Lead Data Engineer

La Fosse; England; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading SaaS company in the United Kingdom is seeking a Lead Data Engineer to shape the data function. This role involves mentoring a small team, designing data pipelines, and developing scalable solutions on AWS. The ideal candidate will have strong experience with tools such as Python, Airflow, and Snowflake, and have excellent communication skills. This is a hybrid position requiring 3 days in the London office. Join us to influence company direction and product development.

Qualifications

• Strong hands-on experience with AWS or alternatives like Azure and GCP.
• Excellent programming skills in Python.
• Proven background in API development and integration.
• Experience building modern data pipelines using Airflow and Kafka.
• Solid understanding of Snowflake or similar cloud data warehouses.
• Experience with Kubernetes for container orchestration.
• Proficiency with Terraform or other IaC tools.
• Essential experience with dbt.
• Prior mentoring or leadership experience.
• Strong communication skills in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a small team of data engineers.
• Design, build and optimise data pipelines using Python and Airflow.
• Develop scalable, cloud-native solutions on AWS.
• Build APIs and streaming pipelines for real-time data.
• Collaborate with analytics, product, and engineering teams.

Skills

AWS

Python

API development

Airflow

Kafka

Snowflake

Kubernetes

Terraform

dbt

Leadership

Job description

Lead Data Engineer

Salary: £100,000 – £120,000 per annum

Location: Hybrid – 3 days per week in the London office

About the role

We are working with a fast-growing, product-driven SaaS start-up looking for a Lead Data Engineer to help shape and scale the data function. This is an excellent opportunity for a Senior or Principal Data Engineer ready to step into a leadership role and drive technical direction across a modern data stack.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a small team of data engineers.
• Design, build and optimise data pipelines and integrations using Python and Airflow.
• Develop scalable, cloud-native solutions on AWS, leveraging services such as Snowflake, Kubernetes, and Terraform for infrastructure-as-code.
• Build and maintain robust APIs and streaming pipelines (Kafka) to support real-time and batch data needs.
• Partner closely with analytics, product, and engineering teams to ensure data is accurate, reliable, and driving business value.

Requirements

• Strong hands-on experience with AWS (Azure or GCP also considered).
• Excellent programming skills in Python.
• Proven background in API development and integration.
• Experience building and maintaining modern data pipelines using Airflow and Kafka.
• Solid understanding of Snowflake or similar cloud data warehouses.
• Experience with Kubernetes for container orchestration.
• Proficiency with Terraform or other IaC tools.
• Essential experience with dbt.
• Previous mentoring or leadership experience (formal line management not required).
• Strong communication skills and ability to excel in a fast-paced start-up environment.

Why join?

This role offers the opportunity to take real ownership within a scaling SaaS business, influencing architecture, tooling, and long-term strategy. Your work will have direct impact on product development and the wider company direction.