Lead Data Engineer (EN03)

Nationwide; Northampton; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Nationwide is seeking a Team Lead for their Risk Data Team to drive data integration projects within the Data, Finance, and Treasury divisions. This hands-on leadership role focuses on scaling technology solutions and mentoring engineers, promoting high-quality data flows which influence strategic decision-making. The position offers a blend of technical challenges and stakeholder engagement, emphasizing a collaborative approach within a hybrid working environment.

Benefits

Personal pension scheme with substantial employer contribution

Paid volunteering days

Life assurance worth 8x salary

Access to health and wellness options

Annual performance-related bonus

Professional training and development opportunities

25 days annual leave pro rata

Qualifications

• Experience in designing and deploying cloud-based data platforms.
• Hands-on engineering background with strong tools knowledge.
• Ability to balance speed and control in regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and delivery of enterprise-scale data projects.
• Own the full engineering lifecycle from architecture to maintenance.
• Mentor engineers and drive a culture of quality and continuous learning.

Skills

Collaboration

Data Lifecycle Management

Data Quality Improvement

Stakeholder Engagement

Education

Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Databricks

Snowflake

Azure Data Factory

SAS/SQL

Python

GitHub

Job description

The Risk Data Team plays a pivotal role within the Data, Finance and Treasury Data (DFTD) division, driving forward the Lakehouse transformation and enabling smarter decision-making through trusted data delivery.

We are seeking a Team Lead to architect, deliver and scale data integration projects across Risk, Finance and Treasury domains. This is a hands-on leadership role that combines technical excellence with stakeholder engagement, helping to migrate complex workloads from legacy environments, shape best practices and uplift engineering maturity.

You'll be instrumental in fostering relationships with the Credit Risk team, championing the adoption of new tooling and ways of working, and creating meaningful value by enabling quality data flows and actionable insights. Your work will directly influence leadership decisions and propel our data strategy across the enterprise.

At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this job you'll spend at least two days per week, or if part time you'll spend 40% of your working time, based at either our Northampton or Swindon office. If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. You can also find out more about our approach to hybrid working here .

If we receive a high volume of relevant applications, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so please apply as soon as you can.
What you'll be doing

As a Data Engineering Lead, you will:

• Lead design and delivery of enterprise-scale data projects on the Azure Data Lakehouse powered by Databricks

• Own the full engineering lifecycle-from architecture through to development and ongoing maintenance

• Shape technical patterns for ingestion, transformation (L0-L2) and file delivery for federated data domains

• Support project estimation and prioritisation in partnership with PMs and domain stakeholders

• Maintain reliability and performance of data pipelines; act as 3rd-line escalation for complex integration issues

• Drive improvements in metadata, lineage, controls and observability across all engineering outputs

• Contribute to data governance efforts by embedding scalable controls and guardrails

• Mentor engineers and foster a culture of quality, curiosity and continuous learning

• Collaborate with Risk domain leaders to turn business needs into technical roadmaps

About you

We're looking for a collaborative leader with the following technical and interpersonal skills:

• Proven experience designing and deploying complex data platforms (preferably cloud-based, e.g. Azure or AWS)

• Hands-on engineering background with tools including: Databricks, Snowflake, DBT, Azure Data Factory, AWS, CI/CD, SAS/SQL, Python, MongoDB, GitHub

• Deep understanding of data lifecycle management-from ingestion to curated marts-with governance awareness

• Strong experience with data documentation, lineage and structured metadata

• Able to balance delivery speed with control requirements in regulated environments

• Track record of improving data quality, standardisation, and transparency across teams

• Comfortable influencing senior stakeholders and driving change with empathy and confidence

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers' shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind
• Say it straight- We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think - we're honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand
• Push for better- We don't settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development
• Get it done- We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.
The extras you'll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• A personal pension - if you put in 7% of your salary, we'll top up by a further 16%
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year
• Life assurance worth 8x your salary
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Wellhub - Access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness
• Access to an annual performance related bonus
• Access to training to help you develop and progress your career
• 25 days holiday, pro rata

Banking - but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society

We forge our own path at Nationwide.

As a mutual, we're owned by our members - those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don't see customers as the engine of our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives.

If you're inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our customers, you're one of us.

At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best. As a community we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society.

We are Purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly Customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.
What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the 'Apply Now' button. You'll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us.

We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.

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