Job Title: Senior Data Engineer
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Job Type: Full Time
Employment Type: Permanent
Experience Level: Senior
We are looking for a Senior Data Engineer to design, build and improve reliable data platforms that support critical business operations, analytics and strategic decision-making. This is a hands-on senior position suited to an experienced engineer who can take ownership of complex data engineering initiatives while working closely with data architects, analysts, software engineers, cloud teams, product stakeholders and business leaders.
You will be responsible for developing scalable data pipelines, integrating information from multiple enterprise systems and improving the availability, quality and performance of data across the organisation. The role will involve working across batch and streaming workloads, cloud data platforms, data warehouses and modern engineering practices.
You will also contribute to technical standards and data platform architecture, provide guidance to other engineers and help establish robust approaches to testing, monitoring, security and deployment. Your work will directly support reporting, analytics, operational processes and data-driven products. The successful candidate will combine strong engineering capability with sound judgement, clear communication and an understanding of how well-designed data platforms create measurable business value.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, develop and maintain scalable data pipelines supporting high-volume enterprise workloads and business-critical applications.
- Build robust batch and real-time data processing solutions using technologies such as Python, SQL, Apache Spark and Kafka.
- Develop and optimise data models, schemas and transformation processes for analytical and operational use cases.
- Design data ingestion frameworks to integrate information from APIs, relational databases, SaaS applications and other enterprise data sources.
- Develop and maintain cloud-based data platforms using services across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
- Implement data warehouse and data lake solutions using platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, Azure Data Lake or comparable technologies.
- Improve pipeline performance, reliability and scalability through effective partitioning, orchestration, monitoring and optimisation techniques.
- Establish automated data quality checks, validation processes and controls to identify and resolve data integrity issues.
- Work with data architects and analysts to translate business requirements into practical data engineering solutions and reusable data assets.
- Implement CI/CD practices, automated testing and infrastructure-as-code approaches for reliable deployment and management of data workloads.
- Monitor production pipelines and investigate failures, performance issues and data anomalies, ensuring timely resolution of operational incidents.
- Apply appropriate security, access control, encryption and governance practices when handling sensitive and business-critical data.
- Contribute to data platform standards, engineering guidelines, technical documentation and architectural decisions.
- Mentor data engineers and provide technical leadership through design reviews, knowledge sharing and collaborative problem-solving.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Technology or a related technical discipline; equivalent professional experience may also be considered.
- At least 5 years of professional experience in data engineering, software engineering, data platform development or a closely related field.
- Strong hands-on programming experience with Python and advanced SQL, including query optimisation, complex transformations and data manipulation.
- Proven experience developing production-grade ETL and ELT pipelines using technologies such as Apache Spark, Databricks, Apache Airflow or equivalent orchestration and processing platforms.
- Practical experience with cloud data engineering on Microsoft Azure, AWS or Google Cloud, including cloud storage, compute, networking and managed data services.
- Strong knowledge of modern data warehouse and data lake architectures, including platforms such as Snowflake, Azure Synapse, BigQuery, Redshift or Databricks.
- Experience working with relational databases such as PostgreSQL, SQL Server or Oracle, together with familiarity with NoSQL technologies where appropriate.
- Knowledge of streaming and event-driven data architectures, with experience using technologies such as Apache Kafka, Azure Event Hubs or Amazon Kinesis.
- Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, Docker and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform.
- Understanding of data governance, metadata management, data quality, lineage, access controls and regulatory requirements relevant to enterprise data environments.
- Familiarity with Agile development methodologies, DevOps principles and software development lifecycle practices within large-scale technology environments.
- Relevant certifications such as Microsoft Azure Data Engineer Associate, AWS Certified Data Engineer, Google Professional Data Engineer, Databricks certifications or equivalent are preferred.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts and influence decisions across engineering, architecture, analytics and business teams.
- Candidates must have the legal right to work in the United Kingdom and be able to undertake employment in the UK.
Equal Opportunity Employer
We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. Qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.
Job Type: Full Time, Permanent
Pay: £74,000.00-£78,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Bereavement leave
- Canteen
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Free parking
- Life insurance
- On-site parking
- Sick pay
Work Location: In person
