Head of Data Engineering

Our client are seeking aHead of Data Engineeringto lead the strategic direction, delivery, and ongoing evolution of enterprise data engineering capabilities for a leading insurance client in London. This role blends deep technical expertise with visionary leadership, responsible for defining, building, and scaling a modern data platform aligned to business and regulatory needs.

As the Head of Data Engineering, you will own the end-to-end data engineering function – overseeing architecture, platform operations, integration strategy, and team leadership.

You’ll shape the roadmap for data engineering initiatives across Azure, Snowflake, Kafka, and modern Lakehouse architectures, ensuring resilience, scalability, governance, and performance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the Data Engineering Function: Define and implement the data engineering strategy, architecture, and operating model across the enterprise.
• Platform Ownership: Own the full lifecycle of the data platform – ingestion, storage, transformation, governance, and access – with a focus on Azure, Snowflake, Kafka, and Data Lakes.
• Strategic Leadership: Shape the vision and roadmap for the data engineering function in line with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and technological advancement.
• Technical Oversight: Guide the design of scalable, secure, and automated data architectures including Lakehouse, Kappa, and Lambda patterns.
• Governance and Compliance: Establish strong data governance practices, ensuring robust access control, auditability, and compliance frameworks.
• DevOps & Automation: Champion automation and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), driving efficiency, resilience, and self-service capabilities.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with data architects, DevOps, security, and analytics teams to deliver end-to-end platform capabilities.
• Team Leadership & Mentorship: Build and lead high-performing data engineering teams, fostering a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders, communicating complex technical concepts in business-friendly terms.
• Process Excellence: Drive adoption of SDLC best practices across the data platform, ensuring reliability and high standards of software engineering.

Key Skills & Experience

• Proven experience as aHead of Data Engineering,Principal Data Engineer, orLead Data Architect, managing large-scale data platform initiatives.
• Expertise inAzure,Snowflake,Kafka, andData Laketechnologies, with a strong grasp of modern architectural patterns (Lakehouse, Lambda, Kappa).
• Strong knowledge ofdata governance,security, andregulatory compliancewithin enterprise environments.
• Experience withdata integration,enterprise data modeling, and real-time data streaming solutions.
• Deep understanding ofDevOps,CI/CD, andInfrastructure-as-Code (IaC)for data platforms.
• Strong grasp ofData MeshandData Fabricprinciples and their practical application.
• Excellentpeople leadership skills, with a proven ability to scale and lead technical teams in fast-paced environments.
• Exceptionalcommunication and stakeholder managementskills, with the ability to align data engineering outcomes to business value.

What We Offer

• Salary up to £140,000
• Comprehensive benefits package including health insurance and wellbeing/mental health support.
• Financial support for ongoing learning and development.
• Collaborative and innovative company culture.
• Opportunities for rapid career progression across a fast-growing consultancy.

Please note this role is for UK based candidates only and have full right work status in the UK.