Head of Data Engineering

Apply now Job no: 564978
Work type: Full time
Site: Redditch
Categories: IT
Location: Worcestershire
Business Area: Halfords Support Centre

Halfords is a £1.7 billion revenue listed business and the UK’s leading provider of motoring and cycling products and services. With a national network spanning retail, garages, mobile services, digital and B2B, we operate across a uniquely broad and complex customer landscape, supporting customers across the full lifecycle of their motoring and cycling needs.

We are proud to keep the nation moving as trusted experts who love to help.

Our business is evolving into a more integrated, service‑led and omnichannel organisation, with over half of our revenue now driven through services. This shift is reshaping how we operate, how we serve our customers and how we use technology and data to drive performance.

This creates a genuine opportunity for leaders who can bring clarity, pace and impact in complex, evolving environments.

Technology at Halfords is being reimagined as we continue our evolution into a truly omnichannel, service‑led business.

We are reshaping how technology supports the organisation, moving towards more integrated platforms, clearer architecture and stronger delivery capability across retail, garages, mobile services and B2B.

Data is central to this transformation. We are modernising our data platforms, evolving our engineering capability and building the foundations required to enable advanced analytics, AI and data‑driven decision making across the business.

This is an opportunity to shape how data engineering supports Halfords as we scale.

This is a critical leadership role responsible for shaping and evolving Halfords’ data engineering capability at a pivotal point in its journey.

You will lead teams that design, build and operate the data platforms and services that underpin analytics, BI and data products. More importantly, you will simplify and evolve a complex, mixed data landscape into a modern, scalable and trusted data platform.

Working closely with the Director of Data, AI and Analytics, you will define the engineering direction, set standards and guide the transition from legacy and fragmented environments towards a more unified, future‑ready architecture, with Databricks at its core.

This is not a role focused purely on governance or theory. It requires someone who can bring clarity to complexity, make pragmatic decisions and lead teams through real‑world change, balancing modern engineering practices with the realities of an evolving estate.

• Define and lead the data engineering strategy, shaping how data platforms and services are built, scaled and operated across the business
• Drive the evolution of the data landscape, simplifying legacy environments and enabling a transition to modern data platforms
• Lead and develop a high‑performing data engineering team, providing technical leadership, coaching and clear direction
• Establish engineering standards and best practice across the data development lifecycle, improving reliability, maintainability and delivery confidence
• Partner with senior stakeholders to prioritise initiatives, shape roadmaps and ensure data services meet the needs of the business
• Oversee the design and delivery of robust, scalable data services that enable analytics, BI and data products
• Define integration patterns and approaches that enable secure, efficient and scalable data exchange across the organisation
• Champion secure and compliant data practices, embedding governance without slowing delivery
• Identify opportunities to improve ways of working, tooling and capability, raising the overall maturity of data engineering over time
• Navigate a blended landscape of legacy and modern platforms, running parallel tracks where needed while driving long‑term simplification

You are an experienced data engineering leader who has operated in complex, evolving environments and understands how to move from fragmented data landscapes to more modern, scalable platforms.

You are as comfortable setting direction as you are engaging with technical detail, and you bring credibility…