website. Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes. For further information about the role, please contact Kerry McDonald at kerry.mcdonald@nrscotland.gov.uk.
Senior Data Engineer (Governance & Compliance)
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom 2 weeks ago
Seniority level
Mid-Senior level
Employment type
Full-time
Job function
Information Technology
Industries
Government Administration
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