Data Engineering Manager

Wave Group; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Wave Group is seeking a Data Engineering Manager to lead two squads—Analytics Engineering and Data Engineering—in a remote-first UK setup. You will shape data products, scale pipelines, enforce governance, and operate at scale with tight SLAs to support enterprise decisions.

You’ll mentor 10–12 engineers, drive architecture discussions with senior ICs, and plan 12–24 months ahead, ensuring data infrastructure powers client P&Ls reliably.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading Data/Analytics Engineering teams.
• Experience with large-scale data at scale and SLAs.
• Strong architectural and strategic thinking.
• Ability to operate in a remote-first setup.

Responsibilities

• Lead two squads: Analytics Engineering and Data Engineering.
• Define data strategy and governance across the organisation.
• Mentor engineers and shape team culture, handling dysfunction and growth.
• Partner with senior ICs on architecture and long-term planning.

Skills

Data architecture

Cloud data platforms

Databricks

AWS

Spark

Data governance

Team leadership

Stakeholder communication

Tools

Databricks

Airflow

Job description

Location: fully remote anywhere in the UK

VISA sponsorship is NOT available

Company

A high-growth SaaS business with a strong financial backing that sits at the heart of the UK energy market - building the cloud-native platform that powers billing, financial settlement and data infrastructure for some of the country's largest energy suppliers.

Role

Data Engineering Manager leading two closely connected teams - one focused on core data products, the other on finance-critical data workflows operating at serious scale. Think hundreds of billions of rows, strict SLAs, and output that lands directly in client P&Ls.

We're looking for a technical leader who can hold their own in architectural conversations with senior ICs and thinks 12-24 months ahead - not just the current sprint ahead.

You've managed teams of Data and Analytics Engineers - not just led projects, but developed people, handled dysfunction, built culture. You understand why the data matters, not just how to move it. You're energised by the idea of commercialising data as a product. And you thrive with autonomy in a remote-first environment.

You’ll be leading a team of 10-12, split into 2 squads - Analytics Engineering and Data Engineering.

Technical experience

• Strong Data architecture experience (medallion, data warehouse, lakehouse)
• Deep expertise in cloud data platforms, particularly Databricks and AWS
• Advanced experience using Spark, including performance tuning at scale
• Data ingestion, orchestration, streaming and batch pipelines
• Proven experience implementing data governance, security and access frameworks

Please note: VISA sponsorship is NOT available for this role.