Data Engineer - DV Cleared

Data Engineer - DV ClearedLocation: Bristol/Wiltshire - Hybrid
Rate: £55-£60 per hour Inside IR35
Contract: 3 months initially, with a strong expectation of extension to 12 months
Clearance: UK DV or EDV Clearance required
Sector: Defence/MOD

Condensed Working Week - Work 3 Days, Paid for 5

We're looking for an experienced Senior Data Engineer to join a high-profile defence programme, working across secure data engineering projects for MOD customers.

One of the key benefits of this opportunity is the potential to work a condensed week over just 3 days, while being paid for 5 days. This offers an excellent opportunity to maximise your earning potential while significantly improving your work-life balance.

This is a great opportunity for a hands-on Data Engineer who enjoys solving complex data challenges, working with modern data technologies and collaborating with multidisciplinary technical teams.

The Role

You'll be responsible for designing, building and maintaining secure, scalable data solutions across the full data life cycle - from acquisition and integration through to processing, validation and analysis.

You'll work closely with Data Scientists, Analysts, DevOps Engineers, Cyber Consultants and customer stakeholders to deliver robust, secure and maintainable data solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain secure and scalable data engineering solutions.
• Develop and maintain data ingestion and transformation pipelines using Python, SQL and Apache NiFi.
• Design data models, schemas and data contracts/Interface Control Documents (ICDs).
• Integrate data from REST APIs and other source systems.
• Work with Parquet and S3-compatible object storage.
• Implement data validation, assurance, metadata management and data lineage.
• Develop automation and data-driven tools to support customer requirements.
• Contribute to technical decisions and investigate emerging technologies where appropriate.
• Work collaboratively with technical and customer stakeholders to understand requirements and deliver solutions.
• Take ownership of technical deliverables, ensuring they are secure, high quality and maintainable.

Essential Experience

• Proven commercial experience delivering Data Engineering solutions in project or production environments.
• Strong Python and SQL skills.
• Hands-on experience with Apache NiFi and data pipeline orchestration.
• Data modelling and schema design.
• Parquet and S3-compatible object storage.
• REST API integration.
• OpenShift or Kubernetes.
• GitLab CI/CD and automated build, test and deployment pipelines.
• Developing data contracts or Interface Control Documents (ICDs).
• Data validation and assurance.
• Metadata management, data lineage and traceability.
• Strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.
• Confident communication with technical and customer stakeholders.

Desirable

• STEM, Data, AI, Programming or related degree.
• Experience influencing technical decisions or helping develop technical capability.
• Experience with big-data technologies such as Spark, Hadoop or NiFi.
• Exposure to Ansible and Terraform.
• Understanding of machine-learning algorithms and deployment.

Clearance & Location

DV clearance is essential for this role, with EDV clearance also welcomed.

The role is based around Bristol and MOD sites in Wiltshire, with approximately 50% of the time spent on MOD sites and the remainder working on a hybrid basis. There may also be occasional requirements to work from other sites.

Contract & Benefits

• £55-£60 per hour
• Inside IR35
• 3-month initial contract
• Strong expectation of extension, potentially up to 12 months
• Condensed working week - work 3 days and be paid for 5
• Hybrid working
• Bristol-based with MOD/Wiltshire site work
• High-profile Defence/MOD programme
• DV or EDV clearance required