Data Specialist
6 Months +
Part remote / London / Bristol / Birmingham / Leeds
Why this job matters
- The Data Specialist will run a team of technical data professionals who are responsible for the creation, development, maintenance and running of FND's data sets. This job description covers three different roles: Data Strategy, Data Production, and Data Integrity, and the day to day responsibilities of the role will vary depending on the responsibilities of the job.
- The role holder will be one of FND's senior data experts. You will be responsible for a full range of data building activities across all of FND's products (e.g. Ethernet, Non-Switch, NGA products, etc.), and all of FND's programmes (e.g. BDUK, NewSites, Fibre Cities, etc).
- You will have the understanding and capability to collect data from stores (such as the 300+ operational systems used in FND, databases, SharePoint, etc), and understand how to share data with the business (storage, scheduling, self-serve etc).
- Your team will untangle the complex data which currently exists, and turn this into structured data which will be used by various teams across BI and wider FND to drive operational insight.
- You and your team will understand FND's data sets and what exists, create new data sources where they don't exist, problem solve and fix data that is wrong, and make FND data accessible to teams so that they can deliver data led insight, and you'll work across FND to make sure that everyone aligns with our data strategy and data governance.
- While your team will predominantly work independently, the role holder will use their knowledge and experience to guide their team as required, ensuring that they help their team to work as effectively and efficiently as possible. This will include coaching them on how to improve the quality of their work, as well as developing their skills. It will also include assuring the quality and accuracy of the work that is generated.
- The impact that you have had on FND's data will be clear. You and your team will have improved FND's data environment through improved data quality, reduced the effort taken to manipulate and deal with data, and improved governance. The outcome will be that the data improvement will have driven a corresponding improvement in FND's operational performance when it is used by analytical teams through FND.
- As a data expert in FND you will provide coaching and guidance to the other data professionals and insight analysts within Business Intelligence, as well as providing data leadership to the wider FND team. You will work closely with technical stakeholders in CTIO, as well as BT Technology to develop or resolve any issues with our data.
What I'll be doing - your accountabilities
- Ensuring that you and your team are effectively creating, managing, and developing the data sets that are used to make decisions and influence FND's 10,000 desk and field staff, 7,000 contactors and key stakeholders across Openreach
- To be an expert on supplying data to, and collecting data from, stores such as systems and databases.
- You, and your team, will need to champion data in FND. By working closely with key stakeholders you will enable a culture of making data driven decisions across all layers of FND. You will help users understand the tools and data already available, so they can self-serve as appropriate.
- You will work effectively with Technology and CTIO to address and solve FND's data problems. You will work with the FND's teams where operational context needs to be provided to understand data.
- You will be accountable for managing your team resource and focus between competing business priorities.
- You will be aware of emerging and current market trends and technologies and you will use that knowledge and understanding to help improve the way FND works with data.
The skills you need
- Degree in a relevant subject, or equivalent relevant professional experience in the data space.
- To be a highly capable developer in Oracle PL/SQL.
- Experience of working with offshore teams (including TSO) and delivering success through virtual teams.
- Proven competence in tools such as Oracle SQL, PL/SQL, Hadoop, OBI (Analytics), Openreach Datalab, etc.
- Experience of emerging technologies such as Google Cloud, a passion to explore and unlock new capabilities that exist within a cloud platform
- A clear communicator, able to explain complex technical issues to senior management, enabling efficient decision making.
- A strong coach, able to get the best out of a technical professional team. Always acts as a resource for colleagues with less experience.
- Ability to self-teach new skills and a hunger to improve.
Experience you would be expected to have
- Proven track record in a data environment
- Knowledge of the Fibre and Ethernet delivery process, end to end systems, and relevant products within the telecoms industry desirable
- Familiarity with Datalab (a dataworld covering Openreach's business), Orbit and other key datasets.
- Project management skills desirable
* Automation and scheduling skills
