The Role We`re all about creating a Home for Success for our students, using technology and data to empower them to find their home, their tribe and have a great stay with us through their studies. We are seeking an experienced, motivated and highly skilled Senior Data Engineer to join our dynamic and innovative team. As the Senior Data Engineer in the Data & Insight Team you will support the Data Engineering Lead in leading a team of data engineers in the design, development, testing, and maintenance of data pipelines and our data analytics platform. This is a fantastic opportunity to join our team in an influential role at a pivotal moment. As we upgrade our data platform to modernise our analytics and AI capabilities, you ll play a crucial role in building the architecture and pipelines to deliver the data assets that will drive our future success. If you re passionate about creating innovative and scalable data solutions and want to be part of a team that will help reshape how Unite Students leverages data, we want to hear from you. What You ` ll Be Doing Build, test and maintain robust, scalable data architectures and pipelines that align with architectural standards and business objectives Support the Data Engineering Lead to guide and mentor a team of data engineers, providing technical guidance cross the development lifecycle and fostering professional growth Champion an "automation first" mentality and culture of continuous improvement within the team Troubleshoot complex data issues and optimize existing systems for performance and reliability Implement data validation and quality checks and monitoring solutions to ensure data integrity and observability to meet data governance standards and requirements. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define requirements and ensure alignment with business needs Communicate complex technical concepts effectively to non-technical stakeholders Work with the Data Engineering Lead to develop and enforce coding standards and best practices for efficient development Evaluate new technologies and lead proof-of-concept initiatives to drive innovation Support and contribute to Agile ceremonies and technical processes such as code reviews and Change Advisory Board meetings. What We ` re Looking for in You Significant experience working as a Data Engineer Expert-level proficiency in SQL, Python and Spark (pyspark) for developing and testing data engineering pipelines and products to ingest and transform structures and semi-structured data. Expert understanding of data modelling techniques and data pipeline design patterns and behaviours Familiarity with software engineering principles and their application in developing configuration-driven data pipelines. Proven experience with pipeline management and orchestration tools such as Airflow Experience with low/no-code pipeline development tools such as Talend or SnapLogic. Significant experience developing data products using cloud services (AWS preferred) like Lambda, S3, Redshift, Glue, Athena, Secrets Manager or equivalent services. Proficient in working with APIs for data extraction and interacting with cloud resources via APIs/CLIs/SDKs (e.g. boto3). Experience building data warehouses using platforms such as Redshift, Snowflake, or Databricks. Experience developing and delivering data pipelines in Databricks, including working with Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, and workflows Comfortable working with Git and experience building CI/CD pipelines (in Azure DevOps or equivalent) Proven experience working in an Agile (Scrum) environment for product delivery using Azure DevOps or similar tools Exceptional problem-solving abilities with the capability to quickly analyse issues and locate performance bottle-necks in code and pipelines Excellent communication skills, including the ability to translate complex technical concepts for non-technical audiences and non-data experts. Experience guiding and mentoring other members of a Data Engineering team to improve overall team capability and effectiveness. Nice to Have AWS certification(s) Databricks certification Experience building and deploying data models with dbt Infrastructure as Code experience (Terraform) What You`ll Get in Return A discretionary annual bonus so you can share in the company`s success 25 days` paid holiday and an annual holiday buying scheme, with 5 additional days awarded for long service A generous pension scheme - employer contributions between 5% and 11% depending on how much you save Various benefits to support your health and wellbeing including a Healthcare Cash Plan, an Employee Assistance Programme, a Wellbeing platform and a Gym benefit that you can share with your family and friends Enhanced Family Leave including 18 weeks full pay for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents Lots of other great benefits including an annual ShareSave scheme, Employee Life Assurance, a discounts portal and more About Unite Students Founded in 1991, Unite Students is a FTSE 100 business and the UK`s leading provider of purpose-built student accommodation. You can find us in 25 leading university towns and cities, with 74,000 students calling US home We are driven by our values, culture, and a commitment to develop diverse and inclusive teams, filled with positive energy and new ideas. Instinctive inclusion. We know that to create and maintain a happy healthy organisation, we have to work hard to ensure inclusion isn`t just what we do but who we are. People make Unite Students. Employees, students and neighbours all contribute to building environments where we can all thrive. Room for Everyone We`re proud to be an employer that embraces individuality, and we`re passionate about building inclusive teams. We focus on creating a collaborative culture where you can be you, where your voice is heard, and where you can truly belong. We take great pride in being rated Gold Investors in People and are constantly striving to provide the highest standard of learning and development opportunities and professional pathways for our people. Building a home for success, for both our employees and students, requires exceptional people with a passion for creating room for everyone, doing what`s right, keeping US safe, and raising the bar. Join us as we build better experiences for students that live with us. We are US.