Summary
Digital Futures is looking for aspiring data engineers to join our Future Talent Programme. The Future Talent Programme offers a unique entry point for individuals looking to start their career in technology. The programme begins with immersive training at the Digital Futures Academy, where trainees gain the essential technical expertise, consulting skills, and practical experience required for success. Following the successful completion of our Academy and attainment of an industry certification, trainees will then be deployed as consultants within high-performing technology teams at one of Digital Futures clients.
Your journey with us
- Training – Your journey with Digital Futures starts with 12-weeks of free immersive training, during which our team of expert instructors will help you learn essential technical and consulting skills to prepare you for your career in data. Our training is delivered remotely, with one-to-one mentoring and group project work.
- Certification – As part of your graduation from the Digital Futures Academy, you will achieve the AWS Data Engineer Associate certification. The cost of your certification is covered by Digital Futures.
- Employment – Once your deployment has been secured, we will offer you a full-time employment contract with Digital Futures. Throughout this time, you will work as a consultant in a technology team at one of the world’s leading companies, applying your skills to exciting, innovative and impactful projects.
Your immersive training
The Data Engineering pathway at the Digital Futures Academy covers the key technical skills and concepts needed to be successful in your first role in data. The technical skills training is underpinned by a comprehensive consulting skills curriculum to ensure that our consultants are workplace ready ahead of starting roles with our clients.
Modules taught at the Digital Futures Academy include:
Technical Skills
- Coding fundamentals (Python, SQL)
- Data modelling and data warehousing
- Extract-Transform-Load (ETL)
- Creating data pipelines
- Ethics in data and AI
- Cloud and big data technologies (PySpark, AWS)
- Working with unstructured data
- Working with Generative AI – Large language models (LLMs) and image generation (ChatGPT, Gemini)
Consulting Skills
- Effective teamwork
- Business acumen
- Time management
- Stakeholder management
- Presentations
- Agile methodology
- Being a brand ambassador
- Interview technique
Being a Digital Futures consultant
Consulting roles with our clients are varied and give you the hands-on opportunities to gain the experience you need for success. As a data engineering consultant, you will be:
- Working with fellow data engineers to design and implement data pipelines.
- Building and maintaining ETL processes to ingest, transform, and store data from various sources.
- Collaborating with data scientists and analysts to ensure that data is properly formatted and accessible.
- Troubleshooting and resolving data pipeline and infrastructure issues.
- Helping to design and maintain data warehouses, data lakes, and other data storage solutions.
- Developing Generative AI powered data solutions.
- Ensuring that data is properly secured and follows industry best practices
- Staying up to date with new data engineering technologies and techniques
What are we looking for?
You don’t need any previous formal education or experience in tech or data to join our Future Talent Programme, as long as you can demonstrate the following:
- An understanding of the basics of Python
- A genuine interest in tech and how it can help the world
- A growth mindset with a commitment to lifelong learning
- Self-starting and motivated by personal development
- Intellectually curious with strong problem-solving skills
- A team player and collaborative in nature
- A delivery mindset with the ability to get things done
- Truly motivated to take the first step to starting a career in tech
Key programme information
Please note the following important information before submitting an application to the Future Talent Programme:
Locations: Following the training, roles with our clients will be located across the UK, including in: London, Stevenage, Bristol, Norwich, Leeds, Sheffield, Halifax and York. You must be available to commute or relocate to one of these locations to apply.
Salary: Upon starting your deployment with one of our clients and becoming a permanent employee of Digital Futures, the salary is:
- Year 1 - £27,500 per annum plus benefits
- Year 2 - £32,000 per annum plus benefits, subject to performance review
Benefits: Once you become a permanent employee of Digital Futures you will have access to:
- a comprehensive benefits package and pension contributions
- an Employee Referral Scheme – earn up to £1,000 per referral
- an Incentives Scheme which will allow you to access funds for additional training and certifications.
We are currently accepting applications for multiple start dates – you will be able to indicate your preference on the application form. You must be available full-time for the duration of the programme. Training runs on Monday-Friday, 9am - 5pm for 12-weeks. The training period for our upcoming programmes will run from:
- 15 September – 5 December 2025
You must have the right to work in the UK for your application to be successful
Why join Digital Futures?
Digital Futures is a mission-led technology services company specialising in strategic workforce solutions. Our mission is to accelerate the transition to a skills-based economy and create sustainable employment opportunities across the UK by challenging conventional thinking and bridging the gap between education and industry — equipping exceptional talent from all backgrounds with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to succeed.
Our Future Talent programme focuses on uncovering potential, rather than on background or experience. In doing so, we unlock exceptional talent and help people to thrive in their first role in tech. We focus not only on preparing you for your first consulting role with us, but also on setting you up for success for your future career.
If you have the right mindset and drive, we will help you reach your career goals, preparing you to become a leader of tomorrow.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: From £27,500.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Employee mentoring programme
- Health & wellbeing programme
- Referral programme
- Relocation assistance
- Sick pay
- Store discount
Work Location: In person
Expected start date: 15/09/2025
