Lead Data Engineer

Position: Lead Data Engineer (Contract)
Job Description:

The Lead Data Engineer will own the end-to-end technical delivery of the data migration and engineering programme. This role acts as the single technical point of accountability, setting architecture, defining standards, coordinating delivery across work streams, and ensuring outputs meet the client’s quality, security, and scalability expectations.

Key Responsibilities

* Own and evolve the AWS/CDP reference architecture for data ingestion, transformation, and consumption

* Define and enforce engineering standards (Terraform, CI/CD, dbt, data modelling, naming conventions)

* Oversee migration of ~8–10 enterprise databases into AWS using DMS/CDC and modern ingestion patterns

* Ensure full data lineage, cataloguing, and documentation are produced

* Coordinate backlog prioritisation, sprint planning, and delivery sequencing

* Validate all technical deliverables for quality, performance, security, and operational readiness

* Act as senior technical interface with stakeholders and delivery partners

* Lead knowledge transfer and upskilling of engineers

Required Experience & Skills

* 5+ years in data engineering, including leadership or principal-level roles

* Deep hands-on AWS experience: S3, Redshift, Glue, Lambda, EMR, DMS, IAM, Step Functions

* Strong experience designing and delivering large-scale data migrations

* Expert-level Python and SQL

* Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform

* Data modelling and warehouse design (star schema, performance tuning)

* Strong experience with dbt and modern ELT patterns

* Excellent stakeholder communication and technical leadership skills