Head of Data & Analytics Engineering
| Posting date: | 16 February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £82,082 to £86,006 per year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 18 March 2026 |
| Location: | Bristol, South West England |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 2 days per week |
| Company: | Office For Students |
| Job type: | Contract |
| Job reference: | R0001466 |
Summary
Head of Data & Analytics Engineering
Salary: £82,082 - £86,006
12 months fixed term contract
Location: Bristol
Generous Civil Service defined benefit pension
About us
We are the independent regulator of higher education in England. We aim to ensure that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their lives and careers.
We’re proud of our people, our culture and the benefits we offer. We care about supporting and developing our staff. At the OfS we want to create a welcoming and engaging working environment which is free from discrimination.
We’re looking for skilled, committed people who care about students and their experience of higher education. Join us and you’ll be part of an energetic, forward-looking organisation with high ambitions and big opportunities for our people.
About the role
Provide leadership to the data & analytics engineering teams, owning and driving the development of our Azure Databricks platform to enhance our analytical and AI capabilities. Optimise and assure our data model and estate, ingesting new sources and governing use across the Of
You will be responsible for:
• Providing strategic leadership to a team of analytics and data engineers, modelling the OfS behaviours and values to ensure analytical best practises are implemented and there is a standardised operational approach. Enabling Data to respond to changes in the regulatory environment and OfS business priorities, whilst developing long term strategic priorities in the data engineering space.
• With your Product Owner develop a long-term roadmap and vision for the data platform and join up with other OfS systems.
• Create space to innovate and test new Databricks functionality as it is released and share and support the rest of the data team to exploit them.
• In conjunction with the rest of the data Senior Management team creating a high performance, continuous improvement culture across Data.
• Champion data governance best practise across Data, owning the data security model, auditing and taking responsibility for complying with data sharing agreements.
• Working in partnership with the data analyst teams to ensure the data model is in the most appropriate structure, has the right data and continues to build upon data modelling best principles. Continually ensuring the team delivers a high-quality data service for the rest of Data.
About you
• Excellent leadership and people development skills
• An ongoing commitment to personal development and data landscape awareness
• Experience of the modern data stack and associated methodologies
• Strong knowledge of ELT process
• Excellent knowledge of modern data ops and agile working practices
• Experience of working with SQL and Python
• Experience of Dashboarding tools such as Tableau and Power BI
• Ability to produce forward plans, written papers and briefs in an understandable format for non-specialists
Desirable experience
• Knowledge of Higher education sector data
Application process
Please provide a copy of your CV demonstrating your experience and skills for this role.
After shortlisting there will be a 2-stage interview process based on experience and a presentation based on a set of queries we will provide.
Reasonable adjustment
We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to everyone. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support you through the application stage, please contact us at recruitmentteam@officeforstudents.org.uk and we will be happy to help.
Working for us
The OfS regulates the higher education sector on behalf of all students. We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience and ideas that it brings to our work, and we strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do.
We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
Flexibility is important to the OfS, as we recognise that it can enable people to work more effectively. A set of organisation-wide principles shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. This would usually mean working from the office for two or three days in a typical week.
To attract the widest possible field of qualified applicants, flexible working, for example job share and part time working apply to this role.
Closing date for applications: 27th of February at noon
First stage Interviews: from week commencing 9th of March
For information: the OfS does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence.
About Us
Useful Links
Guidance for applicants - Office for Students
OfS careers site
Read More
Full privacy notice
Salary: £82,082 - £86,006
12 months fixed term contract
Location: Bristol
Generous Civil Service defined benefit pension
About us
We are the independent regulator of higher education in England. We aim to ensure that every student, whatever their background, has a fulfilling experience of higher education that enriches their lives and careers.
We’re proud of our people, our culture and the benefits we offer. We care about supporting and developing our staff. At the OfS we want to create a welcoming and engaging working environment which is free from discrimination.
We’re looking for skilled, committed people who care about students and their experience of higher education. Join us and you’ll be part of an energetic, forward-looking organisation with high ambitions and big opportunities for our people.
About the role
Provide leadership to the data & analytics engineering teams, owning and driving the development of our Azure Databricks platform to enhance our analytical and AI capabilities. Optimise and assure our data model and estate, ingesting new sources and governing use across the Of
You will be responsible for:
• Providing strategic leadership to a team of analytics and data engineers, modelling the OfS behaviours and values to ensure analytical best practises are implemented and there is a standardised operational approach. Enabling Data to respond to changes in the regulatory environment and OfS business priorities, whilst developing long term strategic priorities in the data engineering space.
• With your Product Owner develop a long-term roadmap and vision for the data platform and join up with other OfS systems.
• Create space to innovate and test new Databricks functionality as it is released and share and support the rest of the data team to exploit them.
• In conjunction with the rest of the data Senior Management team creating a high performance, continuous improvement culture across Data.
• Champion data governance best practise across Data, owning the data security model, auditing and taking responsibility for complying with data sharing agreements.
• Working in partnership with the data analyst teams to ensure the data model is in the most appropriate structure, has the right data and continues to build upon data modelling best principles. Continually ensuring the team delivers a high-quality data service for the rest of Data.
About you
• Excellent leadership and people development skills
• An ongoing commitment to personal development and data landscape awareness
• Experience of the modern data stack and associated methodologies
• Strong knowledge of ELT process
• Excellent knowledge of modern data ops and agile working practices
• Experience of working with SQL and Python
• Experience of Dashboarding tools such as Tableau and Power BI
• Ability to produce forward plans, written papers and briefs in an understandable format for non-specialists
Desirable experience
• Knowledge of Higher education sector data
Application process
Please provide a copy of your CV demonstrating your experience and skills for this role.
After shortlisting there will be a 2-stage interview process based on experience and a presentation based on a set of queries we will provide.
Reasonable adjustment
We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to everyone. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support you through the application stage, please contact us at recruitmentteam@officeforstudents.org.uk and we will be happy to help.
Working for us
The OfS regulates the higher education sector on behalf of all students. We value diversity and the wealth of perspectives, experience and ideas that it brings to our work, and we strive to embed equality of opportunity in everything we do.
We recruit based on fair and open competition and welcome applications from candidates regardless of age, disability, race and ethnicity, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
Flexibility is important to the OfS, as we recognise that it can enable people to work more effectively. A set of organisation-wide principles shape our approach to flexible and hybrid working, which our teams then use as guidance on how they deliver their business goals. This would usually mean working from the office for two or three days in a typical week.
To attract the widest possible field of qualified applicants, flexible working, for example job share and part time working apply to this role.
Closing date for applications: 27th of February at noon
First stage Interviews: from week commencing 9th of March
For information: the OfS does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker Sponsor Licence.
About Us
Useful Links
Guidance for applicants - Office for Students
OfS careers site
Read More
Full privacy notice
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme
Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.