Senior Engineering Manager - Data Platform, 6-Month FTC

DEPOP; London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology company is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager - Data Platform to oversee foundational data systems. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to enhance data handling and analytics capabilities. This position requires solid experience in managing data infrastructure and a strong technical background, specifically in distributed systems and modern data ecosystems.

Benefits

Health + Mental Wellbeing financial support

Flexible Working options

25 days annual leave

Paid parental leave

Opportunities for continued learning

Life Insurance

Pension matching

Flexible Work Abroad for 4 weeks per year

Free shipping for Depop sales

Qualifications

• Proven experience at managing data platform teams.
• Strong programming skills, particularly with Python or Scala.
• Experience with ML infrastructure is a bonus.

Responsibilities

• Oversee teams building foundational data platform from event ingestion to analytics.
• Lead and mentor squads on data governance and observability.
• Collaborate to establish technical roadmap for a modern data platform.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Collaboration

Data Governance

Data Observability

Education

Experience managing data infrastructure

Technical background in data systems

Knowledge of distributed systems

Tools

Databricks

Apache Spark

Apache Kafka

DBT

Python

Scala

Java

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

We're looking for a customer focused Senior Engineering Manager - Data Platform to support the teams responsible for Depop's data platform. You'll oversee the teams building our foundational data platform - from experimentation, event ingestion pipelines to our data lake, governance frameworks, and data observability and real-time analytics capabilities.

You will work closely with data scientists, machine learning engineers, backend teams, and product leaders to ensure that our data systems are scalable, secure, observable, and enable innovation across the company.

Responsibilities

• Partner with stakeholders across Product, Data, and Engineering to translate strategic goals into platform capabilities.
• Lead and mentor 1-2 squads responsible for experimentation, analytics event logging, batch data platform, real-time infrastructure, data observability and governance.
• Collaborate closely with stakeholders to define and drive the technical roadmap for Depop's modern data platform, enabling reliable and scalable analytics and ML pipelines.
• Advocate for engineering excellence, balancing velocity with long-term maintainability, privacy, and performance.
• Champion data observability and governance, and privacy-by-design principles across the organisation.
• Hire, mentor, and develop high-performing engineers.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing data infrastructure or platform teams at scale, ideally in a consumer or marketplace environment.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems and modern data ecosystems - including experience with Databrick, Apache Spark, Apache Kafka and DBT.
• Demonstrated success in managing data platforms at scale, including both batch processing and real-time streaming architectures.
• Deep understanding of data warehousing concepts, ETL/ELT processes, and analytics engineering.
• Strong programming skills, particularly in Python, Scala or Java, and a solid understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Experience working with privacy-sensitive datasets and implementing robust data observability and governance.
• A strong technical background - you've built or architected systems hands-on, even if you're now more focused on leadership.
• Track record of building and scaling high-performing engineering teams.
• Ability to think strategically and pragmatically: you can plan for scale and move quickly.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills; you're comfortable influencing across technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Bonus points:

• Experience with machine learning infrastructure or ML Ops practices.
• Familiarity with event-driven architectures in a mobile-first product environment.
• Prior work in fashion, marketplaces, or sustainability-driven tech.

Additional information

Health + Mental Wellbeing PMI and cash plan healthcare access with Bupa Subsidised counselling and coaching with Self Space Cycle to Work scheme with options from Evans or the Green Commute Initiative Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for 24/7 confidential support Mental Health First Aiders across the business for support and signposting Work/Life Balance: 25 days annual leave with option to carry over up to 5 days 1 company-wide day off per quarter Impact hours: Up to 2 days additional paid leave per year for volunteering Fully paid 4 week sabbatical after completion of 5 years of consecutive service with Depop, to give you a chance to recharge or do something you love. Flexible Working: MyMode hybrid-working model with Flex, Office Based, and Remote options *role dependant All offices are dog-friendly Ability to work abroad for 4 weeks per year in UK tax treaty countries Family Life: 18 weeks of paid parental leave for full-time regular employees IVF leave, shared parental leave, and paid emergency parent/carer leave Learn + Grow: Budgets for conferences, learning subscriptions, and more Mentorship and programmes to upskill employees Your Future: Life Insurance (financial compensation of 3x your salary) Pension matching up to 6% of qualifying earnings Depop Extras: Employees enjoy free shipping on their Depop sales within the UK. Special milestones are celebrated with gifts and rewards!