Lead Data Engineer
Lead Data Engineer
Help shape the next chapter of data at Airtime. We’re looking for a hands-on Lead Data Engineer to own our data platforms: dependable, well-modelled and easy to build on.
Airtime helps millions of people save money through everyday shopping and helps leading brands connect with their customers. Data underpins the experience we give our members and the decisions we make with our partners.
Our pipelines, warehouse, reporting and data services support finance, marketing, partner reporting and the app. This is an opportunity to own the data platforms that power analytics across the business and give a small team the tools to do its best work.
Why Airtime?
- Make a visible difference: Improve data that people across the business use every day.
- Shape how we work: Have a real say in our architecture, priorities and what we build next.
- Build together: Work closely with colleagues across data, engineering and the business, sharing decisions and knowledge.
If you enjoy practical engineering, clear ownership and helping others succeed, you’ll fit right in.
What You'll Be Responsible For
As our Lead Data Engineer, you’ll own all of Airtime’s data platforms while staying hands-on in the code. You’ll work alongside Engineering and AI/Data Science, lead and develop the data team, and turn business needs into a realistic plan.
- Own the data platforms: Build and run ingestion, orchestration, the BigQuery warehouse, DBT tooling and Python data services on GCP, including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, access and cloud costs.
- Keep data reliable: Set freshness and recovery targets for critical data, own alerting and incident response, and make backfills and reruns safe.
- Model data for the business: Design layered warehouse models, from staging to dimensional marts and the metrics ThoughtSpot reads, and keep them reconciled with analytics and finance.
- Partner across teams: Work alongside Engineering and AI/Data Science to provide the data they need, and fix data issues at source rather than patching them in the warehouse.
- Plan the work: Turn business and analytics requests into one prioritised backlog and roadmap, and be clear about what waits.
- Set the engineering standard: Review SQL, Python and dbt code, keep tests and contracts strong, and make every production change testable and reversible. Favour managed services that reduce maintenance.
- Lead and develop the team: Line-manage and mentor members of the data team, including our analytics engineer, through regular 1:1s, coaching, code review and career development.
Your First Priorities
- Get oriented: Learn the platforms, runbooks and critical dependencies, and meet the team and key stakeholders.
- Take ownership: Take over alerting and incident response, and agree how support is balanced against planned work.
- Set direction: Agree modelling conventions, ship one improvement end to end and agree the data engineering roadmap with stakeholders.
What We're Looking For
We want a pragmatic, experienced data engineer who has run production systems, makes clear trade-offs and is as comfortable discussing business needs as technical detail.
Experience
- Strong SQL and Python, building tested, maintainable production pipelines and data services.
- Hands-on experience with a cloud data warehouse, dbt (or equivalent) and workflow orchestration, including incremental loading, safe reruns and performance tuning.
- Data modelling for analytics and BI: dimensional design, semantic layers and well-documented shared datasets.
- Ownership of a production data platform on a major cloud: deployment, infrastructure as code, permissions, monitoring, incident recovery and cost.
- Sound security and data-privacy practice, including GDPR and least-privilege access.
- Turning stakeholder needs into a prioritised backlog, and reconciling figures where finance reporting depends on them.
- Line management or mentoring of engineers, and technical leadership through code review and clear documentation.
Our stack includes GCP, BigQuery, DBT, Python, Composer/Airflow, Airbyte on Kubernetes, Terraform and ThoughtSpot. You don’t need every tool on day one.
Bonus Points If You Have
- GCP experience with BigQuery, Composer and Cloud Run or Cloud Functions, including cost optimisation.
- ThoughtSpot or another semantic-layer BI tool, such as Looker or Power BI.
- Airbyte or similar ingestion tools, CDC, Kubernetes and data observability tools such as Elementary.
- Retail, rewards, e-commerce or fintech data, including open banking.
- Working with data scientists to put ML models or pipelines into production.
What You Will Get
We believe great work happens when people feel supported, trusted, and genuinely valued. So, we’ve built a benefits package that’s designed to give you flexibility, support your wellbeing, and help you grow both inside and outside of work.
Reward & Security
- Share options: Be a true part of our success
- Competitive salary
- Life assurance at 5x your salary
Time Off That Matters
- 23 days holiday, plus more with every year you’re here (up to 28!)
- Your birthday off: Go ahead, have a ‘you day’
- Buy extra holiday when you need it (up to 5 extra days)
- A dedicated charity day to give back to causes you love
Flexibility & Balance
- Flexible start times: Roll in anytime between 6:30–10:30am
- Hybrid working to perfectly balance home and office life
Health & Wellbeing
- Private medical insurance
- Health cash plan for everyday healthcare
- Virtual GP access for you and your family
- 24/7 support for mental health, counselling, and wellbeing
Growth & Development
- Learning & development budget + dedicated time to actually use it
- Professional accreditation funding
- Real opportunities to learn from experienced colleagues and level up your career
Support Through Life
- Enhanced maternity, paternity & adoption leave
- A culture that understands life happens outside of work
Community & Culture
- Company charity contributions
- Regular team moments that actually feel meaningful (no "forced fun" here)
- A team that values collaboration, curiosity, and just getting things done
Build Your Next Chapter at Airtime
We’re building a place where you can do your best work, keep learning and see the difference you make.
