Principal Data Engineer; office locations

Position: Principal Data Engineer  (we have office locations  and )
Company Description

Genomics England is a global leader in enabling genomic medicine and research, focused on creating a world where everyone benefits from genomic healthcare. Building on the 100,000 Genomes Project, we support the NHS’s world-first national whole genome sequencing service and run the growing National Genomic Research Library, alongside delivering numerous major genomics initiatives. By connecting research and clinical care at national scale, we enable immediate healthcare benefits and advances for the future.

Our mission is to provide the evidence and digital systems so that by 2035 genomics could play a role in up to half of all healthcare interactions, whilst securing the UK’s position as the best place to discover, prove and benefit from genomic innovations.

We are accelerating our impact and working with patients, doctors, scientists, government and industry to improve genomic testing, and help researchers access the health data and technology they need to make new medical discoveries and create more effective, targeted medicines for everybody.

Behind the Healthcare and Research outcomes, Genomics England delivers through designing, developing and operating complex healthcare software systems.

We're on the cusp of big changes with the real prospect of genomics becoming the fabric of everyday healthcare through the lifetime - from birth to old age.

Job Description

Principal Data Engineer

At Genomics England, we’re looking for an experienced Principal Data Engineer to help shape the future of data engineering across our organisation.

Our data supports clinical and research use at national scale. Behind this sits a complex engineering challenge: creating secure, resilient and scalable platforms that enable highly sensitive genomic and health data to be used responsibly and effectively.

This is where you will make a difference

As Principal Data Engineer, you’ll provide senior technical leadership across our data engineering capability. You’ll help us make thoughtful, sustainable technology choices, establish effective data engineering practices and build robust platforms that teams can confidently develop and operate.

This is a Principal individual contributor role with meaningful scope to influence how data engineering develops across Genomics England. Working across teams and technical domains, you’ll shape direction, provide architectural guidance and remain closely involved in hands-on engineering and delivery.

You’ll collaborate with data engineers, architects, bioinformaticians, product teams, governance colleagues and senior stakeholders to solve complex data engineering challenges across our clinical and research data platforms.

You’ll also lead the development of our wider data engineering capability, helping to shape how we grow and strengthen data engineering practices across the organisation. Through mentoring, technical guidance and knowledge sharing, you’ll support colleagues to grow their expertise and help teams adopt consistent, sustainable approaches to data engineering.

Why this role matters

The data platforms behind our clinical and research work need to be secure, reliable and designed for the long term. As Principal Data Engineer, you’ll have the opportunity to shape how we approach those challenges across the organisation.

You’ll influence data engineering beyond a single team while remaining close to the technology and contributing directly to delivery. Your impact will be seen not only in the platforms and solutions you help create, but in the engineering practices you establish, the decisions you help shape and the colleagues you support to develop.

Ultimately, your work will help us build sustainable data engineering capability and enable the…