Lead Data Platform Engineer

Are you looking for a career in an inspiring, global environment where your expertise makes a difference? At Neste, you will be working for the world’s leading producer of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel, which enable our customers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Overview

Lead Data Platform Engineer – Data & IT Platforms unit, Espoo. The Neste Data Platform is undergoing a transformation to enhance data visibility, enable AI and GenAI possibilities, and improve operational excellence. Your role is to design, deploy, and evolve a scalable platform that supports Neste Business Architecture while continuously improving user experience and cost efficiency.

Reasons to Join

We operate in a dynamic business environment as a global leader in renewable fuels. We live our values every day: we care, we have courage, we cooperate. We prioritize safety and aspire to create a positive work environment. Transformation brings new possibilities and encourages curiosity. As a global company, we support personal development with learning opportunities and flexible, smart ways of working. We work at the office at least three days a week to ensure teamwork and belonging.

Benefits (Finland)

Personnel fund, occupational health care, health insurance, leisure‑time accident insurance, and benefits for sports and culture (ePassi). The overall remuneration package also includes a personnel fund as part of the overall compensation.

Job Responsibilities

• Primary technical point of contact for internal developers and external partners, setting coding standards, conducting deep‑dive code reviews, and aligning the team on architectural decisions.
• Engineering partner for Cloud, Enterprise, and Data Architects, ensuring data models, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise standards are scalable and performance‑optimized.
• Define standardised patterns for ingestion, transformation, and discovery, translating complex business requirements into automated and observable platform capabilities.
• Champion operational excellence in a DevOps culture, ensuring predictable deployments and continuous improvement of system design and processes.
• Drive efficiency and ROI by establishing technical benchmarks that align with business UX requirements while maintaining rigorous cost‑management discipline.
• Collaborate closely with SME’s such as data architects, ML engineers, analysts, cloud specialists, security, and business stakeholders to identify data‑related needs and solutions.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in engineering, computer science, data‑centric engineering, or related field.
• Strong proficiency in SQL and data modelling (e.g., Data Vault 2.0, Kimball/Inmon).
• Experience with Snowflake, Azure, and well‑architected frameworks for data & AI platforms.
• Proficiency in CI/CD concepts and tooling, primarily Azure DevOps for data platforms.
• Proven experience as a technical team lead in complex, large enterprise ecosystems.
• Working knowledge of Python, FastAPI, Snowflake Snowpark procedures.
• Familiarity with core Azure services such as Private Endpoints, Log Analytics, and Storage Accounts.
• Experience creating skills for LLM‑based data tasks.
• Experience with Agile Data Engine (ADE), Data Build Tool (DBT), or similar cloud data warehouse automation tools.

Other Strengths We Value

• Strong hunger and curiosity to work on complex initiatives and drive them forward independently.
• Courage to challenge and scrutinise development initiatives to eliminate waste.
• Ability to grasp complex problems from multiple viewpoints and stakeholder perspectives.
• Understanding of how to best utilize data solutions to innovate customer/front‑line journeys.
• Self‑starter with the ability to lead and think outside the box, gaining trust and a mandate from stakeholders at all seniorities.
• Fluent English skills mandatory, both written and oral.