Lead Data Engineer

Ocho People | Technology Recruitment

• Lead Data Engineer role at a high growth digital technology consultancy with a 30 year track record delivering for government, NHS and enterprise clients
• Palantir, Java, Scala or Python, Databricks and cloud data platforms across transformational projects at citizen scale
• Hands-on technical leadership with a small team to coach and develop
• Hybrid working
• Salary £95,000 - £105,000

Our client is a high growth digital technology consultancy with three decades of experience delivering transformational projects for some of the most impactful organisations in the UK - government, NHS and a wide range of enterprise clients. They are problem solvers and collaborators driven by a genuine mission to create real impact through technology, and their people-first culture means your ideas are valued, your growth is supported and your contributions genuinely matter.

The scale of the work here is significant. You will be designing and developing data solutions that handle data at genuine citizen scale, working with cutting edge platforms across Palantir, Databricks and major cloud providers. The culture is inclusive, ambitious and grounded in clear values - determined, honest, respectful, creative and cooperative. If you are a lead level data engineer who wants their work to have real world impact, this is the kind of organisation that delivers that.

This is a Lead Data Engineer position where you will take responsibility for designing and developing data processing and persistence software components for solutions that handle data at scale. You will provide strong development leadership for team members, take ownership of the quality of the codebase, and work with project architects on the non-functional requirements of ETL and ELT data processing pipelines. You will also manage, coach and develop a small number of staff while contributing to technical proposals as part of the sales process.

The career value is the breadth of the domain and the seniority of the scope. You will be working on transformational public sector and enterprise data projects - the kind of engagements that shape careers - with the technical ownership and team leadership that comes with a lead level appointment. The opportunity to contribute to commercial proposals and client relationships also adds a dimension most purely technical roles do not offer.

• Take responsibility for the development of whole components or subsystems including design, code, test and defect resolution
• Focus on hands-on design and development using open source and commercial platforms
• Define and enforce development best practice, coaching team members to ensure consistency
• Work with project architects to take responsibility for non-functional needs of ETL and ELT data processing pipelines including robustness and performance
• Take responsibility for standards and execution of unit and integration testing within the team
• Lead troubleshooting and performance tuning activities
• Work with Operations, Security Architects and accreditors to ensure operational readiness and compliance
• Advise customers, managers and team members on estimated effort and technical implications of user stories
• Contribute to technical proposals as part of the sales process
• Manage, coach and develop a small number of staff with a focus on performance and career development

• Experience leading a team of engineers in the implementation of data intensive system components
• Strong commercial experience working with Palantir
• Proficient software development experience in Java, Scala or Python
• Software development experience with data processing platforms from AWS, Azure, GCP or Databricks
• Expert SQL skills or SQL extensions for analytical use cases
• Expert understanding of distributed data stores and data processing frameworks
• Proficient in designing analytical and operational data models
• Experience applying standards for design patterns, development style guides and operational readiness
• Strong communication skills - able to explain technical design clearly in writing and verbally

Lead Data Engineer roles at this salary, with Palantir expertise, citizen-scale project experience and a genuine team leadership remit, are rare in Northern Ireland. Our client has a 30 year track record, a strong pipeline of transformational work and a culture that genuinely invests in its people. The work has real world impact. The career trajectory is clear.

Salary £95,000 - £105,000. Hybrid working.

• Comfortable with data warehouse methods and techniques
• AWS, Azure or GCP certification in data services
• Active participation in development or technology communities
• Expertise in continuous improvement and sharing input on data best practice