Data Engineering Lead

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

Job summary

VIQU IT Recruitment is partnering with an established organisation in Cambridge to hire a Data Engineering Lead for a 3-month hybrid contract. The role requires hands-on Microsoft Fabric expertise to direct data engineering and ensure robust production deployments.

The successful candidate will improve data quality, governance, documentation, and the reliability of Fabric Lakehouse pipelines, working with stakeholders and offshore resources.

Qualifications

• Strong, hands-on Microsoft Fabric experience for Lakehouse, pipelines and production environments.
• Proven track record in data modelling and SQL-driven data architectures.
• Experience delivering robust data governance, documentation and testing processes.
• Ability to review technical work, guide developers and ensure production readiness.
• Familiarity with Power BI and ERP environments is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on technical leadership across the Fabric data engineering environment.
• Review, troubleshoot and optimise Fabric Lakehouse solutions and data pipelines.
• Oversee data integration, transformation, modelling and quality across sources.
• Improve development, testing and deployment processes for production readiness.
• Review and challenge engineering work and establish documentation standards.
• Identify and resolve issues affecting reliability and performance of data solutions.

Skills

Microsoft Fabric

SQL skills

Data modelling

Production deployment

Data governance

Documentation standards

Power BI exposure

Tools

Power BI

ERP systems

Lakehouse architecture

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

Do you know someone great? We'll thank you with up to £1,000 if your referral is successful (terms apply).