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Office for Students

Head of Data & Analytics Engineering

Hybrid

Bristol, United kingdom

Freelance

17-02-2026

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Skills

Leadership Python Tableau SQL Data Governance Data Engineering Test power bi Azure Agile Recruitment Analytics Databricks

Job Specifications

Salary: £82,082 - £86,006

12 months fixed term contract

Location: Bristol

Generous Civil Service defined benefit pension 

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. 

About The Role 

Provide leadership to the data & analytics engineering teams, owning and driving the development of our Azure Databricks platform to enhance our analytical and AI capabilities. Optimise and assure our data model and estate, ingesting new sources and governing use across the Of

You Will Be Responsible For

Providing strategic leadership to a team of analytics and data engineers, modelling the OfS behaviours and values to ensure analytical best practises are implemented and there is a standardised operational approach. Enabling Data to respond to changes in the regulatory environment and OfS business priorities, whilst developing long term strategic priorities in the data engineering space.
With your Product Owner develop a long-term roadmap and vision for the data platform and join up with other OfS systems.
Create space to innovate and test new Databricks functionality as it is released and share and support the rest of the data team to exploit them.
In conjunction with the rest of the data Senior Management team creating a high performance, continuous improvement culture across Data.
Champion data governance best practise across Data, owning the data security model, auditing and taking responsibility for complying with data sharing agreements.
Working in partnership with the data analyst teams to ensure the data model is in the most appropriate structure, has the right data and continues to build upon data modelling best principles. Continually ensuring the team delivers a high-quality data service for the rest of Data.

About You 

Excellent leadership and people development skills
An ongoing commitment to personal development and data landscape awareness
Experience of the modern data stack and associated methodologies
Strong knowledge of ELT process
Excellent knowledge of modern data ops and agile working practices
Experience of working with SQL and Python
Experience of Dashboarding tools such as Tableau and Power BI
Ability to produce forward plans, written papers and briefs in an understandable format for non-specialists

Desirable experience

Knowledge of Higher education sector data

Application process

Please provide a copy of your CV demonstrating your experience and skills for this role.

After shortlisting there will be a 2-stage interview process based on experience and a presentation based on a set of queries we will provide.

Reasonable adjustment

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to everyone. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support you through the application stage, please contact us at recruitmentteam@officeforstudents.org.uk and we will be happy to help.

Working for us 

The OfS regulates the higher education sector on behalf of all students. We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience and ideas that it brings to our work, and we strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do. 

We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.  

Flexibility is important to the OfS, as we recognise that it can enable people to work more effectively. A set of organisation-wide principles shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. This would usually mean working from the office for two or three days in a typical week. 

To attract the widest possible field of qualified applicants, flexible working, for example job share and part time working apply to this role.  

Closing date for applications: 27th of February at noon

First stage Interviews: from week commencing 9th of March

For information: the OfS does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence.

About Us

Useful Links

Guidance for applicants - Office for Students

OfS careers site

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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. Know more