Lead Data Engineer

Location:

Bristol, UK | Hybrid with on-site requirements.

Salary:
Up to £80,000 | Plus credible benefits.

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.

• 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 work streams, 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

• 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 work streams 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 – energized by challenge and continuous learning
• Must be eligible for UK Security Clearance (SC level)

• 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