Lead Data Engineer
Lead Data Engineer | Senior Manager
Up to £85,000 | Plus credible benefits
Location | Bristol, UK | Hybrid with on-site requirements
We're recruiting on behalf of a leading strategy, operations and digital consultancy dedicated to driving the performance of their clients. This is a people-first business that prides itself on genuine delivery, not just strategy decks, but hands-on implementation that creates lasting value.
This is a standout leadership opportunity for an experienced Lead Data Engineer who wants to own technical direction, lead multi-disciplinary teams, and work across client delivery, internal product development, and cutting-edge data platform challenges.
What You'll Be Doing
- Providing technical leadership across multiple client engagements and internal product initiatives, setting direction and assuring quality for all data engineering deliverables
- Leading the architecture and design of scalable, secure, and cost-effective data platforms and pipelines, batch, streaming, API, event-driven, and unstructured
- Owning end-to-end delivery governance for data engineering workstreams, including planning, estimating, budgeting, mobilisation, and RAID management
- Defining and enforcing data engineering standards covering coding, testing, CI/CD, observability, and documentation — including design and code reviews
- Partnering with client stakeholders to understand their data maturity, information governance requirements, and security constraints, translating those into robust roadmaps and delivery plans
- Leading multi-disciplinary teams (data engineers, platform engineers, analysts, and data scientists) in an Agile delivery model (Discovery – Alpha – Beta – Live) aligned to GDS/DDAT standards
- Driving platform reliability and performance, including monitoring, alerting, and incident response
- Getting hands-on when it counts - complex pipeline development, optimisation, troubleshooting, and secure integration design
- Coaching and mentoring data engineering practitioners and building communities of practice and reusable assets
- Supporting business development activity including shaping proposals, thought leadership, and capability planning
- Providing people leadership to direct reports, including objective setting, performance reviews, and development planning
What We're Looking For
- Demonstrable expertise in data engineering, including designing and building robust pipelines for streamed, batched, and on-demand data sources
- Must-have: hands-on experience with Databricks and Delta Lake
- Cloud platform expertise - Azure-centric, with strong knowledge of Azure Data Factory and related Azure data services
- Strong SQL and data modelling skills
- Solid understanding of API-based integrations and SaaS platform connectivity
- Proven experience leading complex data engineering workstreams end-to-end — planning, governance, risk management, and delivery assurance
- Demonstrable leadership experience, including line management and coaching of data engineering practitioners and multi-disciplinary teams
- Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with the ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences at senior levels
- A growth mindset and genuine intellectual curiosity — energised by challenge and continuous learning
- Must be eligible for UK Security Clearance (SC level)
Why This Role?
✔️ Lead data engineering delivery across a genuinely varied, complex portfolio
✔️ Contribute to both client delivery and internal proprietary platform development
✔️ Join a team of subject matter experts in a people-first culture
✔️ Real career progression with direct exposure to senior leadership
✔️ Hybrid working with flexibility across home, office, and client sites
If you're a Lead Data Engineer with a passion for technical leadership and client-side delivery, please don't hesitate to apply!
*Unfortunately, due to the high volume of applications, not all applicants will receive feedback*