Data Engineering Manager - Manchester

Forward Role Recruitment; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 74,800 - 101,200; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

27 days holiday + bank holidays

Birthday off

Enhanced parental leave

Income protection

Life assurance 3x salary

Health cash plan

Virtual GP

Therapy access

Gym discounts

Cycle to work

Free food

Friday bar

Job summary

Forward Role Recruitment is partnering with a hypergrowth business in Manchester to recruit a hands-on Data Engineering Manager who will lead a central data platform transformation. You will head the data engineering squad, delivering the data infrastructure, pipelines and reporting capabilities the business depends on.

The role focuses on moving from batch processing to real-time, event-driven architecture with a mandate for change and significant investment.

Qualifications

• Must have cloud data engineering on AWS.
• Must have people management and team leadership experience.
• Must have strong SQL and TS-SQL.
• Must have experience with ETL/ELT pipelines, SSIS or Matillion.
• Must have data visualization skills.
• Must have Infrastructure as Code awareness (Terraform or similar).
• Must have stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop your data engineering squad, including performance conversations and career development.
• Hands-on work across pipelines, cloud infrastructure, transformation layers, and reporting.
• Drive migration toward real-time, event-driven data processing.
• Keep existing SQL Server environments stable while the modern platform is built.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across the business to understand requirements and deliver solutions.
• Embed good engineering practices CI/CD, IaC and Agile where needed.
• Mentor colleagues and grow capability across the team.

Skills

AWS

People management

SQL

ETL/ELT pipelines

Data visualization

IaC (Terraform)

Stakeholder management

Event-driven architecture

Tools

Terraform

SSIS

Matillion

Job description

Data Engineering Manager (hands on) - Manchester

I'm working with a hypergrowth business in Manchester who are looking for a Data Engineering Manager. They have new PE investment behind them and a major transformation project is underway.

This is a hands-on leadership role sitting at the centre of a significant data platform transformation. You will be running the data engineering squad, responsible for delivering the data infrastructure, pipelines, and reporting capabilities the wider business depends on.

They are moving away from traditional batch processing toward a real-time, event-driven architecture and you will be leading that technical journey while keeping everything running reliably in the meantime. It is not a steady-state role there is a real mandate for change, proper investment to back it up, and a new Data Director coming in who wants to build something impressive.

What's in it for you?

• £88,000
• Hybrid working, 3 days per week in Manchester City Centre
• 27 days holiday plus bank holidays, your birthday off,
• Enhanced parental leave
• Income protection for up to 5 years, life assurance at 3x salary, health cash plan, virtual GP and therapy access
• Gym discounts, cycle to work, free food and a Friday bar + much more.
• A genuine leadership seat at the table during a period of real transformation
• The chance to modernise a data platform from the ground up, event streaming, cloud-native, AI-ready
• Newly centralised data function with a clear path upward as it grows

Must have:

• Cloud data engineering on AWS - this is non-negotiable
• People management and team leadership experience
• Strong SQL and T-SQL
• ETL/ELT pipelines, SSIS, Matillion or similar
• Data visualisation
• Infrastructure as Code awareness, Terraform or similar
• Stakeholder management

Nice to have:

• Real-time and event-driven data platform experience
• Lakehouse or cloud-native data platform architecture experience
• Data lakes, object storage, and large-scale analytical processing
• ML or advanced analytics exposure
• AWS security, networking and access control
• GDPR and data governance awareness

Day to Day:

• Leading and developing your data engineering squad performance conversations, career development, day-to-day support
• Getting hands-on across pipelines, cloud infrastructure, transformation layers, and reporting
• Driving the migration toward real-time, event-driven data processing
• Keeping existing SQL Server environments stable and performant while the modern platform is built out
• Working closely with stakeholders across the business to understand requirements and deliver solutions
• Embedding good engineering practices CI/CD, IaC, Agile where they are not already in place
• Mentoring colleagues and helping to grow capability across the team

Why it's a good time to join them?

The data, analytics and insights functions previously operated separately are being brought together for the first time under a single Data Director. That means you would be joining at the moment the foundation is being laid, not after the decisions have already been made.

There is a signed-off transformation programme, a technical roadmap that includes real-time streaming, AI-readiness and a move toward a modern cloud platform, and senior leadership that genuinely values data.

Please note the role cannot offer sponsorship and is not suitable for those on short term visas.