Data Acquisition Lead

Thames Water is looking for a Data Acquisition Lead to manage the team responsible for ingesting and integrating data from core business systems into our Azure-based Enterprise Data Platform. You’ll lead a team of Data Engineers and Data Business Analysts, own the end‑to‑end acquisition process, and ensure high‑quality, reliable data pipelines that power analytics across the organisation.

• Lead and mentor a team of Data Engineers and Data BAs.
• Own data ingestion pipelines from source systems into the Azure data lake.
• Design and implement ETL/ELT processes using Azure Data Factory, Databricks, and PySpark.
• Work with Data Architects and Data Scientists to prioritise and deliver required datasets.
• Solve complex data integration challenges, including APIs and unstructured data.
• Maintain data standards, documentation, and data quality across all pipelines.
• Support analytics and BI teams with trusted, well‑engineered data flows.

• Extensive experience as a Data Engineer with leadership capability.
• Strong Azure full‑stack experience, including:
  • Azure Data Factory (expert)
  • Azure Databricks administration (clusters, security, Delta Lake)
  • ADLS Gen2 (permissions, structure, lifecycle)
  • Azure Dev Ops (CI/CD for data pipelines)
• Strong PySpark skills: writing scalable transformations, optimising Spark jobs, working with Delta Lake.
• Excellent SQL and Python.
• Experience with data warehousing and data modelling.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills.
• Understanding of data use within utilities (desirable).

• Competitive salary up to £70,000 per annum depending on experience.
• Annual Leave – 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with length of service (plus bank holidays).
• Performance‑related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to benefits supporting health, wellbeing and finances: annual health MOTs, physiotherapy and counselling, Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.