Data Engineer

The Club Brentford FC is a bit different from other Premier League football clubs. We put our fans first, we are a true community club and while we are financially sustainable, we are not afraid to take calculated risks. We take huge pride in our environment and culture within the Club which focuses on development, inclusion and not being afraid to think differently. Being progressive, humble and respectful while sticking together as one team across the Club guides how we work and the decisions we make each day. We also firmly believe that a diverse workforce is a better workforce which will help us develop ideas, solve problems and ultimately grow Brentford FC. We play in a new stadium, 15 minutes from Heathrow in vibrant west London. We will never forget where we have come from, but we are excited about the future that lies ahead.

Job Overview: This is an opportunity to help shape and deliver our Off-Field data strategy and play a leading, hands‑on role in the Club’s continued development as a data‑driven organisation. Working across departments, the Data Engineer will build and improve the Club’s data foundations, enable trusted self‑service reporting and support the practical adoption of AI. The role combines data engineering and analytics engineering and will work closely with specialist data and AI partners. Success will require strong technical breadth, sound judgement and the ability to translate business needs into reliable, maintainable data solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Data strategy into action: Contribute technical expertise to the Club’s Off-Field data strategy and translate agreed priorities into practical delivery. Work with departments to identify where improved data will have the greatest impact, prioritise work with the role’s manager and stakeholders, and see each piece of work through to documented handover and adoption.
• Hands‑on engineering: Build, test, run and continuously improve reliable pipelines and integrations from Club systems, including CRM, ticketing, finance, HR and operational platforms. Develop and maintain shared data and semantic models for Club reporting, including Power BI, and replace appropriate manual extracts and spreadsheet processes with reusable, governed datasets.
• API integration: Working with third parties, help to design, build and support integrations using REST APIs, webhooks and managed connectors, applying appropriate approaches to authentication, rate limits, error handling, logging and recovery.
• Monitoring and support: Implement monitoring and exception reporting for data pipelines and integrations; investigate failures; reconcile missing or inconsistent data; and follow or improve documented retry, recovery and escalation procedures.
• AI and machine learning: Partner with the Insights team, third parties and business users to develop proportionate AI and machine learning use cases that support agreed Club objectives, including growth of the engaged fanbase. Prepare and quality‑assure the data, features and evaluation sets required, and build the integrations and automations needed to embed approved models and AI tools into day‑to‑day use.
• Federated data ownership: Enable Off‑Field departments, including Marketing, Commercial, Finance, Operations and Sustainability, to take appropriate ownership of their data and reporting. Work with departmental data owners to agree responsibilities and shared standards, and provide the access, models, guidance and support needed for teams to maintain trusted self‑service reporting.
• Documentation and certified reporting: Build and maintain the report catalogue, certified reports, data dictionary and data‑model documentation as an integral part of delivery. Define and apply clear, proportionate criteria for report certification so colleagues can identify trusted data and understand its meaning and ownership.
• Data quality and governance: Establish and maintain proportionate data‑quality controls, monitoring and reconciliation so the Club can independently verify supplier‑delivered data. Apply agreed standards for lineage, metadata, access control, retention and data protection by design, escalating material risks appropriately.
• Building on our platforms with partners: Act as the Club’s technical counterpart on agreed data‑platform programmes by providing source access and data, reviewing technical designs, supporting migration assurance and taking operational ownership of components formally handed over to the Club.

Knowledge:

• Degree in Computer Science, Data, Engineering, Mathematics or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong understanding of data warehouse and lakehouse architecture, dimensional modelling and ELT patterns.
• Strong practical understanding of data warehouse and lakehouse architectures, dimensional modelling and ELT patterns, with the ability to select and apply suitable approaches within agreed architecture.
• Working knowledge of data governance, including data quality, lineage, metadata, ownership and access control.
• Familiarity with data protection, privacy and relevant regulatory requirements, including UK GDPR.
• Understanding of software engineering practices for data, including version control, automated testing, CI/CD and infrastructure as code.
• Understanding of how machine learning models, AI tools and agents use data, including features, retrieval, evaluation, monitoring and appropriate controls.
• Knowledge of the sports industry or similar sectors (desirable).

Specialist Skills:

• Demonstrable experience in data engineering, analytics engineering or a similar role, with evidence of independently delivering production data solutions.
• Strong SQL and Python skills for data transformation, testing and automation.
• Hands‑on experience building, testing, deploying and operating pipelines on a cloud data platform, ideally Databricks.
• Experience designing data models for reporting and self‑service analytics, including Power BI semantic models.
• Ability to understand a business problem, clarify requirements and translate them into a practical, maintainable data solution.
• Strong problem‑solving and analytical skills.
• Orchestration and monitoring tools, e.g. Databricks Workflows, dbt or Airflow (desirable).
• Integrating SaaS platforms through APIs, e.g. Salesforce or Workday (desirable).
• Building data catalogues, dictionaries or certified datasets, e.g. Unity Catalog, Microsoft Purview or Power BI endorsement (desirable).
• Infrastructure as code (e.g. Terraform, Bicep) and CI/CD for cloud and data platforms (desirable).
• Preparing data for, or deploying, machine learning or AI models, including agents, e.g. feature engineering or MLflow (desirable).

People Skills:

• Action-oriented: moves effectively from understanding a need to delivering a working, documented solution, collaborating across teams and building appropriate stakeholder commitment.
• Proven ability to build and sustain relationships with stakeholders at all levels, including influencing senior leaders.
• Experience building positive relationships with suppliers and holding them to account for technical quality, delivery and value.
• Skilled at managing competing priorities and balancing diverse stakeholder needs.
• Strong communicator, able to explain technical concepts clearly to non-technical audiences and actively listen to stakeholder needs.
• Builds capability in others by sharing knowledge, supporting problem‑solving and helping departmental teams use data and self‑service tools confidently.
• Builds trust through sound judgement, constructive challenge, active listening and consistent follow‑through.
• Champions proportionate change and supports stakeholders to adopt new data processes, standards and tools.

External Impact:

• Represent the Technology function in cross‑departmental and relevant external meetings within the role’s area of responsibility.
• Builds strong relationships with managed service providers and third‑party vendors.
• Act as the Club’s technical counterpart to data and platform partners on authorised work, reviewing designs and deliverables and providing evidence‑based technical challenge.
• Assess whether proposed external solutions align with agreed Club data architecture, security, governance and organisational requirements, escalating material exceptions for decision.

Decision Making:

• Operate with autonomy over day‑to‑day technical delivery within agreed priorities, architecture, budgets and governance.
• Make delivery and technical decisions for authorised work packages, escalating material changes to scope, budget, risk or strategic direction.
• Make and document design decisions on pipelines, data models, integrations and report certification within agreed architecture and standards.
• Provide clear technical analysis and recommendations to support decisions on data, technology adoption and process improvement.
• Identify and escalate significant delivery, data‑quality, security, privacy or data‑protection risks through agreed governance routes.

Innovation:

• Evaluate and champion the proportionate adoption of relevant technologies, including AI, automation and self‑service analytics.
• Identify, prioritise and implement opportunities for process improvement and automation, measuring benefits where practicable.
• Lead defined technical workstreams or contribute specialist expertise to cross‑functional innovation projects, including approved AI proofs of concept.
• Maintain current knowledge of relevant data and AI technologies and assess their practical value, risks and fit with the Club’s architecture.
• Share learning, reusable approaches and standards that support continuous improvement across the Technology function and departmental data community.

General Club Accountabilities:

• To comply with all Club policies, including health and safety, data regulations and other legal, ethical and social requirements.
• To build and maintain good working relationships while maintaining a professional image.
• To keep confidential any information gained regarding the Club and its personnel.
• To always maintain a flexible approach to work.

Inclusion Statement: Brentford FC is proud to be an organisation that values equity, diversity and inclusion. We strive to create a culture that celebrates difference and ensures fairness, safety, representation, and belonging. We recognise that some groups remain underrepresented in our workforce and are actively working to change this. As part of that commitment, we strongly encourage applications from people of all backgrounds — particularly those from ethnically diverse communities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and disabled people. We’re committed to a fair and inclusive recruitment process, with all decisions made based on merit and suitability — regardless of background or protected characteristic. Should you be selected for interview, we welcome the opportunity to discuss any specific arrangements, accommodations or reasonable adjustments you may require to be made.

Safeguarding Statement: Brentford FC is fully committed to promoting equality, and to safeguarding the welfare of all children and adults at risk. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and is a core part of the Club’s culture. All staff and volunteers share a collective duty to create and maintain a safe and supportive environment, both on and off the field. To ensure this, all staff are required to complete regular safeguarding training appropriate to their role. This training supports a proactive and informed approach to safeguarding practice. The successful candidate will be expected to understand, adhere to, and actively uphold all relevant safeguarding policies and procedures. This includes recognising signs of abuse or harm, responding appropriately, and reporting any concerns in a timely manner to the Club’s Safeguarding Team. Brentford FC operates safer recruitment practices. We remind individuals that it is a criminal offence for a person barred from engaging in regulated activity to apply for a role that involves such activity.