Data Engineer

Job Location:

Milton Keynes, Remote/Hybrid

Department:
Data Technology

Closing Date: 5 March 2026

Weekly

Working Hours:

37

Contract Type:
Permanent

Fixed Term

Contract:

End Date:
Not Applicable

Welsh Language:
Not Applicable

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to You Tube by clicking this link).

Effective use of data is critical to the successful delivery of the Open University’s strategic goals. Reporting to the Data Technology Director within Digital Services, this key Data Engineer role is responsible for building, operating, and evolving the Data Technology capability for the Open University.

The successful candidate will be an experienced data engineering professional with strong expertise in modern data platforms, preferably Microsoft Azure. You will bring hands‑on experience with data engineering tools, programming languages, architectures, integration patterns, and operational best practices, and demonstrate the ability to implement these effectively at enterprise scale.

This role is responsible for the technical development of the Azure data platform and will act as the primary point of contact for data processing related to Tuition Services
. As part of the Chief Data Office, the role will work closely with analytics and data teams to deliver a comprehensive and high‑quality data service to the University.

• Acting as an individual contributor across the wider technology team while serving as a specialist in data engineering.
• Designing and delivering end‑to‑end data transformation pipelines, supporting both batch and streaming data ingestion.
• Implementing resilient, self‑healing, and observable data ingestion and consumption infrastructure.
• Taking technical ownership of work streams, acting as the subject matter expert, and proactively managing risks and issues.
• Defining, developing, and maintaining technical designs, documentation, and user artefacts, while driving continuous improvement within an agile delivery model.
• Identifying and resolving technical problems and delivery roadblocks, working collaboratively with peers to drive issues to closure.
• Performing performance tuning and code optimisation, and reviewing peers’ code to ensure adherence to best practices.
• Mentoring and supporting the development of junior members of the data engineering team.
• Working closely with the Data Engineering Lead and Analysts to ensure timely delivery of solutions that meet business and technical requirements.
• Supporting technology innovation initiatives across the Open University through proofs of concept and exploratory work.

During the initial phase, the role will focus on:

• Delivering highly critical data engineering solutions that enable the Open University to achieve its key strategic programmes.
• Working closely with the Tuition Services team on current and future data processing, reporting, and analytics solutions.
• Defining and delivering a roadmap for data platform uplift, aligned with Microsoft Azure’s technology roadmap, to meet future analytics needs in a cost‑effective and scalable manner.

• Communicating effectively with stakeholders at all levels, managing expectations, and facilitating discussions in high‑risk, complex, or time‑constrained environments.
• Designing and delivering enterprise‑scale data integration solutions across the full data development lifecycle, with strong expertise in cloud‑based data engineering (preferably Microsoft Azure).
• Leading and motivating teams to ensure the reliable and efficient delivery of enterprise data services.
• Implementing both on‑premises and cloud‑based data engineering solutions, with hands‑on experience in relational databases, ETL tools, and programming languages such as SQL, Python, PySpark, and Java.
• Defining and enforcing data engineering standards, architectural patterns, and industry best practices.
• Advising on and shaping future…