Lead Data Engineer

Cavu; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday

Company pension

On-site gym

Discounts on products

Volunteering days

Learning opportunities

Mentoring programmes

Parental leave

Job summary

Cavu is seeking a Lead Data Engineer in the UK to oversee architecture and development of our data platform. You will guide a team of data engineers, work on pipelines, ETL, and data lakehouse improvements, enabling batch and streaming data capabilities.

You’ll collaborate with data scientists and analysts, drive data governance and security, and shape strategic data initiatives to unlock business value across our platforms.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Data Engineering, building data pipelines, ETL, data warehouses, and stakeholder management.
• Strong Python and Apache Spark skills with solid SQL knowledge.
• Experience with PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB or Cassandra.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of data engineers, providing technical guidance and mentorship.
• Design, develop and maintain robust, scalable data pipelines and ETL processes.
• Collaborate with data scientists, analysts and stakeholders to translate requirements into solutions.
• Work with Head of Data Engineering to drive initiatives in the data domain.
• Ensure data quality, integrity and monitoring across systems.
• Optimize performance of databases, warehouses, data lakes and streams.

Skills

Python

Apache Spark

SQL

PostgreSQL

MySQL

MongoDB

Cassandra

AWS

Azure

GCP

DataBricks

CI/CD

Infrastructure as code

Data governance

Data quality

Data security

Leadership

Mentoring

Communication

Tools

DataBricks

Job description

Hybrid (2 days per week in the office) Permanent

About Cavu

For airports, for partners, for people. We are Cavu.

At Cavu, our purpose is to find new and better ways to make airport travel seamless and enjoyable for everybody, from the smallest ideas to the biggest transformations. Every day is an opportunity to create better travel experiences.

From our revenue-accelerating single-platform technology, Propel, through to our world-class hospitality venues including 1903 and Escape Lounges, our solutions make travel smoother for passengers and more profitable for our clients and partners.

We know that to bring your best ideas, you need the space to think, the support to grow, and the freedom to be your authentic self. Whether you're working from our offices, from home, in our lounges, or on the road, we provide an environment where you can create, innovate, and help transform airport travel.

Together, we can reach new heights. Together, we are Cavu.

About the Role

The Lead Data Engineer is responsible for overseeing the architecture, development, implementation, and maintenance of our data infrastructure, ensuring its efficiency, reliability and compliance with relevant regulations.

Supporting an existing team of data scientists, BI developers and analysts, this role will help provide the glue that empowers the business to capitalise on the wide range of data assets and drive value from the insight we extract. We develop advanced and actionable data-driven insight to increase the efficiency of our whole organisation, increase customer lifetime value, improve customer experience, and open new business opportunities.

You'll play a key role in shaping and enhancing our data platform, working across projects ranging from integrations with client systems and third parties through to the continuous enhancement of our data lakehouse, enabling both batch and streaming data capabilities.

You'll also support machine learning initiatives focused on forecasting, customer insight and predictive analytics.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who wants to build something new and see the impact of their work in action, helping us deliver a globally unique platform to new and existing clients around the world.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of data engineers, providing technical guidance, data product development and fostering a collaborative environment.
• Design, develop, and maintain robust and scalable data pipelines and ETL processes to support data integration, transformation, and storage needs.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including data scientists, analysts, and business stakeholders, to understand data requirements and translate them into technical solutions.
• Work with the Head of Data Engineering to create and enact impactful initiatives and strategies in the data domain.
• Ensure the quality, accuracy, and completeness of data by implementing data validation, integrity, and monitoring processes.
• Optimize and tune the performance of the data ecosystem, including databases, data warehouses, data lakes and data streams in an event based architecture to meet business requirements.
• Stay up-to-date with industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in data engineering, and propose innovative solutions to drive continuous improvement.
• Providing mentorship to a team of data engineers, forming personal development plans and identifying areas of opportunity, improvement and career progression.
• Collaborate with infrastructure and operations teams to deploy and manage data systems in a cloud or on-premises environment.
• Provide technical expertise and support for troubleshooting and resolving data-related issues and incidents.

What We Need From You

• Proven experience (5+ years) working as a Data Engineer, with a focus on designing and implementing data pipelines, ETL processes, data warehouses and stakeholder / data consumer management.
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, familiarity with large scale, distributed data processing engines such as Apache Spark, with a solid understanding of data structures and algorithms.
• Proficiency in SQL and experience with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL) or NoSQL databases (e.g., MongoDB, Cassandra).
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and their data-related services (e.g., S3, Redshift, BigQuery).
• Leadership and team management skills, with the ability to mentor and guide junior team members.
• Experience with CI/CD best practices, with Infrastructure as code exposure a bonus.
• Experience with data modelling and designing efficient database schemas for performance and scalability.
• Strong understanding of data governance, data quality, and data security principles.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Experience with a unified data processing & analytics platform, such as DataBricks, is an advantage, but not essential.

What's In It For You

• 25 days holiday, increasing with service (up to 28)
• Option to buy up to 10 extra days + 4 flexible bank holidays
• 10% company pension
• On-site gym
• A range of flexible benefits and discounts, including up to 50% off Cavu products such as Escape Lounges and Airport Parking
• Rail and retail discounts
• 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Access to health & wellbeing events, ID&E activities, and learning opportunities
• Formal and informal development options, including mentoring programmes and learning grants
• Enhanced parental leave (T&Cs apply)

Equal Opportunities and Reasonable Adjustments

We're building something brilliant at Cavu: a diverse team of people who reflect the global customer base we serve. We're proudly part of MAG, and together we're on a mission to be number one in our industries, and that takes talent in all its forms.

Whether this is your first role or your next big step, we want to hear from you, even if you don't think you tick every box. What matters most is what you bring.

We're proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you need any adjustments to support your application or interview, just let us know, we're committed to helping you perform at your best.

Our Colleague Communities play a big part in that journey, including Women's Network, Embrace (Race & Ethnicity), Fly with Pride (LGBTQIA+), Mind Matters (Mental Health), PACT (Parents & Carers), RespectABILITY (Disability & Neurodiversity), and the Cavu Global ID&E Affinity Group.