Serco Plc
Senior Data Engineer
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Senior Data Engineer
Senior Data Engineer
Hybrid – Attached to our Solihull, London or Hook office
Employment Type & Compensation
- Full Time, Permanent
- Band 4 / £60,000 - £70,000 (dependent on experience)
About the Role
Here at Serco, we’re looking for a Senior Data Engineer to design, build, and optimise robust data pipelines and products across a modern multi-cloud ecosystem spanning Azure, AWS, and Databricks. Databricks is central to our platform, and you’ll play a key role in leveraging the Lakehouse architecture to power analytics, data science, and operational insights.
This is a deeply technical, hands-on role for a Senior Data Engineer who thrives on building high-quality data solutions at scale. You'll act as a senior technical contributor, guiding other engineers, shaping engineering standards, and influencing how data engineering is delivered across the organisation.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Behaviour
- Provide technical leadership through mentoring, coaching, and design reviews, raising engineering standards across teams.
- Collaborate across a matrix organisation (Data Science, Analytics, Architecture, Cyber, Product), translating technical decisions into clear business outcomes.
- Contribute to the evolution of the data platform, recommending tools, patterns, and improvements to engineering maturity.
Design & Delivery
- Lead the design and delivery of complex data pipelines and products (batch and streaming), ensuring scalability, resilience, and long-term maintainability.
- Define and assure data integration architectures, aligning to enterprise standards and evolving business needs.
- Build and optimise data solutions on Databricks, leveraging Delta Lake, Delta Live Tables, Unity Catalog, Structured Streaming, and workflows.
- Develop and optimise ETL/ELT pipelines using PySpark, SQL, and orchestration frameworks, emphasising performance tuning and efficiency.
- Drive cost-effective engineering practices across Azure and AWS cloud platforms.
- Re-engineer legacy or manual processes into automated, reusable, and scalable solutions, defining patterns and accelerators.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Engineering Standards & Practices
- Design and implement data models and structures, including schema evolution, metadata, lineage, and lakehouse standards.
- Embed data quality, testing, and observability frameworks to ensure reliable and trusted data products.
- Ensure data security and compliance, including access control, encryption, and lifecycle management.
Requirements
- 5+ years’ experience in data engineering within enterprise-scale environments.
- Strong experience in designing and building data pipelines and products at enterprise scale.
- Advanced hands-on expertise in PySpark and SQL, including performance optimisation.
- Proven experience in data modelling, integration design, and scalable data architectures.
- Deep practical experience with Databricks (essential), including Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, streaming, and workflow orchestration.
- Solid experience across:
- Azure: ADF, Synapse, ADLS, Event Hub, Purview
- AWS: S3, Glue, Kinesis, Athena, EMR, Lake Formation
- Strong understanding of CI/CD for data, test automation, and modern engineering practices.
- Experience implementing data quality frameworks, observability, and monitoring solutions.
- Familiarity with:
- Git
- Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform/Bicep)
- Cloud-native tooling
- Strong communication skills, able to explain technical decisions and trade-offs clearly.
- Experience in mentoring/guiding engineers and contributing to technical best practice.
- Relevant certifications (desirable):
- Azure Data Engineer Associate
- AWS Data Analytics Specialty
- Databricks Data Engineer (Associate/Professional)
- SC security clearance may be required (or willingness to obtain it).
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
What We Offer
- Flexible working considered
- Pension – 6%
- Chance to contribute to innovation in the public services
- Company passionate about diversity and inclusion
- Serco discounts: cinema, Merlin Entertainment, online shopping, mobile phone plans, leisure centre memberships
- Health and wellbeing benefits: Employee Assistance Programme, Simply Health Cash Plans
- Career development training: role-specific training, leadership coaching, formal study, and more
- A safe and supportive culture
About Serco
At Serco, everyone plays a vital part in delivering essential public services that make a real difference. As a global team of 50,000, we’re united by our values: Trust, Care, Innovation, and Pride.
Our Commitment to Inclusion
We are a:
- Disability Confident Leader
- Top Great British Employer of Veterans (2026)
- Gold Inclusive Employer Standard holder
Guaranteed Interview Scheme: Applicants with disabilities, veterans or those with convictions (meeting minimum job criteria) are guaranteed an interview.
Ban The Box: Supports fair access for those with unspent criminal convictions (some roles may require security clearance).
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location