Tech Lead - Data Platform Engineering

Dataroots BVBA; Antwerpen; Remote; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Mobility budget / company car

Hospitalisation and group insurance

High-end laptop

Smartphone with subscription

Substantial holidays

Meal vouchers

Diverse and welcoming environment

Job summary

Dataroots is seeking a Data Platform Engineering Tech Lead to design and deliver AI-powered data platforms. You will balance hands-on work with leadership, mentor engineers, and shape the technical vision for the data platform unit across diverse client projects.

You will define reference architectures, IaC patterns, and platform best practices while working with Databricks, Snowflake, and cloud services. Hybrid work with on-site client engagements is common.

Qualifications

• Master's or Doctorate in a quantitative field.
• Extensive experience in data platforms, cloud or infrastructure engineering.
• Proven leadership and mentoring experience.

Responsibilities

• Design & deliver data platforms end-to-end covering cloud architecture, topology, networking, access, governance and automation.
• Set engineering standards including reference architectures & CI/CD blueprints.
• Lead client engagements and translate platform decisions into clear deliverables.

Skills

Data platforms

Terraform

CI/CD

Docker

Kubernetes

Python

SQL

Airflow

dbt

Databricks

Snowflake

Azure Data Services

AWS Data Services

AI-assisted development

Leadership

Security & governance

Education

Master's or Doctorate in a quantitative field

Tools

Databricks

Snowflake

Microsoft Fabric

Azure Data Services

AWS Data Services

Job description

Your Role

At Dataroots, our consulting services focus on designing and delivering AI-powered solutions tailored to optimize business processes. As a Data platform Engineering Tech Lead, you'll join a collaborative team dedicated to design and built data pipelines, data models and help shaping the technical vision of our data platform engineering unit.

In this advanced role, you will balance hands-on project work (50-80%) with a broad range of leadership responsibilities. You will drive technical excellence, mentor your peers, and set the standard for quality in data and cloud engineering. Your passion for data and its potential will empower you to design, build, and optimise cutting-edge data platforms. You’ll experiment with the latest approaches to ensure every client receives best-in-class solutions.

What you will be doing

• Design & deliver data platforms end-to-end: cloud architecture, workspace topology, networking, identity & access, data governance, and platform automation for clients across diverse industries.

• Set the engineering standard: define reference architectures, infrastructure-as-code patterns, CI/CD blueprints, and platform best practices that the whole team builds on.

• Lead client engagements: run architecture workshops, translate complex platform decisions into clear deliverables (solution designs, ADRs, roadmaps), and act as the trusted technical counterpart for client stakeholders.

• Shape the internal roadmap: drive the technical vision of the data platform unit, lead internal initiatives and accelerators, define quarterly priorities, and contribute to knowledge sharing formats such as RootsAcademy.

• Mentor & grow the team: coach platform and cloud engineers, review designs and code, support hiring and skill development, and foster a culture of quality and continuous learning.

• Working closely with our Data Engineers, Machine Learning Engineers, Cloud Architects, and Data Strategists, you'll help execute projects with a comprehensive, quality-driven, end-to-end approach.

What You'll Find at Dataroots

Since 2016, Dataroots has been committed to helping clients excel in their data-driven operations. Our approach emphasises team well-being, fostering diversity, and promoting knowledge sharing. By focusing on these values, we've achieved healthy and sustainable growth over the years. We actively encourage professional growth by exposing our employees to different industries, tools, and technologies, broadening their scope in the process.

As part of the Talan Group, we take this approach to the next level, adding international mobility to our employees’ career journeys.

Join a team where your work will have a direct impact on both our clients and our journey.

What We’re Looking For

You bring the following qualities & experiences to the role:

• Master's or Doctorate in a quantitative field.

• 5+ years of industry experience in data platform, cloud, or infrastructure engineering.

• Proven expertise in data platforms: deep hands-on experience designing and operating platforms such as Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Services, or AWS Data Services including governance (e.g. Unity Catalog, Purview), security, networking, and cost management.

• Strong cloud engineering & DevOps foundations: expert-level Terraform (or equivalent IaC), CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI), containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes), and platform automation. You treat platforms as products and infrastructure as code.

• You work AI-assisted by default: daily, hands-on use of LLMs and coding agents (Claude, GPT, Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor, ...) as part of how you design, write, and review code and the judgment to know when their output is wrong.

• Leadership & mentorship: a track record of successfully leading and coaching engineering teams. Your experience includes driving internal projects, defining technical roadmaps, and prioritising work to align with quarterly goals. You stay up to date and have an oversight of what are the industry trends and can set the quality bar internally.

• Security & governance mindset: hands-on experience with identity & access management, network isolation, encryption (CMK/BYOK), data residency requirements, and compliance-driven platform design.

• Solid data engineering understanding: you know how ELT/ETL pipelines, orchestration tools (Airflow, Dagster, Prefect), Spark, and dbt are used on the platforms you build, well enough to design platforms that serve them.

• Strong software engineering foundations: proficient with Git, Python, and SQL; you write clean, maintainable code and advocate for engineering best practices.

• Excellent communication skills to translate complex platform architectures into clear client deliverables and to mentor team members effectively. - Consulting experience is a big plus.

• Relevant certifications (Azure Solutions Architect, AWS Solutions Architect, Databricks Platform Administrator, HashiCorp Terraform) are a plus.

The Offer

• An attractive salary with extralegal benefits, including:

  • Mobility budget or a company car with fuel/charging card

  • Hospitalisation and group insurance

  • High-end laptop

  • Smartphone with subscription

  • Substantial amount of holidays

  • Meal vouchers

  • ...

• Diverse and welcoming work environment, where you’ll collaborate & unwind with colleagues from different cultures and disciplines. The organisation of both fun & professional events and initiatives is actively encouraged and supported.

• training budget for individual and team learning opportunities.

• Tons of team-building events and sports initiatives to stay connected and unwind.

Where You’ll Work

Our main offices are in Leuven and Ghent, with co-working spaces in Charleroi and Antwerp. These spaces are perfect for focusing, unwinding with colleagues, brainstorming sessions, and team events. While much of your work can be performed remotely, you will also work on‑site with clients.