A Values-Led Data Engineering Role in the Heart of London

Oct 6

3 min read

There are data engineering jobs, and then there are data engineering jobs that mean something. At Motability Operations, the data you build into pipelines directly supports over 800,000 disabled people and their families across the UK accessing affordable, reliable transport. The mission is real. The scale is real. And they are actively looking for someone to join their Data & Analytics team right now.

For Black data professionals who want to build serious technical skills at a well-funded, purpose-driven organisation that explicitly commits to diversity and inclusion, this is worth a close look.

The Role

Data Engineer at Motability Operations

London, EC1 — Hybrid (up to 2 days remote per week) | Permanent, competitive salary + exceptional benefits

Motability Operations runs the Motability Scheme — the UK's leading vehicle leasing programme for people with disabilities.

They purchase around 10% of all new cars sold in the UK each year, which makes their data infrastructure business-critical.

The Data & Analytics team owns integration, transformation, and visualisation across the whole organisation, and also supports Data Science, AI, and Machine Learning initiatives through the company's data warehouse and data lake.

Apply here:

https://www.totaljobs.com/job/data-engineer/motability-operations-job108077117

A second opening: a fixed-term contract through September 2027 is also live: Data & Analytics Data Engineer (Fixed Term Contract till September 2027) in Bristol, London - Motability Operations

What the role involves:

Designing and building data feeds and applications in an Agile scrum team
Writing, testing, and peer reviewing ETL code in Oracle ODI, dbt, Snowflake, and AWS
Building self-serve data environments within the Snowflake data warehouse and data lake
Developing and delivering BI reports
Contributing to data quality, reconciliation, and governance
Core requirements: Strong SQL, experience with ETL/ELT tools (Oracle ODI or dbt preferred), Snowflake and/or Oracle database experience, star schema/dimensional modelling, cloud environment experience, and Agile delivery background
Bonus skills: AWS (terraform, lambda, S3), Power BI, Python, machine learning basics

How to apply well:

Lead with your Snowflake and dbt experience directly in your opening paragraph. These two are listed as the primary stack. If you have certifications (Snowflake SnowPro, dbt Fundamentals), name them on page one of your CV, not buried in a skills section at the bottom.
Quantify your data pipelines. Motability operates at enormous scale. "Built a pipeline that processes X million records daily" or "reduced data latency from 4 hours to 20 minutes" lands far better than a list of technologies.
Speak to the mission. Their values are "We find solutions", "We drive change", and "We care." In your cover letter or LinkedIn message, acknowledge what the Motability Scheme does and why it resonates with you. This is not a tech startup, purpose matters here.
Mention your Agile experience explicitly. The team works in scrum. Note specific ceremonies you've participated in (sprints, retros, standups) and any sprint velocity or delivery metrics you can reference.
Highlight any experience with regulated or sensitive data. Motability handles customer data tied to disability benefits. Experience working within data governance or compliance frameworks — especially in financial services, healthcare, or public sector — is a differentiator.

Who to message on LinkedIn:

Jason Farmer — Tech Lead, Motability Operations:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jason-farmer
He is a confirmed technical leader in the engineering function at Motability Operations. Reach out to understand the team culture and what they value in a data engineer. Keep it short and specific.
Ross Blackman — Business Analyst, Motability Operations: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ross-blackman-33ba9727 , Business analysts work closely with data engineers at Motability. Ross can give you insight into how the data team interfaces with business stakeholders, useful context for your interview prep.
Motability Operations on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/motabilityoperations — Follow the company page and engage with their recent posts before you apply. Showing familiarity with their current announcements signals genuine interest.

Data professional