Data Engineer

Job Details

Job description Role:
Data Engineer

Contract:

Permanent

Location:

London or Newcastle

Salary: c65,000 plus Civil Service Employer Pension Contribution of 28.9%

• UK nationals
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with (or eligible for) status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

Please note, we are not able to sponsor work visas. Please contact us  should you have any questions on your nationality eligibility.

The closing date for applications is 11.59pm 18 Jan 2026. First stage interviews over MS Teams will take place between WC 25 January 2026. Second stage interviews will take place at our offices in Victoria 2 / 3 February.

The National Audit Office (NAO) is the UK’s main public sector audit body. Independent of government, we have responsibility for auditing the accounts of various public sector bodies, examining the propriety of government spending, assessing risks to financial control and accountability, and reviewing the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of programmes, projects, and activities. We report directly to Parliament, through the Committee of Public Accounts of the House of Commons which uses our reports as the basis of its own investigations.

We employ approx. 1,000 people, most of whom are qualified accountants, trainees, or technicians. The organisation comprises two service lines: financial audit, and value for money (VFM) audit and has a strong core of highly talented corporate teams.

The NAO welcomes applications from everyone. We value diversity in all its forms and the difference it makes to our organisation. By removing barriers and creating an inclusive culture all our people can develop and maximise their full potential. As members of the Business Disability Forum and the Disability Confident Scheme we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria.

The NAO supports flexible working and is happy to discuss this with you at application stage.

This is a new vacancy created within NAO’s Digital Services (DS) to expand the data service team, with responsibility for designing, building, and maintaining the infrastructure that enables robust data collection, storage, and access across the organization. This role supports the development and continual improvement of NAO data & technology service composition and provision, enabling scalable and reliable data solutions.

In this capacity, you will build and optimize data pipelines, integrate diverse data sources, and ensure the efficient movement of data across systems. You will work closely with analytics engineers, data scientists, and other stakeholders to ensure data is accessible, high-quality, and fit for purpose. Your work will underpin the NAO’s ability to derive insights and automate processes using corporate and client data.

In this role, you will:

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable data pipelines and ETL processes.
• Integrate structured and unstructured data from internal and external sources.
• Ensure data quality, consistency, and security across systems.
• Collaborate with analytics engineers and subject matter experts to support data modelling and transformation.
• Monitor and optimize performance of data infrastructure.
• Document data architecture and engineering processes to ensure transparency and maintainability.

This role reports into the Head of Data Services. This role requires regular attendance at the NAO’s office either in Victoria, London, or at the office in Newcastle.

As a data engineer at the NAO, you will play a critical role in building and maintaining the technical foundation that enables data-driven operations and insights. You will be responsible for architecting and managing data infrastructure, ensuring that data flows securely and efficiently across systems, and enabling downstream users to access reliable, well-structured data.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Building scalable data infrastructure:
  Design and implement systems that support the ingestion, storage, and processing of large volumes of structured and unstructured data from internal and external sources.
• Developing robust data pipelines:
  Create automated workflows that extract, transform, and load data into centralized platforms, ensuring consistency, reliability, and performance across all stages.
• Designing and optimizing ETL processes:
  Build and maintain efficient ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) workflows to move data from source systems into usable formats. Ensure these processes are scalable, well-documented, and aligned with data quality standards.
• Integrating diverse data sources:
  Connect and harmonize data from various systems (e.g., operational databases, APIs, cloud services) to create unified datasets for analysis and reporting.
• Collaborating across teams:
  Work closely with analytics…