Senior Data Engineer: Databricks, Azure & Metadata-Driven

Howden Group Services Limited; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Howden Group Services is expanding its internal data engineering capability and seeks a highly experienced Senior Data Engineer to lead complex data initiatives using Databricks and Azure. You will design metadata-driven pipelines, mentor engineers, and collaborate with data scientists and analysts to deliver scalable data solutions that enable insights and operational efficiency across the business.

You will own architectural decisions, foster best practices, and drive a culture of continuous

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in data engineering with a strong focus on Databricks (SQL & PySpark).
• Extensive experience with Azure data services, including ADF, ADLS, and Azure Functions.
• Proven track record of designing and implementing metadata‑driven data pipelines.
• Deep expertise in orchestration and data workflow automation e.g. Airflow, DBT.
• Strong CI/CD practices for data engineering.
• Experience with infrastructure as code (Terraform, Bicep, or ARM templates) (preferred).
• Solid development and coding standards, with experience in software engineering best practices.
• Experience leading technical design discussions and driving architectural decisions.

Responsibilities

• Lead metadata ingestion frameworks and orchestration processes.
• Design and implement scalable and reusable metadata‑driven services to optimise data pipelines.
• Architect 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)).
• Establish and enforce 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.
• Drive the adoption of data governance and security best practices.
• Lead the design and maintenance of ETL processes Mentor and support junior engineers, sharing best practices and driving a culture of continuous improvement.

Skills

Databricks

SQL

PySpark

Azure Data Factory

Azure Data Lake Storage

Azure Functions

Airflow

DBT

CI/CD

Infrastructure as Code

Tools

Airflow

DBT

Terraform

Azure Data Factory

Azure Data Lake Storage

Azure Functions

Job description

Howden Group Services is expanding its internal data engineering capability and seeks a highly experienced Senior Data Engineer to lead complex data initiatives using Databricks and Azure. You will design metadata-driven pipelines, mentor engineers, and collaborate with data scientists and analysts to deliver scalable data solutions that enable insights and operational efficiency across the business.

You will own architectural decisions, foster best practices, and drive a culture of continuous