Lead Data Engineer

About Loop Horizon:

Loop Horizon is a boutique marketing, data, and technology consultancy helping world-leading brands transition to a truly data-driven future.

Our team is predominantly ex-client side, which means we understand the realities our clients face - from legacy platforms and organisational constraints to regulatory pressure and skills gaps. We focus on outcome-based delivery, enabling clients with sustainable data and technology capability while supporting their teams through strategy, design, delivery, and new ways of working.

Due to continued growth, we are looking for a Lead Data Engineer to play a pivotal role in delivering high-impact data solutions while scaling our engineering capability through AI, automation, and reusable assets.

Role Overview:

As a Lead Data Engineer, you will be responsible for leading the technical delivery of complex data engineering projects while remaining hands-on. You will act as a force multiplier — using AI, automation, and junior resources to increase delivery speed, quality, and scalability.

This is not a traditional management role. Instead, you will combine deep technical expertise, delivery leadership, and modern engineering practices to help Loop Horizon scale its data capability.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership & Delivery

• Own end-to-end delivery of data products from discovery and design through to build and release
• Design and implement scalable, secure data pipelines (batch and near real-time)
• Architect data platforms and models for marketing, customer analytics, and digital behavioural use cases
• Act as the senior technical lead on client engagements

AI-Augmented Engineering & Scaling

• Leverage AI tools and automation to accelerate development, testing, and documentation
• Define and embed best practices for AI-assisted engineering across the team
• Break down complex work into deliverable components and guide junior engineers
• Review and assure quality of outputs across pipelines, models, and code

Capability Development

• Build reusable frameworks, templates, and accelerators (e.g. dbt starters, pipeline templates, CI/CD patterns)
• Establish best practices across data architecture, modelling, testing, and deployment
• Contribute to building Loop Horizon’s data engineering capability and delivery standards

Client & Stakeholder Management

• Act as a senior technical partner to clients
• Translate business objectives into scalable technical solutions
• Support pre-sales activity including solution design, estimates, and technical input into proposals
• Build trusted client relationships through high-quality delivery

Skills and Qualifications:

Essential

• Proven experience as a Senior or Lead Data Engineer in a complex delivery environment
• Strong hands-on experience designing and building scalable data pipelines and platforms
• Experience with cloud data platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and modern data stacks (e.g. Databricks, BigQuery, Snowflake)
• Strong understanding of data modelling for analytics and customer use cases
• Experience with workflow orchestration tools (e.g. Airflow, Step Functions)
• Experience leveraging AI tools or automation to improve engineering productivity
• Strong client-facing and stakeholder management skills
• Deep understanding of data modelling for analytics and marketing use cases

Desirable

• Consultancy or agency experience
• Experience with digital data ie GA4, Adobe Analystics
• Exposure to privacy, consent, and regulatory considerations (e.g. GDPR)
• Experience working with partners and third-party vendors

Our Commitment to You:

• Competitive salary
• 25 days holiday, plus an additional 3 days leave between Christmas and New Year
• Pension scheme and life assurance
• Private Healthcare for you (and your spouse/children at extra cost)
• Flexible benefits scheme including electric car leasing scheme, cycle to work, gym discounts, discounted vouchers
• Shares in company after one years’ service
• Hybrid working - we believe in a balance between spending time face-to-face with colleagues and our clients, as well as enabling working from home
• Excellent opportunities to grow and develop
• Vibrant, friendly, dynamic team with calendar of regular social activities and team events