Technical Lead, Data Platform Engineer

We’re on a mission to back the UK’s small businesses like no one else

Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, and we’re here to help them win. We’ve built a platform that uses clever data to get them the funding they need in minutes, not weeks.

At Funding Circle, we have the restless energy of a fintech start-up with the stability of a public company. It’s a unique mix that gives Circlers the autonomy to take ownership and the scale to make an impact that truly counts.

We’re a high-performing team that chooses to lift each other up. We challenge, we champion, and we have each other’s backs - because we know that when we stand together, we move faster and build better.

The impact is real:
Last year alone, the businesses on our platform generated £7.2bn for the UK economy

Read our Impact Report | See our Trustpilot

Location London (Hybrid)

2 days in the office

Competitive Salary + Benefits

The Data Platform team builds and runs the platform that all Funding Circle data teams use. This includes our Snowflake platform, streaming and batch ingestion, orchestration, data contracts and the Data Product Portal.

We are in the middle of a big change. We are moving to Snowflake and to a federated “Data as a Product” model. This role will lead the engineering of that platform

• Lead the technical direction of the Data Platform. Turn the target architecture into a clear, sequenced engineering plan, and keep the team aligned to it.
• Own the technical quality of the platform:
  Snowflake infrastructure and RBAC, ingestion patterns, orchestration (Airflow), CI/CD, observability and cost controls.
• Make and record technical decisions. Run the decision-document process. Make the final call when the team cannot agree, and escalated cross-domain decisions to the architecture review board.
• Grow the team. Mentor engineers, spread knowledge so that no system depends on one person, and set a review culture that is fast and deep.
• Make it easy for domain teams, Data Scientists, Analysts and AI Agents to build on the platform. Define standards and reusable patterns. Make sure that DP reviews do not block the domain teams, and work closely with the teams that use the platform.
• Lead the platform side of the Athena → Snowflake migration: source landing, reconciliation and cutover evidence, and decommissioning of the legacy platform.
• Own operational excellence with the Engineering Manager: on-call quality, alert quality, incident follow-ups, runbooks, and disaster recovery.
• Own security and governance controls on the platform with Security and Data Governance.
• Manage the technical relationship with platform vendors. This includes support cases, escalations and roadmap input.
• Explain technical trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders and data leadership.
• Set and evolve the team's standards for AI-assisted engineering, so that tools like Claude and Copilot are used safely and consistently.
• Work closely with the Principal Engineer. The Principal owns the cross-domain architecture. You turn it into the platform engineering plan and make sure the team delivers it.

• 8+ years in Data & Analytics, with proven experience as a Senior/Tech Lead setting architectural direction for other engineers
• Deep, hands‑on knowledge of Snowflake, including ideally Iceberg/open table formats and RBAC.
• Advanced SQL, Python, and enterprise‑grade dbt model development.
• Experience designing end‑to‑end data pipelines. Combining batch, file‑based, and streaming ingestion (Kafka/CDC) managed with Airflow orchestration.
• A good understanding of data security and governance, including PII handling and access control.
• Strong infrastructure‑as‑code skills and CI/CD skills.
• Track record of writing clear design docs, explaining technical…