Senior Data Engineer

AMS Group is a leading UK Top 60 accountancy firm with a differentiated advisory-led proposition, headquartered in Manchester. We have been a trusted name in professional services for over 40 years. Our commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction has positioned us as a premier provider in the market.

Evolving from a family run accountancy practice in a Blackburn (established 1982), to a nationwide advisory business with over 200 employees, across 12 offices, our trading divisions comprise Audit, Accounts, Tax & Advisory with multiple service lines within each division. We leverage our relationship-driven client approach to generate significant cross-sell opportunities. Complementary to our organic growth is an impressive M&A strategy, with eight acquisitions completed since 2021 and further strategic acquisitions planned in 2025.

At AMS we never offer a one size fits all approach. We know, in today’s economic environment, businesses require bespoke support, and we provide end-to-end services from start-up to exit strategies. Our mantra is “Good advisers help your business. Great ones transform it”. This is the foundation upon which we have built our business.

We know great people make a great business. Our award-winning culture drives our success. In 2024, we were named the 7th Best Accountancy Firm to Work for in the UK and featured in the Top 100 Companies to Work For. We’re proud to be recognised as Best Employer in Tax (Tolley’s Taxation Awards 2025) and Employer of the Year (GM Chamber of Commerce Awards 2024), reflecting our commitment to people, culture, and a workplace where talent thrives.

The Opportunity

AMS is embarking on a major transformation programme and is building its data capability from the ground up. As our first dedicated Senior Data Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in shaping how data is collected, modelled, governed and used across the organisation.

This is a rare greenfield opportunity: you’ll design and build the core data platform, establish engineering standards, and deliver high‐impact reporting and analytics that support decision‐making across the business.

You’ll work closely with the CTO, senior leadership teams and our managed service provider (MSP) to create a scalable, modern data ecosystem that becomes a strategic asset for AMS.

Key Responsibilities

Data Engineering & Platform Build

• Design and build the AMS data platform, primarily within the Microsoft ecosystem (Azure, Fabric, Databricks, Power BI).

• Develop robust ingestion pipelines (ETL/ELT), integration patterns, and orchestration workflows.

• Create scalable data models (dimensional, semantic) to support cross division reporting and consolidated group insights.

• Implement best practice engineering standards for performance, reliability, security and maintainability. Reporting, Insights & Analytics Enablement

• Build high quality dashboards and reporting products for:

- Board and Executive teams

• Divisional leadership

Finance and operational management

• Define and standardise KPIs, metrics and reporting definitions across the organisation. • Establish a business glossary, data dictionary and shared KPI catalogue.

• Establish a business glossary, data dictionary and shared KPI catalogue.

• Data Governance & Quality
• Implement data governance foundations including:
• Data ownership and stewardship
• Classification and handling standards
• Access controls and role based permissions o Lineage and auditability
• Define and embed data quality rules, monitoring and remediation processes.
• Ensure compliance with GDPR, confidentiality requirements and audit obligations. Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
• Work closely with senior stakeholders to translate business needs into data requirements, models and reporting solutions.
• Partner with our MSP to deliver platform components while retaining architectural ownership.
• Prioritise data initiatives to ensure focus on high value outcomes. Operating Model & Future Growth
• Help define the AMS data operating model, including what is delivered internally vs via MSP.
• Contribute to the future build out of a small, high performing data team (e.g., BI/Data Engineers).
• Champion a data driven culture across the organisation.

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Significant experience in a senior data engineering or data platform role (Senior Data Engineer, Lead Data Engineer, Data Architect, BI Engineering Lead).
• Proven experience building a data platform and analytics capability in a greenfield or low maturity environment.

Strong hands on technical skills:

• Advanced SQL
• Data modelling (dimensional, semantic, performance optimisation)
• ETL/ELT pipeline design and troubleshooting o Python for transformation, automation and pipeline development

Deep familiarity with Microsoft data technologies:

1. Azure Data Services
2. Microsoft Fabric
3. Azure Databricks
4. Power BI (including semantic models, governance, optimisation)
5. Purview or similar governance tools

• Strong understanding of data security, access models and auditability.
• Ability to operate at pace, create structure, and deliver in an environment where foundations are still being built.
• Comfortable working independently and owning the end to end data engineering function. Desirable
• Experience in professional services, multi entity groups or M&A heavy environments.
• Experience working with MSPs or blended delivery models.
• Familiarity with regulated or compliance heavy environments.
• Exposure to analytics/AI enablement (even if not building advanced models directly).

Benefits

• 23 days Holiday
• Additional day off for birthday
• Bonus scheme
• Pension scheme
• Health cash plan
• Company sick pay
• Enhanced parental pay policies
• Perkbox
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Company pension scheme

AMS Group is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.