Head of IWR Data Engineering and Enablement (York)

Join Aviva’s Data Revolution. At Aviva, data is more than a function—it’s our foundation. We’re on a bold journey to transform how we harness data to drive innovation, power AI, and deliver exceptional outcomes for our customers. As we accelerate this transformation, we’re seeking a visionary leader to join us as Head of IWR Data Engineering and Enablement.

A bit about the job:

This is a pivotal, high-impact role at the heart of our Insurance, Wealth & Retirement (IWR) business—one of the UK’s largest and most dynamic financial services portfolios. You’ll lead the modernisation of our data platforms, architect next-generation solutions, and embed AI-driven intelligence into the fabric of our operations. Working in close partnership with our Data Science and Technology teams, you’ll shape and execute a bold data engineering strategy that delivers secure, scalable, and high-quality solutions—empowering smarter, faster decisions across the enterprise. Beyond the technology, you’ll build and inspire a high-performing team of data engineers, champion a culture of innovation and agility, and ensure our data assets are governed, accessible, and future-ready.

What you’ll be doing:

• Define and lead the data engineering strategy for IWR, aligning with business goals and future data needs.
• Transform legacy systems into scalable, cloud-native platforms with embedded AI and machine learning.
• Deliver data solutions focused on business fulfilment, operational efficiency, and measurable impact.
• Champion best practices in data quality, governance, metadata, and regulatory compliance.
• Partner across functions and lead a high-performing data engineering team, fostering innovation and agility.

Skills and experience we’re looking for:

• Demonstrated success leading complex data initiatives and transformation programmes within large-scale organisations, particularly in financial services.
• Skilled in managing outsourced and third-party data environments, with a strong focus on aligning data capabilities to business transformation goals.
• Deep knowledge of data architecture, modelling, integration, and governance, with hands-on experience in tools like Snowflake, DBT, SQL Server, and programming languages such as Python, Java, or Scala.
• Proficient in big data tools (e.g., Spark, Kafka), cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), and embedding AI/GenAI into scalable data infrastructures.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and the ability to translate technical solutions into strategic business value, with a solid understanding of regulatory and financial environments.

What you’ll get for this role:

• National salary circa £120,000 and London salary circa £140,000 (depending on location, skills, experience, and qualifications).
• Bonus opportunity – 25% of annual salary. Actual amount depends on your performance and Aviva’s.
• Generous pension scheme - Aviva will contribute up to 14%, depending on what you put in.
• 29 days holiday plus bank holidays, and you can choose to buy or sell up to 5 days.
• Make your money go further - Up to 40% discount on Aviva products, and other retailer discounts.
• Up to £1,200 of free Aviva shares per year through our Matching Share Plan and share in the success of Aviva with our Save As You Earn scheme.
• Brilliantly supportive policies including parental and carer’s leave.
• Flexible benefits to suit you, including sustainability options such as cycle to work.
• Make a difference, be part of our Aviva Communities and use your 3 paid volunteering days to help others.
• We take your wellbeing seriously with lots of support and tools.

Aviva is for everyone: We’re inclusive and welcome everyone – we want applications from all backgrounds and experiences. Excited but not sure you tick every box? Even if you don’t, we would still encourage you to apply. We also consider all forms of flexible working, including part time and job shares. We flex locations, hours and working patterns to suit our customers, business, and you. Most of our people are smart working – spending around 50% of their time in our offices every week - combining the benefits of flexibility, with time together with colleagues.

To find out more about working at Aviva take a look here. We interview every disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job. Once you’ve applied, please send us an email stating that you have a disclosed disability, and we’ll interview you.

We’d love it if you could submit your application online. If you require an alternative method of applying, please give Harjot Kaur a call on +44 07353 163239 or send an email to leena.manga@aviva.com.