Head of Data Engineering

Socium; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Socium is seeking a Head of Data Engineering in Manchester to own the data engineering strategy, architecture and roadmap. You will lead a team of ten, mentor engineers, and drive the migration from on-prem SQL to Azure, while shaping tooling, budgets and supplier relationships.

You'll collaborate with the C-suite and influence senior leadership with strong technical depth to guide design decisions, governance, and production reliability in a hybrid work setting.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a data engineering team and owning strategy and delivery.
• Strong technical grounding in SQL, Azure, Azure Data Factory and ETL/ELT, including cloud migration and architecture.
• Confident in challenging senior stakeholders and making a case for investment.
• Enough depth to dive into design details and help the team move forward.

Responsibilities

• Turning business priorities into a data engineering strategy the team can deliver.
• Leading and developing ten people, providing technical direction and mentoring.
• Owning the architecture and migration from on-prem SQL into Azure.
• Making the calls on tooling, investment and suppliers, and explaining those decisions to senior leadership.
• Setting engineering standards across data modelling, pipelines, quality, governance, automated deployments and production reliability.

Skills

SQL

Azure

Azure Data Factory

ETL/ELT

Leadership

Job description

Head of Data Engineering | Up to £100,000

Manchester | Hybrid

There's a team of ten here, a move into Azure ahead and some big decisions to make about where data engineering goes next.

You'll own those decisions.

Reporting into the C-suite, you'll connect the ambitions of an established online business with what its engineers build. You'll own the strategy, architecture and roadmap, with responsibility for the tooling, budget and suppliers behind them.

You'll also need the technical depth to help when delivery gets difficult. Someone who can work through a design with the team, mentor an engineer or roll their sleeves up when there's a pinch point.

Microsoft Fabric is being explored. The interest is there, but the foundations and route to adoption still need working out. You'll decide where it fits and what needs to happen first.

What you'll be doing:

• Turning business priorities into a data engineering strategy the team can deliver.
• Leading and developing ten people, providing technical direction and mentoring.
• Owning the architecture and migration from on-prem SQL into Azure.
• Making the calls on tooling, investment and suppliers, and explaining those decisions to senior leadership.
• Setting engineering standards across data modelling, pipelines, quality, governance, automated deployments and production reliability.

What we need:

• Experience leading a data engineering team, with ownership of strategy and delivery.
• Strong technical grounding in SQL, Azure, Azure Data Factory and ETL/ELT, including cloud migration and architecture.
• The confidence to challenge senior stakeholders and make a clear case for investment.
• Enough engineering depth to step into the detail and help the team move forward.

There's real appetite for AI here. They want someone who has explored how it can improve engineering, automation or platform operations and can bring useful ideas into practice. Choosing the right tool for the job matters, alongside knowing how to test whether it's actually helped.

What you get:

Up to £100k, Manchester hybrid, direct C-suite access and ownership of the data engineering function. A team to develop and a substantial platform programme to shape.