Lead Data Engineer

J N Bentley Ltd; Leeds; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

J N Bentley Ltd is seeking a Lead Data Engineer to design, deliver and improve the organisation's central data platform. The role blends data architecture, hands-on engineering and technical leadership to provide secure, scalable data for reporting, analytics and AI.

The Lead Data Engineer will design scalable data warehouses and Microsoft Fabric/Azure solutions, define data architecture standards, model data, and build reliable pipelines.

Qualifications

• Experience in data architecture and engineering at senior level.
• Design and deliver modern cloud data platforms (ideally Fabric/Azure).
• Strong SQL, data modelling, warehousing and lakehouse concepts.
• Experience with governance, security and automated deployment practices.
• Strong communication and technical leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement scalable data warehouse and cloud data solutions.
• Define data architecture standards and engineering best practices.
• Develop data models aligned with business requirements.
• Build and maintain reliable data pipelines and integrations.
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring across the data team.
• Line manage data team members, set objectives and monitor performance.

Skills

Data architecture

Data engineering

Cloud data platforms

Microsoft Fabric/Azure

SQL

Data modelling

Warehousing

Git / source control

Leadership

Tools

Microsoft Fabric/Azure

Git

SQL tooling

Job description

The Lead Data Engineer will design, deliver and improve the organisation's central data platform. The role combines data architecture, hands-on engineering, line management and technical leadership to provide secure, scalable and trusted data for reporting, analytics and AI.

As a Lead Data Engineer, you will:

• . Design and implement scalable data warehouse and Microsoft Fabric solutions.
• . Define data architecture standards, design patterns and engineering best practices.
• . Develop conceptual, logical and physical data models aligned with business requirements.
• . Design, build and maintain reliable data pipelines and integrations.
• . Integrate data from databases, APIs, files and third-party platforms.
• . Set standards for data ingestion, transformation, storage and consumption.
• . Support data governance, quality, security, lineage and access controls.
• . Optimise the performance, resilience, storage and cost of the data platform.
• . Evaluate new technologies and recommend solutions that meet business needs.
• . Provide technical leadership, design assurance and mentoring across the data team.
• . Line manage members of the data team, including objective setting, development, workload planning and performance support.

What you'll need:

• . Strong experience in data architecture, data engineering or a comparable senior data role.
• . Experience designing and delivering modern cloud data platforms, ideally using Microsoft Fabric or Azure.
• . Strong knowledge of SQL, data modelling, warehousing, lakehouse architecture and integration patterns.
• . Experience with data governance, security, source control and automated deployment practices.
• . Strong communication, problem-solving and technical leadership skills.
• . Experience using source control tools such as Git.