Description:
We are seeking an experienced Technical Lead – Data to lead and develop a high-performing team of Data Engineers while taking end-to-end ownership of the data engineering roadmap. This role combines people leadership, hands-on technical expertise, and strategic delivery, ensuring our data platforms are scalable, resilient, and aligned to business priorities.
You will play a key role in shaping data architecture decisions, guiding engineering best practices, and representing the data function across wider change and transformation initiatives.
Location | Leeds, West Yorkshire
Role | Fixed Term Contract to 31/12/2026
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Team Management
- Line manage and mentor a team of data engineers, supporting performance, progression, and technical capability development
- Foster a strong engineering culture focused on quality, collaboration, and continuous improvement
- Provide technical guidance, coaching, and oversight across multiple data initiatives
Technical & Delivery Ownership
- Own and drive the data engineering roadmap, ensuring timely and high-quality delivery against agreed priorities
- Act as the technical design authority for data solutions, ensuring alignment with engineering standards and best practices
- Lead solution design and hands-on development where required, particularly for complex or high-impact work
Stakeholder Engagement
- Facilitate effective engagement and status updates across all key stakeholders within Technology but also wider across the Business/External.
- Represent the Data Engineering function on cross-functional change initiatives. Contributing to the scoping, planning, and delivery of key platform migration and transition activities
Data Platform Engineering
- Design, build, and maintain data pipelines and platforms [Lakehouse] using AWS-native services.
- Ensure solutions are secure, scalable, cost-effective, and operationally robust
Essential Skills & Experience
- Proven experience leading or mentoring Data Engineers in a delivery-focused environment
- Strong hands-on expertise with AWS data and serverless technologies, particularly Step Functions, Lambda, Glue, S3 and Athena
- Advanced proficiency in Python (data processing, orchestration, automation), SQL (complex querying, optimisation, analytics), Terraform (infrastructure as code and environment management) and Git
- Experience owning technical roadmaps and delivering against strategic objectives including managing and influencing stakeholders at all levels
- Strong understanding of Data Engineering best practices, including pipeline design, testing, monitoring, and data quality
Desirable Experience
- Experience supporting or leading on data migrations
- Exposure to modern data architectures (e.g. Lakehouse, event-driven or serverless data platforms)
- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices in a cloud environment
- Experience working in regulated or large-scale enterprise environments
Personal Attributes
- Confident technical leader with the ability to influence at all levels
- Comfortable balancing strategic thinking with hands-on delivery
- Strong communicator who can translate technical concepts into business-friendly language
- Proactive, pragmatic, and delivery-oriented