Lead Data Engineer

Kainos is seeking a Lead Data Engineer (Consultant) in Birmingham, England. The role involves designing data processing and persistence components for large‑scale solutions.

• Take responsibility for the development of whole components or subsystems within a team, incorporating design, coding, testing and defect resolution.
• Focus on hands‑on design and development using open source and commercial platforms.
• Define and enforce development best practice and coach team members to ensure consistency.
• Work with project architects on non‑functional requirements of ETL/ELT pipelines, ensuring robustness and performance.
• Take responsibility for standards and execution of unit and integration testing within the team.
• Ensure software product due diligence and integration.
• Lead troubleshooting and tuning activities.
• Collaborate with Operations teams to ensure the application software is operationally ready.
• Work with Security Architects and accreditors to ensure compliance with legal and security requirements.
• Advise customers, managers and team members on estimated effort and technical implications of user stories and journeys.
• Contribute to technical proposals as part of the sales process.
• Manage, coach and develop a small number of staff, focusing on performance and career development.

• Experience leading a team of engineers in building data‑intensive system components.
• Experience applying standards for design (patterns), development (style guides) and operational readiness (automation, deployment).
• Proficiency in Java, Scala or Python.
• Experience with data‑processing platforms such as Informatica, Azure Databricks or other ETL tools.
• Expertise in SQL or SQL extensions for analytical use cases.
• Strong understanding of distributed data stores and processing frameworks.
• Excellent written and verbal communication of technical design.
• Proficiency in designing analytical and operational data models.
• A keen interest in AI technologies.

• Comfortable with data warehouse methods and techniques.
• Active sharing of thoughts and views on data practices.
• AWS / Azure / GCP certification in Data Services.
• Expertise in continuous improvement and sharing input on data best practices.
• Participation in development or technology communities.
• Practical experience with AI technologies, tools, processes and delivery.

Our vision is to enable outstanding people to create digital solutions that have a positive impact. We expect everyone to display our values: determined, honest, respectful, creative, and cooperative.

Kainos is a high‑growth IT services company providing digital technology solutions and agile software development. Over 30 years we have worked on transformational projects for government, NHS and private sector clients.

We are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. Everyone is valued, respected and given an equal chance to thrive, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability or any other characteristic.

Our talent acquisition team supports you; let us know if you require accommodations or adjustments.