Staff Data Engineer – Data Quality & Governance in London

Depop is the community-powered circular fashion marketplace where anyone can buy, sell and discover desirable secondhand fashion. With a community of over 35 million users, Depop is on a mission to make fashion circular, redefining fashion consumption. Founded in 2011, the company is headquartered in London, with offices in New York and Manchester, and in 2021 became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Etsy.

Our mission is to make fashion circular and to create an inclusive environment where everyone is welcome, no matter who they are or where they’re from. Just as our platform connects people globally, we believe our workplace should reflect the diversity of the communities we serve. We thrive on the power of different perspectives and experiences, knowing they drive innovation and bring us closer to our users. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer, providing employment opportunities without regard to age, ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy or maternity, marriage and civil partnership, or any other protected status. We’re continuously evolving our recruitment processes to ensure fairness and are open to accommodating any needs you might have.

Role: We’re building a Data Quality, Observability & Governance Team to improve the reliability, trust, and compliance of Depop’s data ecosystem. As a Staff Data Engineer in this team, you’ll lead the design and implementation of frameworks, tools, and processes that strengthen our data foundations - ensuring our data is accurate, observable, and compliant. Your mission will be to reduce the mean time to detection and resolution of data incidents, by establishing data contracts between producers and consumers, developing robust data observability systems, and embedding governance and GDPR compliance principles across the data lifecycle. You’ll collaborate with product engineering, data platform, analytics, and legal teams to build confidence in data as a product - one that’s reliable, auditable, and actionable.

Responsibilities:

• Define and execute the vision for Depop’s data quality, observability, and governance frameworks.
• Establish data contracts between producers and consumers to ensure schema integrity and data reliability.
• Develop and maintain systems that detect, alert, and resolve data quality issues with minimal latency.
• Build automation and tooling to reduce MTTD (Mean Time to Detection) and MTTR (Mean Time to Resolution) for data incidents.
• Partner with data platform engineers to integrate observability at every layer - ingestion, transformation, and consumption.
• Lead GDPR and privacy-by-design initiatives, ensuring compliance and traceability across all datasets.
• Define standards for metadata management, lineage tracking, and access control.
• Collaborate with analytics and product teams to ensure data definitions and quality metrics are consistent across domains.
• Mentor engineers and analysts, fostering a culture of data stewardship and accountability.
• Continuously improve data governance maturity through automation, documentation, and measurable quality KPIs.

Qualifications:

• Proven experience as a Staff Data Engineer or in an equivalent technical leadership role in data quality, observability, or governance.
• Deep knowledge of data observability frameworks (Monte Carlo, Soda, or equivalent) and data validation tools (Great Expectations, DBT tests, etc.).
• Deep understanding of data-as-a-product principles and experience applying them to improve data reliability and ownership.
• Experience designing and enforcing data contracts and quality SLAs in distributed data ecosystems.
• Proficiency in Python, Java, or Scala, and experience building pipelines with Databricks, Spark, or Kafka.
• Strong understanding of data governance principles, privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA), and secure data handling practices.
• Familiarity with metadata management and data catalog tools (e.g. DataHub, Collibra, etc.).
• Demonstrated success improving data reliability and observability in large-scale data platforms.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; you can bridge technical depth with operational impact.

Bonus Points:

• Experience implementing automated compliance monitoring or policy-as-code systems.
• Familiarity with real-time anomaly detection for data pipelines.
• Experience contributing to or leading cross-functional data reliability initiatives.
• Prior experience in consumer or marketplace platforms.
• Passion for data as a product - building reliable, observable, and compliant data systems that teams love to use.

Additional Information:

• Health + Mental Wellbeing: PMI and cash plan healthcare access with Bupa, subsidised counselling and coaching with Self Space, Cycle to Work scheme with options from Evans or the Green Commute Initiative, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) for 24/7 confidential support, Mental Health First Aiders across the business for support and signposting.
• Work/Life Balance: 25 days annual leave with option to carry over up to 5 days, 1 company-wide day off per quarter, Impact hours: Up to 2 days additional paid leave per year for volunteering, Fully paid 4 week sabbatical after completion of 5 years of consecutive service with Depop, to give you a chance to recharge or do something you love.
• Flexible Working: MyMode hybrid-working model with Flex, Office Based, and Remote options *role dependant, all offices are dog-friendly, ability to work abroad for 4 weeks per year in UK tax treaty countries.
• Family Life: 18 weeks of paid parental leave for full-time regular employees, IVF leave, shared parental leave, and paid emergency parent/carer leave.
• Learn + Grow: Budgets for conferences, learning subscriptions, and more, mentorship and programmes to upskill employees.
• Your Future: Life Insurance (financial compensation of 3x your salary), pension matching up to 6% of qualifying earnings.
• Depop Extras: Employees enjoy free shipping on their Depop sales within the UK. Special milestones are celebrated with gifts and rewards!