Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Senior Data Architect
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Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London, Salford
Job Summary
Do you want a career where you can make a real difference? Do you want to have an impact on the UK and beyond? If yes, then a career at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) could be for you.
Here at DESNZ we are delivering our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower, with clean electricity by 2030 and accelerating the UK’s journey to net zero.
Our work is helping ensure clean energy for all, keep bills down and seize the opportunities to lead the world in new green industries, taking back control of our energy with Great British Energy and encouraging greater energy efficiency across the UK. The work of the department has never been more timely or relevant, and by joining us you will be part of making that difference.
Our work is varied, interesting and most importantly it's impactful. Our DESNZ Values are interwoven into everything we do; we are bold, we are collaborative, we are inclusive, and we learn. As a department we are committed to these values to build a culture where everyone can thrive.
We work in an agile way. This means that, as our priorities evolve, your work may adapt to meet emerging needs and help us deliver our mission. This approach offers opportunities to develop your skills, gain new experiences, and contribute where you can make the greatest impact. This relates to the nature of the work rather than contractual terms, such as location or working pattern.
We offer great working benefits including a world-class pension, flexible working options and a career where your learning and development is taken seriously. We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.
Find Out More
We regularly run events where you can find out more about the department and tips for the application and interview process. You can sign up for upcoming events here: https://forms.office.com/e/pqUhdr3L72
You can also follow our LinkedIn Careers Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/desnz-careers/
Job Description
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s mission is to ensure the department has the data and evidence it needs, when it needs it to support decision-making and enable delivery of our core objectives, including ensuring energy security, bringing down energy bills, and delivering net zero emissions by 2050.
This role is a fantastic opportunity to develop as an architecture change agent playing a critical role in the drive towards Net-Zero through ensuring that the department has a clear and consistent approach to how it uses data. The role is part of the Central Data Office Team in the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero. The team is led by the Chief Data Architect.
The architectural activity within the team is ultimately governed by the Director-level Data Board which spans the entire department. As a Senior Data Architect, you will play a key role in shaping a new capability of Enterprise Data Architecture. You will work to ensure that the developing departmental data architecture and its management processes are consistent, coherent, and compliant with the DESNZ Data Governance Framework.
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You will also provide guidance and feedback to data owners, stewards, and users on data management best practices. You will be joining a team and will play a role in fostering positive working culture based on trust, inclusivity and a fail-fast mentality. You will be a change agent in the department, advocating for the effective use of data to meet key policy priorities and continually spotting opportunities to innovate.
Person specification
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand business needs and translate these into coherent data architectures that align to the DESNZ Data Strategy.
- Design data flows and champion data standardisation, advising on appropriateness of data and metadata standards to ensure smooth data flow and data discoverability in the organisation.
- Develop the Enterprise Data Model for DESNZ, reflecting subject areas, domains, entities and their relationships to ensure consistent data management across the organisation.
- Develop and maintain appropriate and comprehensive data models and schemas across a variety of use cases.
- Develop and maintain key metadata products and standards for DESNZ across its various datasets and platforms, including data catalogues, data dictionaries and standards.
- Effectively communicate complex data concepts and insights to non-technical stakeholders, ensuring a clear understanding of data-driven implications and fostering informed decision-making across the department.
- Utilise data analysis and synthesis techniques to derive meaningful insights from complex datasets, supporting appropriate end use of the data.
- Ensure that data governance policies are enabled through data architecture
- Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and departmental and cross government data standards.
- Foster a culture of data innovation by exploring and implementing new technologies and methodologies, driving continuous improvement.
- Proactively identify and resolve data-related challenges, ensuring the stability and reliability of the overall data ecosystem.
- Provide strategic advice on data management, data integration, and data warehousing, optimising solutions for scalability, efficiency and reliability across the DESNZ data estate.
- Foster collaboration in development of the design and implementation of a coherent and robust data architecture for DESNZ, ensuring alignment with the department's maturing data model, its core objectives and industry best practices.
Essential Criteria
- Experience in designing data architectures in large organisations, supporting digital delivery.
- Expertise in designing and implementing data solutions using a variety of technologies, such as SQL, NoSQL, cloud services, ETL tools, data pipelines, data lakes, data warehouses, and data marts.
- Strong knowledge and experience of data modelling (conceptual, logical and physical) and data flow design, experience in developing, maintaining and updating data models for specific organisational needs.
- Experience of driving data standardisation, data governance, data quality, data security, with the ability to apply them in complex and dynamic environments
- Excellent communication, collaboration, and leadership skills, with the ability to translate business requirements into technical specifications, present data architecture vision and strategy to stakeholders
Desirable criteria
- Experience in Data Modelling using specialised software (e.g., Erwin Data Modeller).
- Experience in creating and maintaining metadata repositories (e.g., Purview Data Catalogue).
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Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Communicating between Technical and Non-Technical
- Data Modelling
- Turning Business Problems into Data Designs
- Data Governance (Data Architect)
Alongside your salary of £56,900, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £16,483 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero offers a competitive mix of benefits including:
- A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
- Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
- A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
- An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
- Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
- A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.
Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home-based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to explain how your skills and experience will help you be successful in your role as the Senior Data Architect in DESNZ.
Applications will be sifted on CV and personal statement.
In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the personal statement only.
Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
The interview will consist of technical questions.
Interviewees will be asked to deliver a presentation; further details will be provided nearer the time.
The link to the technical/professional competency framework that candidates will be assessed against, for their reference: [https://ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk/role/data-architect#senior-data-architect](https://d
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