Senior Research Data Engineer

We are seeking a visionary Senior Research Data Engineer to play a pivotal role in the newly funded BRIDE (Bristol Research and Innovation Data Engineering) Hub—a groundbreaking collaboration between the University of Bristol, University of the West of England, and Bristol NHS Group.

BRIDE will be at the forefront of transforming health outcomes by enabling secure, and innovative data flows for research across academic and clinical partners.

As Senior Research Data Engineer, you will be the technical leader driving the development of cutting‑edge data engineering solutions. The work includes:

• Designing and implementing scalable, automated data pipelines for processing and standardising complex, multi‑modal health datasets.
• Building robust data infrastructure to ensure interoperability and high‑quality data delivery
• Leading a team of junior engineers and collaborating with NHS and academic partners to deliver BRIDE’s objectives.

This role offers a unique blend of technical leadership, innovation, and collaboration. You will hold honorary NHS contracts to work seamlessly across organisational boundaries, ensuring that research data infrastructure aligns with clinical and academic priorities.

If you are passionate about data engineering and want to contribute to a project that will shape the future of health data science, this is an opportunity to make a lasting difference.

This post is fixed for one year, with a strong likelihood of an extension.

Part‑time is negotiable and hybrid working is available.

As Senior Research Data Engineer, you will lead the technical development and operational delivery of the BRIDE Hub.

Key responsibilities include:

• Designing and implementing secure, scalable data infrastructure to integrate clinical and research data within a hospital system.
• Building and maintaining data pipelines (ETL/ELT) to ingest data from clinical systems (electronic patient records, pathology, imaging, genomics, administrative) into research‑ready datasets.
• Mapping and harmonising legacy data sources, applying NHS and international standards such as OMOP, SNOMED‑CT, and HL7 FHIR for interoperability.
• Applying FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) to all research datasets, including metadata and provenance tracking.
• Developing tools and dashboards for monitoring data quality, lineage, and pipeline performance.
• Collaborating with clinicians, academics, and research leads to understand data requirements for studies, trials, and innovation projects.
• Providing technical leadership, mentoring junior engineers and analysts, fostering skills development.

You will play a pivotal role in creating a unified research data environment for Bristol, enabling cutting‑edge health data science and supporting national research networks.

• You have significant experience of working in a computationally based setting or possess a postgraduate qualification in a computationally-based field.
• You have excellent knowledge of Python, SQL, Spark or equivalent tools.
• You have experience of working with clinical data and possibly Secure Data Environments.
• You enjoy working with multiple institutions to solve complex problems.

Contract type:
Open-ended with funding for 12 months (01/01/2026-31/12/2026- but can be flexible)

Work pattern:
Full-time/ 1 FTE

Grade: K

School/Unit:
Bristol Medical School

This advert will close at 23:59 UK time on 27/01/2026

For informal queries please contact:
Dr Rachel Denholm, PI of the BRIDE hub;

We recently launched our strategy to 2030 tying together our mission, vision and values.

We want to attract, develop, and retain individuals with different experiences, backgrounds and perspectives – particularly people of colour, LGBT+ and disabled people – because diversity of people and ideas remains integral to our excellence as a global civic institution.

We aim to be a place where everyone feels able to be themselves and do their best in an inclusive working environment where all colleagues can thrive and reach their full potential.