Lead Data Engineer
Summary
The Lead Data Engineer will design, build, and optimize scalable data pipelines within Microsoft Fabric to mature the company's data architecture from Bronze to Gold. This hands-on technical leadership role involves mentoring a small team, ensuring data quality, and acting as the senior technical escalation point.
Hybrid Working - 2-4 day per month in the office (East London / Essex)
Salary to £75k
A Lead Data Engineer is required for a transformational role. With Fabric already in place, the focus is now on maturing the data architectural environment from Bronze through to Gold over the next 12-18 months - improving architecture, data quality, and overall platform capability.
This is a hands-on leadership role, acting as the senior technical escalation point while helping shape best practice, refine existing pipelines, and drive data modernisation across a complex data landscape. This is more of a Technical Leadership than people Leadership role, though the director would be happy for someone inclined towards both or that wants to add on the people in time.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, build and optimise scalable data pipelines within Microsoft Fabric (Lakehouse, Data Engineering, Data Warehouse, Data Integration)
- Refine and enhance existing pipelines and architecture to align with best practice
- Lead the transition of the platform from Bronze to Gold standard
- Develop and fine-tune complex SQL queries, transformations, and data models
- Support and troubleshoot data issues impacting reporting (e.g. Power BI refresh failures)
- Take ownership of data quality, governance, and platform reliability
- Act as the technical escalation point for a team of Data Engineers
- Lead, mentor, and support a small team (3 engineers) - negotiable if you'd prefer to remain technically oriented.
- Work across multiple data sources (enterprise systems and bespoke applications) feeding into a Lakehouse
- Engage stakeholders across the business to improve data quality and consistency
Required Experience
- Strong hands-on SQL expertise, including performance tuning
- Proven experience with Microsoft Fabric and Synapse (design, architecture, implementation)
- Experience working with Lakehouse architecture and multiple data sources
- Demonstrable experience modernising data platforms (e.g. Bronze ? Gold maturity) or consolidating data into a central platform
- Strong understanding of data engineering principles, governance, and data quality
- Experience delivering and supporting production-grade data solutions
- Ability to act as a senior technical escalation point and lead delivery
- Strong stakeholder engagement skills, particularly around data quality challenges
- Microsoft certifications (e.g. DP-600, DP-900)
- Experience managing or mentoring engineers (or readiness to step into leadership
- Exposure to DevOps / CI-CD practices within data engineering
- Experience in complex or enterprise environments