Apprentice Data Engineer

Location: Bristol, Nottingham, Birmingham, Leeds, Oldham, Newcastle, Uxbridge

Salary: £30,485 per annum

Vacancy Type: Fixed term apprenticeship, 2 years

Closing Date: 12th of July 2026

This Apprenticeship combines working and learning, in a great opportunity where you’ll earn a salary, get workexperience, and finish the apprenticeship with a Level 5 Qualification in Data Engineering – which you won’t have to pay a penny for!

We will provide a fully paid 24 month Apprenticeship to help you gain a Level 5 qualification specialising in Data Engineering and provide hands on working experience.

Day to day, as an Associate Data Engineer, you will help the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) gather, organise, and use data effectively. You will work in a busy environment alongside experts in policy, data analysis, software development, IT, and business analysis to support the agency’s data needs and drive improvements based on solid data insights.

You’ll spend 20% of your working week studying with lots of support from Data Engineers, your line manager and Apprenticeship provider.

You’ll be working with an organisation that serves millions of people, making a real difference to road safety and protecting the British public.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary.
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Job description

The Associate Data Engineer works under the guidance of data engineers and Head of Data Engineering to help the Data Engineering team deliver and improve data systems using cloud services like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Ensure work aligns with agreed methodologies (including Agile/Scrum) so that the team maintains consistency, promotes collaboration, and delivers iterative, high-quality work.
• With the support of a senior data engineer, provide input to the technical assurance of proposed IT solutions to ensure they meet design expectations, fulfil business requirements, and adhere to best practices.
• Document the design/technical specifications in response to agreed user requirements to enable clear communication among stakeholders and maintain consistency for current and future implementations.
• Learn and execute data profiling techniques and source system analysis to understand dataset structures, quality, and potential issues for more informed decision-making.
• Support the implementation of data operations processes so that data integrity is maintained, efficient data flow is achieved, and reliable business insights are supported.
• Study data quality frameworks and best practices to help establish robust processes that ensure high-quality data essential for accurate analysis and decision-making.
• Help implement basic data pipelines to automate the movement, transformation, and loading of data into systems for seamless integration and analysis.
• Practice writing clean and maintainable code to promote software sustainability, reduce technical debt, and make future maintenance and extension easier for the team.

For further information on the role, please read the attached role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only; whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

Adaptability and Learning:

• Quick learner, open to learning new technologies.
• • Knowledge or awareness in one of the following: Computer Science, Information Technology, Networking or Software Engineering or similar.

Communication and Teamwork:

• Adaptable to changing and evolving teams

Time Management and Prioritisation:

• Basic task management and tracking.
• • Ability to prioritise tasks.
• Soft Skills and Attitude:
• Willingness to learn from others.
• • Positive problem-solving approach

To be eligible for this apprenticeship, you must hold:

• 5 GCSEs including English and Maths at Grade 4 (C) or above. Or Equivalent
• Experience of a Programming Language (such as Python).
• Be aged 18 or over.
• Have the right work in the UK.

To Apply

If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for DVSA, please click apply to be redirected to our website to complete your application.