Lead Data Engineer needed for this large, well established UK business that is putting serious investment into its internal data function. As Lead Data Engineer, you will set the bar for how data is engineered across the business.
This is a senior, hands-on role with no line management. The architects decide where the data estate is heading. Your job is to make that real: turning designs into standards and build patterns the engineering team can work from, and making sure what gets delivered is solid, supportable and consistent.
What you'll be doing
- Setting how pipelines and integrations are designed, built, tested and released, then holding the team to it
- Designing the data flows between the firm's main business systems and its data platform, whether batch, API, event or file driven
- Owning build and release automation for data engineering, so changes go live safely and can be traced afterwards
- Getting stuck into the difficult builds yourself when the work is too important or too complex to hand off
- Leading the technical response when something breaks, and making sure the fix stops it happening again
- Keeping an eye on tooling and making the case for improvements in reliability, cost and visibility
What you'll bring
- A strong data engineering background gained in a large or complex organisation
- Depth in SQL and Python, plus orchestration and cloud data warehouse or lakehouse technology
- A track record of writing engineering standards that people actually follow
- Good working knowledge of source control, automated deployment and release practice for data
- Experience steering work delivered by teams you don't directly manage, such as an offshore or third-party partner
- Clear communication: you can talk a finance or operations lead through why a design choice matters
Nice to have
- Microsoft Azure data tooling, such as Fabric, Databricks, Data Factory or Synapse
- Time spent in professional services or consulting
If you're a senior data engineer ready to own the standards, or you're already leading and want a bigger estate to shape, I'd like to hear from you. Apply here or message me directly.