Lead Data Engineer

🔒 Confidential Employer
Posted 22 March 2026
LOCATION
Bristol / London / Manchester / Swansea
TYPE
Full-time
LEVEL
Mid-Senior level
SALARY
£96,000 / year
CATEGORY
Technology
This employer holds a UK Home Office sponsor license — sponsorship for this specific role is at the employer’s discretion

SKILLS

Git IaC Apache Spark Data Warehouse Data Pipelines DevOps Data Engineering Data Transformation

FULL DESCRIPTION

Job description

As a Lead Data Engineer or architect at [Employer hidden — view at passion-project.co.uk], you'll play a pivotal role in helping public sector organisations become truly data-lead, by equipping them with robust data platforms. You'll also join a data team on its mission to get data knowledge and skills out of silos and embedded into delivery teams. You'll also help implement efficient data pipelines & storage.

Key responsibilities

- Define, shape and perfect data strategies in central and local government. - Help public sector teams understand the value of their data, and make the most of it. - Establish yourself as a trusted advisor in data driven approaches using public cloud services like AWS, Azure and GCP. - As employee growth is a huge focus here, we would expect you to contribute to our recruitment efforts and take on line management responsibilities.

Skills, knowledge and expertise

We are looking for candidates with a range of skills and experience, please apply even if you don’t meet all the criteria as if unsuccessful we can provide you with feedback.

  • Proficiency in Git (inc. Github Actions) and able to explain the benefits of different branch strategies.
  • Strong experience in IaC and able to guide how one could deploy infrastructure into different environments.
  • Knowledge of handling and transforming various data types (JSON, CSV, etc) with Apache Spark, Databricks or Hadoop.
  • Good understanding of possible architectures involved in modern data system design (Data Warehouse, Data Lakes, Data Meshes)
  • Ability to create data pipelines on a cloud environment and integrate error handling within these pipelines.
  • You understand how to create reusable libraries to encourage uniformity or approach across multiple data pipelines.
  • Able to document and present end-to-end diagrams to explain a data processing system on a cloud environment.
  • Some knowledge of how you would present diagrams (C4, UML, etc.)
  • Enthusiasm for learning and self-development.
  • You have experience of working on agile delivery-lead projects and can apply agile practices such as Scrum, XP, Kanban.
  • Can own the cloud infrastructure underpinning data systems through a DevOps approach.
  • Design and implement efficient data transformation processes at scale, both in batch and streaming use cases.
  • You are a skilled Data Engineer who has delivered data platforms.
  • Knowledge of SOLID, DRY and TDD principles and how to practically implement these into a project.
  • You can demonstrate a commercial mindset when on projects to grow accounts organically with senior stakeholders.
  • You have the experience to improve resilience into a project by checking for software vulnerabilities and implement appropriate testing strategies (unit integration, data quality, etc)
  • You are skilled at offering guidance on how one would implement a robust DevOps approach in a data project.
  • You can comfortably talk about tools needed such as DataOps in areas such as orchestration, data integration and data analytics.

Desirable experience

Experience in the following things isn’t essential, but it’s highly desirable!

  • Working at a technology consultancy
  • Working with Docker and virtual environments as part of the development and CI/CD process.
  • Working with senior stakeholders to gather requirements and keep them engaged with
  • Experience in working with a team of engineers using a variety of techniques such as pair programming or mob programming.
  • Working with data scientists to productionise advanced data deliverables, such as machine learning models
  • Working knowledge of statistics
  • Working with multidisciplinary digital and technology teams
  • Working within the public sector
  • Working with data scientists to productionise advanced data deliverables, such as machine learning models

Job benefits

Life at [Employer hidden]

We’re committed to building a happy, inclusive and diverse workforce. You can get a sense of what it’s like working here from [our blog, where we talk about mental health, communities of practice and neurodiversity](https://www.madetech.com/blog/category/life-at-made-tech/) (as well as our client work and best practice).

Like many organisations, we use Slack to foster a sense of community and connection. As well as special interest groups such as music, food and pets, we also have 10+ Slack channels dedicated to specific communities, allies, and identities as well as dedicated learning spaces called communities of practice (COPs). If you’d like to speak to someone from one of these groups about their experience as an employee, please do let a member of the [Employer hidden] talent team know.

Benefits

We are always listening to our growing teams and evolving the benefits available to our people. As we scale, as do our benefits and we are scaling quickly. We've recently introduced a flexible benefit platform which includes a Smart Tech scheme, Cycle to work scheme, and an individual benefits allowance which you can invest in a Health care cash plan or Pension plan. We’re also big on connection and have an optional social and wellbeing calendar of events for all employees to join should they choose to.

Here are some of our most popular benefits listed below:

✈️ [30 days Holiday](https://github.com/madetech/handbook/blob/main/benefits/taking_holiday.md) - we offer 30 days of paid annual leave

[Flexible Parental Leave](https://github.com/madetech/handbook/blob/master/guides/welfare/parental_leave.md) - we offer flexible parental leave options

‍ [Remote Working](https://github.com/madetech/handbook/blob/main/benefits/hybrid_working.md) - we offer part time remote working for all our staff

[Paid counselling](https://github.com/madetech/handbook/blob/main/guides/welfare/paid_counselling.md) - we offer paid counselling as well as financial and legal advice. [Pension](https://github.com/madetech/handbook/blob/main/benefits/pension_scheme.md)- 7% employer matched

An increasing number of our customers are specifying a minimum of SC (security check) clearance in order to work on their projects. As a result, we're looking for all successful candidates for this role to have eligibility.Eligibility for SC requires 5 years' UK residency and 5 year' employment history (or back to full-time education). Ideally, no more than 30 consecutive days spent outside the UK within the last five years. Please note that if at any point during the interview process it is apparent that you may not be eligible for SC, we won't be able to progress your application and we will contact you to let you know why.

Location:

Any UK Office Hub (Bristol / London / Manchester / Swansea)

Department:

Technology > Data & AI

Employment type:

Permanent

Workplace type:

Hybrid

Compensation:

£80,000 - £96,000 / year

Sounds good?

Join us in our mission to use technology to improve society for everyone.

Apply for this position

How we hire

Our hiring process is designed to be thorough, transparent, and supportive, guiding candidates through each step. The exact process may vary slightly depending on the role but these are the typical steps candidates can expect.

We’ll keep you updated throughout the process and provide helpful feedback at each stage. No matter the outcome, we make sure the feedback is useful and supportive, so you feel informed and can learn from the experience.

1. Application reviewed

Our talent team will review all applications, and while we may use AI to help speed up the process, a real human will always make the final decisions. Once reviewed, shortlisted applicants will be invited to a screening.

2. Talent Partner screen

This is a 25-30 minute call with someone in our talent team who is hiring for the role.

3. CV Hiring Manager shortlist

Once screenings have taken place the hiring manager will review the shortlist and invites to interview will be sent.

4. First stage interview

You may then be invited to an initial virtual interview which is usually with the hiring manager or a couple of members from the team. This is usually around 45 – 60 minutes and the format may vary depending on the role.

5. Final stage interview

If you progress, you’ll be invited to a final stage interview which is usually with two members of the team. The format varies depending on the role and this is usually an hour.

6. Final conversation (not applicable to every role)

Final conversation with one of our exec members.

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