Lead Data Platform & AI Engineer — Hybrid

Slingco Ltd; Rawtenstall; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary Dependent on Experience

30 days' annual leave including Bank H

Option to buy 5 additional holidays

Your birthday off

Hybrid working options

Enhanced employer pension contribution

Life assurance cover x4 salary

Gym membership

Cycle to work scheme

Employee loan scheme

Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

Job summary

Slingco Ltd, a 40-year+ tool supplier, is hiring a lead data engineer to build our initial group data platform on Microsoft Fabric. You will consolidate data from Business Central, CRM, and HR, replacing fragmented reporting to enable reliable decision-making across the global business.

This hands-on role is the first senior data hire; you will own architecture, requirements, and future team planning while developing conversational AI tools and a self-service BI layer for approved data access.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and building a data platform from scratch with architectural oversight.
• Strong SQL and Python or PySpark, with practical ELT pipelines and CI/CD.
• Experience implementing data governance and self-service BI including ownership, quality standards, training and user adoption.
• Microsoft Fabric experience, or transferable Azure Synapse or Databricks Lakehouse experience, with medallion architecture knowledge.
• Power BI semantic modelling and DAX skills to manage shared datasets and business measures.
• Ability to work as the sole senior data specialist, gathering requirements from senior stakeholders and explaining priorities clearly.

Responsibilities

• Own data requirements gathering across the group and prioritise the backlog.
• Design, build and run the Microsoft Fabric platform including pipelines and costs.
• Integrate Business Central, CRM, HR and other systems across global entities.
• Maintain a single prioritised backlog reflecting delivery capacity.
• Implement source control, CI/CD, automated tests, monitoring and documentation standards.
• Set data governance, security and quality standards proportionate to data maturity.
• Define KPI definitions and build certified Power BI semantic models for reporting.
• Establish data ownership, security, access controls, and masking of sensitive data.
• Deliver reporting from the governed layer and define the KPI set behind it.
• Assist business users in data analysis with appropriate training and access.
• Prepare semantic models for AI use with clear definitions and relationships.
• Build secure data access for AI agents and conversational tools with permissions.
• Collaborate with the AI & Automation Partner as the technical counterpart.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Communication skills

Stakeholder management

Organization

Independent working

Attention to detail

Tools

Microsoft Fabric

Azure Synapse

Databricks Lakehouse

Power BI

DAX

Python

PySpark

Source control

CI/CD

Job description

Slingco Ltd, a 40-year+ tool supplier, is hiring a lead data engineer to build our initial group data platform on Microsoft Fabric. You will consolidate data from Business Central, CRM, and HR, replacing fragmented reporting to enable reliable decision-making across the global business.

This hands-on role is the first senior data hire; you will own architecture, requirements, and future team planning while developing conversational AI tools and a self-service BI layer for approved data access.