Lead Data Platform Engineer - DataOps

Capital One; Nottingham; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension scheme

Bonus

Generous holiday entitlement

Private medical insurance

Season-ticket loans

Cycle‑to‑work scheme

Enhanced parental leave

Job summary

Capital One is seeking a Lead Data Platform Engineer to own resilience, scalability, and security of our core data ecosystem in a regulated cloud environment. You will design, build, and run high‑throughput data platforms for batch and real‑time workloads and guide a distributed team across on‑site and offshore locations.

You’ll lead architectural design, automate operations, and optimize performance while ensuring stringent security and governance. Nottingham‑based with hybrid work.

Qualifications

• Experience in platform engineering or SRE in regulated environments.
• Strong AWS knowledge and data pipeline tools (Airflow/Glue/EMR).
• Security minded for handling sensitive data pipelines.
• Strong automation skills with Python/Shell scripting.
• Collaborator with distributed teams; mentoring ability.

Responsibilities

• Design & Implementation: Lead the architectural design and deployment of high‑performance, secure data movement solutions within a regulated, mission‑critical financial environment.
• Production Support & Reliability: Act as SME and tech lead for resolving complex incidents affecting data pipelines; manage stakeholders during critical events.
• Data Security & Governance: Ensure integrity and security of highly sensitive data, implementing encryption at rest and in transit and access controls.
• Automation & Tooling: Develop automation for common operational tasks and build tools and monitoring for end‑to‑end health insights.
• Performance Optimization: Tune data movement jobs and AWS infrastructure to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
• Collaboration & Leadership: Mentor onsite and offshore team members and contribute to long‑term cloud modernization.

Skills

Platform engineering

SRE

Data operations

AWS

Python

Shell scripting

Automation

Team leadership

Communication

Tools

Airflow

Glue

EMR

Job description

Lead Data Platform Engineer – DataOps

Location: Nottingham Trent House (95002), United Kingdom, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

About the Role

We are seeking a Lead Data Platform Engineer to own the resilience, scalability, and security of our core financial data ecosystem. This senior, hands‑on engineering role requires a technical expert who thrives on designing, building, and running high‑throughput, mission‑critical batch and real‑time data platforms in a regulated cloud environment. You will drive the strategic evolution of our data infrastructure, build automated, self‑healing platforms that eliminate operational toil, support next‑generation AI workloads, and ensure seamless flow of highly sensitive financial data.

What You’ll Do

• Design & Implementation: Lead the architectural design and deployment of high‑performance, secure data movement solutions within a regulated, mission‑critical financial environment.
• Production Support & Reliability: Act as the subject‑matter expert and technical lead for resolving the most complex, high‑impact incidents affecting data pipelines, managing stakeholders during critical events and performing root‑cause analysis to engineer out systemic failures.
• Data Security & Governance: Ensure integrity and security of highly sensitive data throughout the lifecycle, implementing and enforcing security best practices including encryption at rest and transit, access controls, and compliance.
• Automation & Tooling: Develop and implement automation for common operational tasks, building tools and monitoring solutions that provide end‑to‑end visibility into the health of our data ecosystem.
• Performance Optimization: Proactively analyze and tune performance of data movement jobs, platforms, and underlying AWS infrastructure, implementing optimizations to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs.
• Collaboration & Leadership: Act as a technical leader and mentor for onsite and offshore team members, ensuring seamless collaboration, clear communication, and consistent operational standards across a distributed team while contributing to long‑term technical strategy and cloud modernization efforts.

What We’re Looking For

• A Platform or SRE Background: Solid experience in platform engineering, site reliability (SRE), or data operations, ideally within a large‑scale or regulated environment.
• AWS Experience: Strong working knowledge of AWS and cloud‑first data pipeline orchestration tools such as Airflow, Glue, or EMR.
• A Security Mindset: Understanding of compliance and security when managing sensitive data pipelines.
• Strong Automation Skills: Comfortable using Python and Shell scripting to automate systems, manage dependencies, and handle large batch environments.
• A Great Collaborator: Enjoys mentoring others, coordinates smoothly with distributed teams (onsite/offshore), and explains technical concepts to non‑technical stakeholders.

Where and How You’ll Work

This is a permanent position based in our Nottingham office. We offer a hybrid working model: work from office and from home, with office presence three days a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

What’s in It for You

• Pension scheme, bonus, generous holiday entitlement, private medical insurance – plus flexible benefits such as season‑ticket loans, cycle‑to‑work scheme, and enhanced parental leave.
• High‑performer career progression, investment in training through Capital One University and external providers.
• Open‑plan workspaces and facilities designed to inspire and support you.
• Nottingham head‑office includes a fully‑serviced gym, subsidised restaurant and dedicated development resources.

EEO Statement

Capital One is committed to diversity in the workplace. If you require a reasonable adjustment, please contact [e-mail]. All information will be kept confidential and will only be used for the purpose of applying a reasonable adjustment.