Data Engineering Lead

VIQU IT; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; Hybrid; GBP 92,000 - 111,000; Full time

Job summary

VIQU IT in Cambridge is seeking an experienced Data Engineering Lead for a 3‑month initial contract, hybrid with three days onsite. You will provide hands‑on leadership for an established Microsoft Fabric data platform, driving reliability, quality and production readiness.

You will review pipelines, enforce standards, and collaborate with internal and offshore teams to deliver robust data solutions and governance across the enterprise.

Qualifications

• Hands-on Microsoft Fabric experience with Lakehouse and data pipelines.
• Proven data engineering leadership or technical lead experience.
• Strong SQL, data modelling and cross-source integration skills.
• Experience establishing governance, testing and production deployment standards.

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on technical leadership across an existing Microsoft Fabric data environment.
• Review, troubleshoot and optimise Fabric Lakehouse solutions and pipelines.
• Oversee data integration, transformation, modelling and quality across sources.
• Improve development, testing and deployment processes for production readiness.
• Review and challenge technical work from internal and offshore teams.
• Establish consistent standards for documentation, governance and best practices.
• Identify and resolve issues affecting reliability and performance of data solutions.

Skills

Microsoft Fabric

SQL

Data modelling

Data governance

Production deployment

Leadership

Power BI exposure

Tools

Power BI

Job description

Data Engineering Lead 3 Months Initial Hybrid (Cambridge) Inside IR35

VIQU have partnered with an established organisation seeking an experienced Data Engineering Lead with strong, hands‑on Microsoft Fabric expertise to provide technical leadership and oversight of its existing data engineering function.

The organisation has already invested in Microsoft Fabric, with an established data platform supporting its wider reporting capabilities. The immediate priority is to strengthen technical oversight, improve data quality and governance, and ensure existing solutions are robust, well‑documented and successfully deployed into production.

This role is less focused on high‑level strategy and more suited to someone who enjoys getting into the technical detail, resolving problems and ensuring data solutions are delivered to a consistent standard.

The Role:

The successful Data Engineering Lead will take responsibility for the day‑to‑day technical direction of an established Microsoft Fabric data engineering environment, working closely with internal stakeholders and external delivery resources.

You will help improve the reliability of existing data pipelines, strengthen development standards and ensure solutions can be effectively maintained and deployed into production.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide hands‑on technical leadership across an existing Microsoft Fabric data engineering environment
• Review, troubleshoot and optimise Fabric Lakehouse solutions, data pipelines, transformations and associated engineering processes
• Oversee data integration, transformation, modelling and quality across multiple data sources
• Improve development, testing and deployment processes, ensuring solutions can be reliably transitioned into production
• Review and challenge technical work delivered by internal and offshore engineering resources
• Establish consistent standards around documentation, data governance and engineering best practices
• Identify and resolve technical issues affecting the reliability and performance of existing data solutions

Key Skills & Experience:

• Strong, hands‑on Microsoft Fabric experience is essential, including Lakehouse architecture, data pipelines, transformations and production environments
• Proven experience as a Data Engineering Lead, Technical Lead or hands‑on Data Architect, providing technical oversight to engineering teams
• Strong SQL skills, data modelling and experience integrating data from multiple enterprise systems
• Practical experience with development lifecycle management, testing and production deployment
• Experience establishing engineering standards, improving documentation and implementing data governance practices
• Ability to review technical solutions, challenge engineering approaches and guide other developers
• Exposure to Power BI and enterprise ERP environments would be beneficial

Role Details:

• Job Role: Data Engineering Lead
• Contract: 3 months initial (view to extension)
• Location: Hybrid 3 days per week onsite (Cambridge)
• Rate: £500 - £600 per day
• IR35 Status: Inside IR35