Data Migration Engineer

THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES; London; Hybrid; GBP 125,000 - 150,000

Job description

Drive the Data Migration That Will Shape the Future of UK Archives

The National Archives is the home of the nation’s history, preserving centuries of records that shape our collective memory. As we prepare for the next era of digital preservation, we need a Data Migration Engineer to take on one of the most critical data projects in our history.

This is not just another migration project. This is about ensuring that Parliamentary digital records and historic digital Public Records are seamlessly transferred to a new platform—accurately, securely, and in a way that will be accessible for future generations.

You’ll reverse-engineer, extract, transform, and migrate complex metadata, working across SQL, SPARQL, and XML-based structures to ensure that the UK’s digital history remains structured, searchable, and usable.

What You'll Be Doing:

1. Leading the hands-on migration of Parliamentary digital records & Digital Preservation (DRI) system data.
2. Extracting, transforming, and loading (ETL) complex metadata from SQL (Oracle/MySQL) and SPARQL (Jena Fuseki) databases.
3. Documenting data models, identifier schemes, and relationships to support migration integrity.
4. Building & optimizing SQL and SPARQL queries to ensure accurate, efficient data extraction.
5. Validating and testing migration outputs to ensure completeness, accuracy, and usability.
6. Collaborating with digital archivists, data engineers, and IT teams to shape best practices for digital records migration.
7. Working with sensitive records in a security-controlled environment, ensuring compliance with archival standards.

What We’re Looking For:

1. Strong SQL and SPARQL skills, with the ability to extract, transform, and migrate structured & unstructured data.
2. Experience handling XML-based metadata within SQL databases.
3. Hands-on experience in large-scale data transformations, migrations, or ETL processes.
4. Ability to reverse-engineer undocumented databases, identifying data relationships & structures.
5. A methodical, problem-solving mindset—you’re not afraid of messy data and love making sense of complex information.
6. Confidence working independently, making critical migration decisions in a structured, well-documented way.
7. Familiarity with data governance, validation, and quality assurance processes.
8. Ability to work within security and compliance frameworks, handling sensitive data appropriately.

Why Join Us?

A Career-Defining Project – This is a unique, high-impact migration that will shape how the UK’s digital history is preserved.

Enjoy hybrid working (3 days per week at our beautiful Kew site, with remote flexibility).

Your work will directly impact how future generations access and understand public records.

Work alongside some of the best digital preservation specialists in the country.

This is not a routine migration—you’ll be working with unique, historically valuable datasets, requiring creative solutions and technical expertise.

This is a rare opportunity to take on a project that truly matters. If you’re ready to bring your data engineering, transformation, or archival expertise to one of the world’s leading digital archives, apply today!

How to apply:
If you are an internal applicant: please do not use the link on this page. Please apply via your employee Workday account.
If you are an external applicant: to submit your application please click the 'Apply' button on this page.
You will be asked to provide details of your work experience and write a personal statement, not exceeding 1200 words. In your personal statement please explain, using examples, how you meet the essential criteria given below. You may draw on knowledge, skills, abilities, experience gained from paid work, domestic responsibilities, education, leisure interests and voluntary activities. Please note selection for interview will largely be based on the information you provide in this section.

SC clearance/willingness to obtain SC clearance will be required for this role. This requires candidates to have been resident in the UK for at least the past three years. Please do not apply if you have been resident in the UK for less than three years as your application will be rejected.

Essential Skills & Experience:

• Advanced SQL and SPARQL skills, with experience handling structured and unstructured data (including XML within SQL tables).
• Knowledge of graph databases and triple stores.
• Experience in data migration, including extract, transform, and load (ETL) processes.
• Strong scripting and automation skills to improve data extraction, validation, and transformation.
• Ability to design and optimize database queries for performance and accuracy.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with a structured approach to data auditing and issue resolution.
• Experience working with sensitive or restricted data under security-controlled environments.

Desirable Skills & Experience:

• Familiarity with metadata standards such as Dublin Core.
• Experience working within digital archives or large-scale information repositories.
• Python, Shell scripting, or other automation tools such as Talend, Informatica or Pentaho for data transformation.
• Awareness of Agile methodologies and collaborative development practices.