Mid/Senior Data Engineer

Methods is recruiting for a permanent Mid/Senior Data Engineer to join the Data and AI Capability Centre. This role will be mainly remote but require flexibility to travel to client sites, and our offices based in London, Sheffield, and Bristol.

You will support complex client engagements where data engineering is used to stabilise business-critical processes, improve reporting confidence and establish repeatable data foundations across enterprise systems. Bringing strong hands-on experience in data profiling, cleansing, mapping, reconciliation and integration across complex business systems, ideally with exposure to procurement, workforce, finance, ERP or source-to-pay data.

You should be comfortable working iteratively with architects, process owners and business stakeholders to identify root causes, support tactical fixes, improve reporting confidence, and help establish repeatable data foundations for future transformation. Working on client data foundation engagements that combine discovery, stabilisation and remediation.

Typical work will include understanding process and system landscapes, identifying data and reconciliation issues, supporting tactical fixes, and helping clients define the data architecture, reporting and governance foundations needed for longer-term transformation.

What You'll Be Doing as a Data Engineer:

• Design, build and improve ETL and ELT pipelines that support data ingestion, profiling, reconciliation, cleansing and reporting across enterprise source systems.
• Building data catalogues, data flows, interface views and trusted source views
• Design and architect modern data solutions that align with business objectives and technical requirements, supporting current-state and target-state data architecture
• Help clients improve confidence in operational, workforce, procurement and financial reporting through timely, accurate and reconcilable data.
• Build highly scalable and performant data solutions leveraging cloud platforms and open-source software
• Develop data models to handle enterprise-level analytical needs
• Optimise large-scale data processing systems for performance and cost-efficiency
• Implement robust data quality frameworks and monitoring solutions
• Evaluate new technologies to enhance our data engineering capabilities
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical specifications
• Present technical solutions to leadership and non-technical stakeholders
• Contribute to the development of the Methods Analytics Engineering Practice by participating in our internal community of practice

Your Impact:

• Enable business leaders to make informed decisions with confidence through timely, accurate data insights
• Establish reusable engineering standards, patterns and documentation that support quality, maintainability and repeatable Data Foundations delivery across future engagements.
• Drive adoption of modern data architectures and platforms
• Deliver seamless data solutions that enhance user experience
• Elevate the technical capabilities of the entire data engineering team
• Help cultivate a data-driven culture within the organisation
• Establish technical standards and patterns that ensure quality and maintainability

Requirements

You Will Demonstrate:

• Experience working with data from Ariba, Workday, SAP S/4HANA or comparable procurement, workforce, timesheet, finance, supplier invoice or locally maintained spreadsheet sources.
• Hands-on experience profiling data quality issues, defining cleansing rules, mapping data between systems, validating reconciliation outputs and documenting exceptions for business review.
• Ability to work iteratively with architects, process owners, finance, procurement, workforce and operational stakeholders to turn ambiguous business issues into clear data analysis, engineering actions and controlled tactical fixes.
• Understanding of data ownership, stewardship, lineage, metadata, controls and data quality monitoring, with the ability to produce documentation that can be reused as part of an enduring data governance model.
• Experience implementing and advocating for test-driven development methodologies in data pipeline workflows, including unit testing, integration testing, and data quality validation frameworks
• Proven experience leading technical aspects of data projects
• Strong data architecture and modelling skills with the ability to design scalable data solutions
• Deep understanding of data warehouse design principles and methodologies
• Advanced knowledge of optimisation techniques for large-scale data processing
• Strong proficiency in SQL and Python for handling complex data problems
• Hands-on experience with Apache Spark (PySpark or Spark SQL)
• Experience with the Azure data stack
• Knowledge of workflow orchestration tools like Azure Data Factory or Apache Airflow
• Experience with containerisation technologies like Docker
• Proficiency in dimensional modelling techniques
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines for data solutions
• Strong communication skills for translating complex technical concepts

You may also have some of the desirable skills and experience:

• Experience designing and implementing data mesh or data fabric architectures
• Knowledge of cost optimisation strategies for cloud data platforms
• Experience with data quality frameworks and implementation
• Experience with data visualisation tools like Power BI or Apache Superset
• Experience with other cloud data platforms like AWS, GCP or Oracle
• Experience with modern unified data platforms like Databricks or Microsoft Fabric
• Experience with Kubernetes for container orchestration
• Understanding of streaming technologies (Apache Kafka, event-based architectures)
• Experience with high-performance, large-scale data systems

Security Clearance:

UKSV (United Kingdom Security Vetting) clearance is required for this role, with Security Check (SC) as the minimum standard, either already held or with a willingness to undergo the process. Some roles/projects may require Developed Vetting (DV) clearance; while not mandatory, a willingness to obtain DV clearance would be beneficial. As part of the onboarding process candidates will be asked to complete a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS); details of the evidence required to apply may be found on the government website GOV.UK – Government baseline personnel security standard.

If you are unable to meet this and any associated criteria, then your employment may be delayed, or rejected. Details of this will be discussed with you at interview.

Wellness – 24/7 confidential employee assistance programme

Flexible Working – including home working and part time

Social – office parties, breakfast Tuesdays, monthly pizza Thursdays, Thirsty Thursdays, and commitment to charitable causes

Time Off – 25 days of annual leave a year, plus bank holidays, with the option to buy extra days each year

Volunteering – 2 paid days per year to volunteer in our local communities or within a charity organisation

Pension – Salary Exchange Scheme with 4% employer contribution and 5% employee contribution

Discretionary Company Bonus – based on company and individual performance

Life Assurance – of 4 times base salary

Worldwide Travel Insurance – which is non-contributory (spouse and dependants included)

Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay

Travel – season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme