Drive Innovation. Protect Communities. Join West Yorkshire Police as our new Lead Data Engineer.


Department: Digital Policing Directorate – Digital Infrastructure
Reporting to: Head of Digital Infrastructure
Grade: POF
Location: Wakefield (with travel as required)
Contract: Permanent, Full-Time


The Lead Data Engineer is responsible for delivering an up to date, effective, and efficient data services across West Yorkshire Police. This includes oversight of data architecture, engineering, and database administration. In this strategic leadership role, you will define and implement the force’s vision for data, ensuring alignment with organisational priorities while maximising the value of data assets and minimising associated risks.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership and Standards
*Lead by example in line with the Police Code of Ethics, promoting professional behaviour and force values.
*Manage staff performance, wellbeing, and attendance, ensuring compliance with all policies.
*Champion Diversity, Equality and Inclusion across all work and interactions.
Data Architecture and Infrastructure
*Oversee the design, development, and maintenance of WYP’s data architecture, including databases, servers, and the Data Warehouse.
*Maintain data models, flows, and business rules, providing expert support on upgrades, decommissioning, and archiving.
Data Engineering and Integration
*Lead data projects, ensuring alignment with wider system architecture.
*Manage ETL processes, APIs, pipelines, and scalable data products.
*Ensure robust database administration covering performance, resilience, security, and recovery.
Data Management and Governance
*Develop effective data management frameworks, including metadata, reference data, and master data.
*Ensure secure, compliant data handling throughout the lifecycle.
*Maintain compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and national policing standards.
Research and Continuous Improvement
*Keep up to date with emerging technologies and industry standards.
*Engage in policing forums and develop networks to identify best practice.
*Drive continuous improvement through standards, KPIs, and documented processes.
Dimensions of the Role
*Lead a small team of data professionals.
*Manage WYP’s data infrastructure and technologies.
*Work with senior leaders, specialist teams, external partners, and professional bodies.
Essential Skills and Experience
*Proven experience managing and delivering modern data infrastructure and services, including data warehousing and Azure cloud data architecture.
*Experience working in complex data environments with distributed operational and business data.
*Strong leadership and supervisory experience.
*Excellent communication skills, able to translate between technical and non-technical audiences.
*High level of data literacy, analytical capability, and collaborative working skills.
*Relevant degree or equivalent management qualification.
*Knowledge of data governance, ITIL, TOGAF, cloud architecture (MS/AWS), and Archimate is desirable.
*Understanding of security and compliance in large IT/data environments


The vacancy will close at 23:55 hours on the 2 March 2026.
Interview to be held on the week commencing 23 March 2026.


Apply now: IT-7365 Lead Data Engineer **External** - West Yorkshire Police