Office for Students

About the Company

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.

Our work covers all students whether undergraduate or postgraduate, home or international, young or mature, full-time or part-time, studying on a campus or by distance learning.

Listed Jobs

Company Name

Office for Students

Job Title

Head of Data & Analytics Engineering

Job Description

**Job Title** Head of Data & Analytics Engineering **Role Summary** Lead the data & analytics engineering teams, oversee the Azure Databricks platform, and drive the overall data strategy. The role involves creating a unified data estate, ensuring governance and security, and providing analytic capabilities that support regulatory and business priorities. **Expactations** - Strategic leadership and people development in a fast‑changing data environment. - Ownership of data platform road‑mapping, innovation, and operational excellence. - Championing data governance, security, and quality across the organization. - Delivering high‑quality data services that empower analysts and other stakeholders. **Key Responsibilities** - Provide strategic direction to analytics and data engineering teams, modelling leadership behaviours and best practices. - Collaborate with product owners to define a long‑term roadmap and vision for the Azure Databricks platform, integrating with other enterprise systems. - Experiment with and roll out new Databricks features, sharing knowledge with the wider data team. - Foster a culture of high performance, continuous improvement, and data‑driven decision making. - Own and maintain the data security model, audit processes, and compliance with data sharing agreements. - Partner with data analyst teams to maintain an optimal data model structure, ensuring accurate, high‑value data availability. - Produce strategic plans, white papers, and briefs in clear, non‑technical language for executive‑level audiences. **Required Skills** - Proven leadership and coaching experience in data/analytics engineering. - Deep knowledge of the modern data stack (Databricks, ELT, data ops, agile practices). - Strong SQL and Python programming skills. - Experience with dashboarding tools (Tableau, PowerBI). - Expertise in data governance, security, and compliance. - Effective communication skills to translate technical detail into actionable insights for non‑specialists. **Required Education & Certifications** - Bachelor’s (or above) degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field. - Relevant certifications (e.g., Microsoft Azure Data Engineer Associate, Databricks Certified Data Engineer) are desirable, though not mandatory. ---

Bristol, United kingdom

Hybrid

17-02-2026