Head of Data Engineering

Who are LRQA?

LRQA stands for dedication to clients, market firsts, and deep expertise in risk management. We’ve grown to become a leading global assurance provider, bringing together outstanding expertise in certification, customised assurance, cybersecurity, inspection and training.

While we’re proud of our heritage, it’s who we are today that really matters, because that’s what shapes who we and our clients can become tomorrow. By staying true to our shared values and combining decades of collective experience, we support our clients in building a safer and more sustainable future.

LRQA currently operates across 50 countries, has more than 2,500 colleagues, generates £315m in revenue, and supports more than 60,000 clients across a diverse range of sectors and markets.

Role purpose

We are actively seeking a dynamic professional to play a pivotal role in the organisation and contributing to the exciting digital transformation journey.  Reporting directly to the Chief Data Officer, you will lead team of skilled data engineers to architect, build, and maintain a new data lakehouse solution and pipelines that drive our digital transformation initiatives and support business reporting requirements.   

You will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of data engineering, from strategy to building data solutions on technologies like Microsoft Azure and Databricks, will enjoy being hands-on in a fast-paced complex environment whilst having the opportunity to solve challenges. 

Collaborating with leaders in the business, Analytics, Data Governance, Data Science and AI, you will be instrumental in reshaping our data landscape. This role presents a unique chance to influence cultural change, foster collaboration, and lead the growth of a dedicated data engineering team.   

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and drive the data engineering strategy and technical roadmap in alignment with the company’s digital transformation goals. 
• Lead and mentor a team of data engineers to design, develop, and deploy data pipelines and solutions that meet business needs. 
• Lead the development of the new solution with a small team, whilst being hands-on. 
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand requirements and translate them into technical solutions. 
• Architect and implement data platforms using Microsoft and Databricks technologies to support analytics, AI, machine learning, and other data-driven applications. 
• Work with colleagues to establish and enforce best practices for data architecture, data modelling, and data governance. 
• Drive innovation by evaluating and implementing new tools, technologies, and processes to improve data engineering efficiency and effectiveness. 
• Ensure data governance, security, privacy, and compliance with regulatory requirements in all data engineering activities. 
• Help deliver against agreed dates, budget and quality, reporting progress on a regular basis, and escalating any delivery risks or issues   
• Create comprehensive documentation for ETL processes, data schemas and ensure documentation is up-to-date and accessible to relevant stakeholders. 

Requirements:

• 10 years+ Data Engineering experience, leading data engineering teams  
• Proven track record of leading successful digital transformation initiatives involving data engineering and analytics. 
• Significant hands-on Microsoft Azure stack experience is a must:  Data Lake, Data Factory, Synapse, Databricks, Power BI 
• Strong in delivering solutions at scale, on time and within budget. 
• Strong background in data warehousing, data architecture, data modelling, integration, ETL/ELT processes 
• Excellent leadership and communication skills with the ability to inspire and motivate teams. 
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments 
• Experience with DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines 
• Expert in SQL and good experience in Python