Lead Data Engineer
Job summary
We are looking for a Lead Data Engineer that will take ownership and lead on several data engineering and database development activities.The postholder will need to be comfortable with managing various responsibilities, such as managing the HFEAs SQL server environment, provide technical leadership for database engineering best practice, as well as champion and deliver modern data capabilities. The postholder must have deep technical expertise in SQL and T-SQL, with extensive hands-on experience of Microsoft database and reporting technologies, including SSIS, SSRS and Power BI.
Main duties of the job
Strong, demonstratable hands-on experience designing, building or scaling data platforms that support enterprise reporting, operational intelligence and advanced analytics is essential. This role would suit somebody who is proactive, can work effectively as part of a team and can balance competing priorities. You should be an excellent technical engineer and be able to build strong and supportive working relationships with senior leaders. This is an exciting opportunity to work in a fascinating area of public health.
You will have the chance to make a real and tangible difference to our work. For more information about the work we do, visit our website and our social media channels.
Closing date: Midnight, Tuesday 30th June 2026 (we reserve the right to close this role early, should we receive sufficient applications.You are therefore advised to apply for this role when you see it and do not wait for the closing date.
To progress this application, you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK.We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.
No agency contact please we will not be considering agency CVs at this stage.
Interview date: w/c 13 July 2026 (in person @ Redman Place, London)
About us
The HFEA is the UK's independent regulator overseeing safe and appropriate practice in fertility treatment and embryo research. We license and monitor clinics carrying out IVF, donor insemination, and human embryo research.
This post is offered as either office based (in which case you will need to attend the office at least one day per week)or home based (in which case office attendance will be specified by your line manager based on business need). Our office is in Stratford, east London, in attractive new premises on the edge of the Olympic Park, alongside several other health Arms Length Bodies.
In addition to flexibility and hybrid working we offer generous annual leave and an employer pension contribution of 28.97%.
The HFEA is a member of the Community Race and Work Charter and the Disability Confident Charter. We are committed to ensuring an inclusive and supportive working environment that is free from any form of discrimination. We recognise that there are real benefits of having a diverse community of staff and aim for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society. Additionally, we adopt a culture that hopes to attract and retain talented individuals that want to work with us.
In November 2024 and November 2025 the HFEA was awarded People Insight's Outstanding Workplace Award.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the UKs fertility regulator, holds the longest running register of fertility treatment in the world, maintaining records of every patient, partner, donor and child born as a result of fertility treatment since 1991. This is a senior technical leadership role with end-to-end ownership of the data engineering and database capability that underpins the HFEA Register, PRISM and associated enterprise data services.
The HFEA is undergoing significant transformation across its core legacy systems and its transition to modern cloud-native environments. The Lead Data Engineer will provide technical leadership for this evolution across Azure virtual machine workloads, native Azure cloud services and enterprise platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics and Power Platform, ensuring a clear architectural direction, operational resilience and successful delivery.
The HFEA has built a bespoke system (PRISM) through which regulated clinics submit data that is then stored in The Register database. This role is accountable for the strategic and operational stewardship of HFEAs key databases, including The Register, with responsibility for performance, security, availability, integrity and continuous improvement.
Working closely with IT and business stakeholders, the postholder will lead the planning and delivery of upgrades and migrations to future versions of SQL Server, assuring compatibility, proactively identifying risk and resolving complex issues before they impact service continuity.
The postholder will own the design and delivery of PRISM reporting outputs using SSRS, Power BI and HTML-based surfaced reports, and will bring deep expertise in data synchronisation across core platforms including Microsoft Dynamics, SQL Server and Azure SQL Database.
The postholder will architect, build and continuously improve scalable data pipelines and integration workflows across internal data sources and business applications, helping to establish a modern, trusted and reusable data platform for enterprise reporting, operational intelligence and advanced analytics.
The postholder will provide technical leadership for reporting and visualisation solutions using Power BI and will champion the practical adoption of Microsoft Fabric and Azure Data Factory where these technologies add value to HFEAs data strategy.
The postholder will act as a subject matter expert for data engineering standards, defining and enforcing best practice for data quality, data modelling, metadata management, data cataloguing, lineage and schema governance, while ensuring data platform and data lake services are performant, resilient and cost-efficient.
The successful postholder will bring strong analytical judgement and hands-on technical expertise to identify data issues within PRISM, shape appropriate remediation and influence continuous improvement across the wider data estate.
Key responsibilities
Own the daily operational assurance of SQL Agent jobs, PRISM failed tables and Service Broker queues, driving timely remediation and continuous improvement.
Lead weekly performance and reliability reviews of PRISM indexing, deadlocks, SQL Server health and automated maintenance tasks, identifying trends, risks and preventative actions.
Own the triage and resolution of application support and database enquiries, setting priorities and ensuring consistently high-quality technical outcomes.
Provide expert technical leadership to developers on query optimisation, data design and schema decisions, promoting engineering best practice and maintainable solutions.
Lead cross-functional investigation and resolution of data issues arising from migration activity, ensuring robust root cause analysis and sustainable fixes.
Own and enhance PRISM reporting outputs, including HTML, SSRS and Power BI deliverables, to meet operational, regulatory and stakeholder requirements.
Proactively interrogate and assure the PRISM data estate, identifying data quality issues, communicating findings clearly and implementing robust remediation where required.
Lead the design, governance and implementation of database schema changes, ensuring scalability, compatibility and minimal service risk.
Architect, build and continuously improve scalable, resilient and reusable data pipelines.
Lead the development of secure and reliable data integration workflows across internal data sources and business applications.
Provide technical leadership for reporting and visualisation solutions using Power BI, enabling trusted insight and self-service analytics.
Own the performance, resilience and cost-efficiency of data platform and data lake infrastructure, driving continual optimisation.
Set and enforce engineering standards for data quality, lineage, metadata, modelling and schema governance across the organisation.
Enable enterprise analytics by delivering trusted, well-structured datasets, models and reusable data products for HFEA teams.
Champion and deliver modern data platform capabilities, including Microsoft Fabric and Azure Data Factory, in line with HFEAs strategic roadmap.
Maintain authoritative technical documentation, operational procedures and design standards for databases and related processes.
Own synchronisation between internal application databases and business applications, including Microsoft Dynamics, ensuring downstream services and public-facing data remain accurate, timely and fit for purpose.
Person Specification
Experience
- Significant experience in senior database administration and/or data engineering roles within public sector, healthcare or other regulated environments.
- Advanced expertise in SQL Server performance tuning, indexing strategy, query optimisation and the operational management of SQL Agent jobs.
- Deep technical expertise in T-SQL, including debugging techniques, stored procedures, recursive CTEs, XPath queries and XML generation from relational data.
- Strong experience of Dynamic SQL and XSLT transforms from XML.
- Extensive hands-on experience of Microsoft database and reporting technologies, including SSIS, SSRS and Power BI.
- Strong experience with data visualisation tools, with the ability to shape effective and trusted reporting solutions.
- Demonstrable experience designing, building or scaling data platforms that support enterprise reporting, operational intelligence and advanced analytics.
- Strong experience designing, building and optimising scalable data pipelines and data integration workflows across multiple systems.
- Experience defining and applying standards for data modelling, metadata management, data cataloguing and lineage.
- Significant experience in senior database administration and/or data engineering roles within public sector, healthcare or other regulated environments.
- Advanced expertise in SQL Server performance tuning, indexing strategy, query optimisation and the operational management of SQL Agent jobs.
- Deep technical expertise in T-SQL, including debugging techniques, stored procedures, recursive CTEs, XPath queries and XML generation from relational data.
- Strong experience of Dynamic SQL and XSLT transforms from XML.
- Extensive hands-on experience of Microsoft database and reporting technologies, including SSIS, SSRS and Power BI.
- Strong experience with data visualisation tools, with the ability to shape effective and trusted reporting solutions.
- Demonstrable experience designing, building or scaling data platforms that support enterprise reporting, operational intelligence and advanced analytics.
- Strong experience designing, building and optimising scalable data pipelines and data integration workflows across multiple systems.
- Experience defining and applying standards for data modelling, metadata management, data cataloguing and lineage.
Qualifications
- Educated to degree level or equivalent substantial experience in database administration, development and data engineering within a complex enterprise environment.
- Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate or equivalent relevant professional certification.
- Knowledge of metadata management, data cataloguing, lineage and modern data governance practices.
Managing work
- Proven ability to operate with a high degree of autonomy, judgement and accountability in a senior technical role.
- Track record of owning and managing production SQL/database environments in an operationally critical capacity.
- Ability to influence and collaborate effectively with colleagues, suppliers and senior stakeholders across different areas of expertise to deliver the best possible outcome.
- Ability to balance service reliability, risk management and continuous improvement while delivering new data engineering capabilities.
Employer details
Employer name
Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority
Address
2nd Floor
2 Redman Place
London
E20 1JQ
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.hfea.gov.uk/