Data Engineer – Data Platform – BBC Studios

ABOUT BBC STUDIOS

BBC Studios is the commercial arm of the BBC Group and is a thriving and exciting business. We invest in and produce amazing content and millions of users across the world interact with our products every week. We have a proven track record of growth and are ambitious for the future. As we grow, we are actively transforming our culture, investing in our employees and our ways of working, to build a bold, agile, inventive and inclusive business. 

At the forefront of this transformation, we are building a brand new data platform for BBC Studios that will help unlock our ability to provide more personalised experiences for our customers and audiences and enable us to understand them better. Investment in data is crucial to our ambitions of making BBC Studios an area of growth for the BBC. 

Our Team

We are looking for a talented Data Engineer to join our multi-disciplinary data platform team at BBC Studios. We are looking for people that have a passion for data engineering, are keen problem solvers and are energised by the opportunity to work on a brand-new key initiative.

Are you looking for a role that builds on your experience with engineering data systems? Are you keen to learn, grow, and develop? Do you want to work in a nurturing culture where you can flourish and be your best? Would you like to work on services that are used by key BBC products and millions of people each day? If so, this opportunity could be for you. 

THE ROLE

The core of the role is building and maintaining core data pipelines for ingesting, processing and summarisation of data. Using automation as a default, and delivering high-quality code to define pipelines and transformations. As a data engineer, you will have the opportunity to assist with the data platform blueprint and design, evaluating workflows and tools for the platform, supported by senior engineers and engineering leaders.

Maintaining security on the platform is very important to ensure that we protect the data we hold about our audience and ensure it is used in line with our data governance policies. This role gives you the opportunity to suggest solutions and infrastructure to be created with appropriate levels of security and encryption. Experience in data privacy engineering and techniques and anonymisation, data masking and obfuscation and others is highly desirable.

The data platform is a brand-new capability built using modern tools and components. We want to keep developing the platform and ensure we are keeping the platform up-to-date, so awareness of emerging database technologies and their potential impact on our data platform as well as staying up-to-date with developments in the open source community around DevOps, data engineering, data science, and similar tooling are key responsibilities.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE?

You will be a passionate engineer with a background in either software or data engineering and be keen to enhance your skills in data services and systems. You will be a key member of our data platform engineering team, developing high-performing, scalable, high-impact data products and services. We are looking for a person who is motivated by delivering high-quality solutions, driven to develop in their careers, and is a strong communicator.

You will be supported by your team and leaders to deliver value with an eye on quality, scale, and security. We don’t expect you to have experience in all of these but below gives you examples of the technologies and practices we value:

Technical Skills

• Knowledge of Big Data pipelines and processing technologies and experience in data processing and building data pipelines.
• Knowledge of database design, performance optimisation, and troubleshooting.
• Enthusiasm for writing clean, well-documented, and testable code and experience with software testing practices including unit testing frameworks where relevant.
• A security-first mindset – a good understanding of security and compliance principles as they relate to data infrastructures and the management of data.
• Goal-oriented – you’ll enjoy finishing the job by developing the final details.
• Strong problem-solving skills and experience with troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
• A willingness to deliver user value early while balancing technical quality – having an iterative deliverable mindset.

Communication

• Good communication skills – a great candidate will be able to communicate with other engineers and non-technical stakeholders, tailoring the message appropriately to the audience.
• The ability to question the way we work, and the tools and processes we use – we’re always aiming to make our team the best it can be.
• Curiosity and an openness to change – we’re always learning new technologies and requirements often change. If that energises you, you’ll enjoy this challenge!

Technologies

• Experience with SQL, DBT and familiarity with Data Warehousing technologies (ideally Snowflake).
• Experience using general-purpose programming languages (typically we use Python and NodeJS for application services, but you should feel empowered to flex to what suits the job most effectively).
• Experience of building components on the cloud (preferably AWS).
• Experience of containerisation techniques using tools like Docker/Kubernetes.
• We are infrastructure as code first in our approaches – so experience with infrastructure/configuration as code tools and techniques (such as Terraform and CloudFormation).
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines for code validation and deployment.
• Experience of data pipeline orchestration e.g. Airflow or Jenkins.

PACKAGE DESCRIPTION

Job Reference: 11827

Band: D

Salary: Up to £49,230 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience.

The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

Contract Type: Permanent

Location: London – Television Centre

Working Pattern: Hybrid Working (Mix of working from home plus two/three days a week in the office).

We are really proud to share that we are a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer and so if you require any reasonable adjustments in order to apply please do contact us at [email protected] with the job reference in the subject. 

We offer flexibility, competitive benefits and the opportunity to be part of the BBC’s exciting mission. Some of the key benefits you’ll get from working in this role are:

Flexible/Agile working – opportunities across the business. We believe in empowering you to do your best work, so we offer support and flexibility to balance work and home. We’re happy to discuss a formal flexible working pattern. Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application. There is no obligation to raise this at the application stage but if you wish to do so, you are welcome to. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at the offer stage.

Unrivalled training and development opportunities – we operate a people-first culture and pride ourselves on your development. Our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certifications.

Excellent career progression – BBC Studios offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation. Leaders at the BBC are passionate about helping our people grow in the organisation and you will have regular sessions with your line manager to support you with your career ambitions.

Benefits – We offer a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 26 days (plus an additional day which is a Corporation Day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.

LIFE AT BBC STUDIOS

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours here.

The BBC is committed to building a culturally diverse workforce and therefore strongly encourages applications from underrepresented groups. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of their background. More information on our D&I plan can be found here.

BBC Studios puts sustainability at the heart of everything we do both onscreen and offscreen, including delivering against the BBC Group’s science-based Net Zero targets. More information on sustainability at BBC Studios can be found here.

ABOUT BBC STUDIOS

BBC Studios is the commercial arm of the BBC Group and is a thriving and exciting business. We invest in and produce amazing content and millions of users across the world interact with our products every week. We have a proven track record of growth and are ambitious for the future. As we grow, we are actively transforming our culture, investing in our employees and our ways of working, to build a bold, agile, inventive and inclusive business. 

At the forefront of this transformation, we are building a brand new data platform for BBC Studios that will help unlock our ability to provide more personalised experiences for our customers and audiences and enable us to understand them better. Investment in data is crucial to our ambitions of making BBC Studios an area of growth for the BBC. 

Our Team

We are looking for a talented Data Engineer to join our multi-disciplinary data platform team at BBC Studios. We are looking for people that have a passion for data engineering, are keen problem solvers and are energised by the opportunity to work on a brand-new key initiative.

Are you looking for a role that builds on your experience with engineering data systems? Are you keen to learn, grow, and develop? Do you want to work in a nurturing culture where you can flourish and be your best? Would you like to work on services that are used by key BBC products and millions of people each day? If so, this opportunity could be for you. 

THE ROLE

The core of the role is building and maintaining core data pipelines for ingesting, processing and summarisation of data. Using automation as a default, and delivering high-quality code to define pipelines and transformations. As a data engineer, you will have the opportunity to assist with the data platform blueprint and design, evaluating workflows and tools for the platform, supported by senior engineers and engineering leaders.

Maintaining security on the platform is very important to ensure that we protect the data we hold about our audience and ensure it is used in line with our data governance policies. This role gives you the opportunity to suggest solutions and infrastructure to be created with appropriate levels of security and encryption. Experience in data privacy engineering and techniques and anonymisation, data masking and obfuscation and others is highly desirable.

The data platform is a brand-new capability built using modern tools and components. We want to keep developing the platform and ensure we are keeping the platform up-to-date, so awareness of emerging database technologies and their potential impact on our data platform as well as staying up-to-date with developments in the open source community around DevOps, data engineering, data science, and similar tooling are key responsibilities.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE?

You will be a passionate engineer with a background in either software or data engineering and be keen to enhance your skills in data services and systems. You will be a key member of our data platform engineering team, developing high-performing, scalable, high-impact data products and services. We are looking for a person who is motivated by delivering high-quality solutions, driven to develop in their careers, and is a strong communicator.

You will be supported by your team and leaders to deliver value with an eye on quality, scale, and security. We don’t expect you to have experience in all of these but below gives you examples of the technologies and practices we value:

Technical Skills

• Knowledge of Big Data pipelines and processing technologies and experience in data processing and building data pipelines.
• Knowledge of database design, performance optimisation, and troubleshooting.
• Enthusiasm for writing clean, well-documented, and testable code and experience with software testing practices including unit testing frameworks where relevant.
• A security-first mindset – a good understanding of security and compliance principles as they relate to data infrastructures and the management of data.
• Goal-oriented – you’ll enjoy finishing the job by developing the final details.
• Strong problem-solving skills and experience with troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
• A willingness to deliver user value early while balancing technical quality – having an iterative deliverable mindset.

Communication

• Good communication skills – a great candidate will be able to communicate with other engineers and non-technical stakeholders, tailoring the message appropriately to the audience.
• The ability to question the way we work, and the tools and processes we use – we’re always aiming to make our team the best it can be.
• Curiosity and an openness to change – we’re always learning new technologies and requirements often change. If that energises you, you’ll enjoy this challenge!

Technologies

• Experience with SQL, DBT and familiarity with Data Warehousing technologies (ideally Snowflake).
• Experience using general-purpose programming languages (typically we use Python and NodeJS for application services, but you should feel empowered to flex to what suits the job most effectively).
• Experience of building components on the cloud (preferably AWS).
• Experience of containerisation techniques using tools like Docker/Kubernetes.
• We are infrastructure as code first in our approaches – so experience with infrastructure/configuration as code tools and techniques (such as Terraform and CloudFormation).
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines for code validation and deployment.
• Experience of data pipeline orchestration e.g. Airflow or Jenkins.

PACKAGE DESCRIPTION

Job Reference: 11827

Band: D

Salary: Up to £49,230 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience.

The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

Contract Type: Permanent

Location: London – Television Centre

Working Pattern: Hybrid Working (Mix of working from home plus two/three days a week in the office).

We are really proud to share that we are a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer and so if you require any reasonable adjustments in order to apply please do contact us at [email protected] with the job reference in the subject. 

We offer flexibility, competitive benefits and the opportunity to be part of the BBC’s exciting mission. Some of the key benefits you’ll get from working in this role are:

Flexible/Agile working – opportunities across the business. We believe in empowering you to do your best work, so we offer support and flexibility to balance work and home. We’re happy to discuss a formal flexible working pattern. Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application. There is no obligation to raise this at the application stage but if you wish to do so, you are welcome to. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at the offer stage.

Unrivalled training and development opportunities – we operate a people-first culture and pride ourselves on your development. Our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certifications.

Excellent career progression – BBC Studios offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation. Leaders at the BBC are passionate about helping our people grow in the organisation and you will have regular sessions with your line manager to support you with your career ambitions.

Benefits – We offer a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 26 days (plus an additional day which is a Corporation Day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.

LIFE AT BBC STUDIOS

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours here.

The BBC is committed to building a culturally diverse workforce and therefore strongly encourages applications from underrepresented groups. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of their background. More information on our D&I plan can be found here.

BBC Studios puts sustainability at the heart of everything we do both onscreen and offscreen, including delivering against the BBC Group’s science-based Net Zero targets. More information on sustainability at BBC Studios can be found here.

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