Lead AI & Data Engineer

JR United Kingdom; Broughton; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company is seeking an AI and Data Engineer to drive data engineering practices and lead the delivery of AI solutions. The role involves building modern data platforms on Azure, mentoring teams, and ensuring best engineering practices in a collaborative environment. Ideal candidates will have deep technical expertise in data engineering and a passion for innovation.

Benefits

Flexible working

Collaborative culture

Pathways for growth

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in data engineering and data pipelines.
• Experience with Azure technologies including Data Factory and Databricks.
• Strong programming skills, particularly in Python and SQL.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design of scalable data architectures and pipelines.
• Develop and maintain AI products in line with business outcomes.
• Champion automation-first engineering practices.

Skills

Python

SQL

YAML

Data Engineering

Data Pipelines

DataOps

MLOps

Tools

Microsoft Azure

Terraform

Data Factory

Databricks

Synapse

Job description

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Our client is looking for a technical and strategic AI and Data Engineer to take ownership of AI and data engineering practices. You’ll play a central role in shaping modern data platforms, building production-grade AI solutions, and embedding best practices in data and AI engineering.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and delivery of scalable data architectures and pipelines to meet analytics and AI needs.
• Develop and maintain AI and data products aligned to business outcomes.
• Champion automation-first engineering practices across ingestion, transformation, and deployment.
• Design and deploy generative and predictive AI solutions using Azure and open-source frameworks.
• Implement modern DataOps and MLOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines and monitoring.
• Establish and maintain reusable enterprise data models and semantic layers for self-service analytics.
• Mentor and develop a high-performing engineering team.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to embed insight and AI in product delivery and business decision-making.

About You:

• Deep expertise in data engineering, data pipelines, and semantic models.
• Hands-on experience building data platforms on Microsoft Azure (Data Factory, Synapse, Databricks, Purview).
• Skilled in deploying machine learning models and generative AI applications in production.
• Strong programming skills in Python, SQL, YAML.
• Experience with CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform/Bicep).
• Proven leadership in embedding modern engineering practices (DataOps, MLOps) within teams.
• Comfortable working in Agile development and structured deployment environments.
• Desirable experience with Azure OpenAI, LangChain, and graph/vector databases.

What’s on offer:

• Opportunity to lead the engineering backbone of a data-driven transformation.
• Work with forward-thinking teams in a culture of innovation and continuous learning.
• Flexible working, collaborative culture, and pathways for growth.

Apply here for more information and a full job spec.