Senior Data Engineer

Howden Group Services Limited; City Of London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Howden Group Services is expanding its internal data engineering capability and seeks a Senior Data Engineer with Databricks and Azure data services expertise to design scalable, metadata-driven data solutions. You will own ingestion frameworks, collaborate with stakeholders, and mentor junior engineers while delivering robust data pipelines.

The role emphasizes ownership of complex problems, autonomy, and driving best practices in CI/CD and data governance within a global insurance context.

Qualifications

• 4–6 years of data engineering experience focused on Databricks (SQL & PySpark).
• Hands-on Azure data services experience with ADF, ADLS, and Azure Functions.
• Experience designing metadata-driven data pipelines.
• Understanding of orchestration and data workflow automation (Airflow, DBT, Spark Declarative Pipelines).
• Knowledge of CI/CD practices for data engineering.
• Experience shaping technical design discussions and architectures.
• Awareness of data governance, security and compliance.
• Experience with insurance data (preferred).

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of metadata ingestion frameworks and orchestration processes.
• Design and implement scalable metadata-driven services to optimise data pipelines.
• Build and maintain robust data solutions using Databricks and Azure services (ADF, ADLS, Azure Functions).
• Apply and embed best practices for data engineering, CI/CD and DevOps for data.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, data scientists, and analysts to translate data needs into engineering solutions.
• Optimise and enhance data pipelines for performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Support data governance and security best practices across the team.
• Design, build and maintain ETL processes and analytical data products with minimal oversight.
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to junior engineers; review code and share best practices.

Skills

Databricks (SQL & PySpark)

CI/CD for data engineering

Data governance & security

Tools

Azure Data Factory

Azure Data Lake Storage

Azure Functions

Autoloader

Spark Declarative Pipelines

Airflow

DBT

Job description

Who are we?

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 24,000 employees spanning over 56 countries. People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like-minded people driving change at Howden.

Senior Data Engineer Position

Senior Data Engineer to own and drive forward high-impact data initiatives, providing technical depth across the data engineering function while supporting the development of junior team members.

Summary of the Role

Howden Group Services is expanding its internal data engineering capability and is looking for an experienced Senior Data Engineer with strong expertise in Databricks and Azure data services. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of designing and delivering scalable, metadata-driven data solutions, particularly in metadata ingestion and orchestration processes, and will be capable of working with a high degree of autonomy. The role requires someone who can take ownership of complex technical problems, contribute to design decisions, and provide informal guidance and support to junior engineers. The successful candidate will be comfortable working closely with stakeholders, balancing multiple deliverables, and implementing robust data solutions to enable business insights and operational efficiencies.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the development of metadata ingestion frameworks and orchestration processes.
• Design and implement scalable and reusable metadata-driven services to optimise data pipelines.
• Build and maintain robust data solutions using Databricks and Azure services (such as Autoloader, Spark Declarative Pipelines, Azure Data Factory (ADF), Azure Functions, and Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS)).
• Apply and help embed best practices for data engineering, CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps for data.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders, data scientists, and analysts to understand data needs and translate them into efficient engineering solutions.
• Optimise and enhance existing data pipelines for performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Support the adoption of data governance and security best practices across the team.
• Design, build and maintain ETL processes and analytical data products with minimal oversight.
• Provide technical guidance and informal mentoring to junior engineers, reviewing code and sharing best practices.
• Act as a point of escalation for complex, business-critical data issues, demonstrating strong problem solving, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Requirements

• 4-6 years of experience in data engineering with a strong focus on Databricks (SQL & PySpark).
• Strong hands-on experience with Azure data services, including ADF, ADLS, and Azure Functions.
• Proven experience designing and implementing metadata-driven data pipelines.
• Strong understanding of orchestration and data workflow automation, e.g. Airflow, DBT, Spark Declarative Pipelines.
• Strong understanding and practical application of CI/CD practices for data engineering.
• Experience contributing to technical design discussions and architectural decisions.
• Good understanding of data governance, security, and compliance best practices.
• Experience working with insurance data (not essential, but preferred).

What do we offer in return?

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us: Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond.

Reasonable adjustments

We’re committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*. *Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations.

Permanent

Howden began in 1994, as just three people and a dog. Now there are 23,000 of us, and we’re a leading global insurance group, managing $37bn of premiums for our clients. Our largest shareholder group is us – the people who work in the business – supported by three long-term, minority growth-equity partners who share our vision to build a business to last, one that will never be sold. The owner's mindset is something that’s embedded in our culture; our people readily take ownership of their decisions, their actions, and their outputs. They’re invested in every sense. And we all know that by working together to drive the business forward, everyone will benefit from the extraordinary results we can achieve.