Data Engineering Lead

Looking for a challenge in one of the world’s largest airfreight logistics organisations? At IAG Cargo we are in the business of moving things. From antibiotics to rhinoceros, gold bullion to avocados and everything in between. Whatever people need, wherever they are. In an era of digital screens and closed borders, we open the skies and fly the world to bring people the things they really need. We are the logistics and cargo brand of International Airlines Group (Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, Level and Vueling). At IAG Cargo, we believe in keeping the world’s economies turning, and do everything with determined attitudes, curious minds, collaborative actions and heartfelt pride. Join us at our globally recognised logistics business, where we are building a great place to work for customers and colleagues alike.

About The Role

Within the IAG Cargo Digital and Information function, the Data Engineering Lead will play a pivotal role in delivering and operating data products for IAG Cargo. Reporting to the Head of Data, Insights & Operational Research, this position holds significant responsibility within the data leadership team, ensuring our data solutions and business processes are fully aligned and contribute to the vision and strategic direction of the organisation. The successful candidate will join the team at an exciting time. IAG Cargo are in the early stages of a major programme of work to modernise our data infrastructure, tooling and processes as we migrate from an on‑premise to a cloud native environment and the Data Engineering Lead will be essential to the success of the transformation.

Using your strong communication skills combined with a determined attitude you will be responsible for managing and developing a team of data engineers to develop effective and innovative solutions aligning to our architectural principles and the business need. You will ensure the team adheres to best practices in data engineering and contributes to the continuous improvement of our data systems.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of scalable and efficient data pipelines and architectures.
• Manage and mentor a team of data engineers, ensuring a culture of collaboration and excellence.
• Manage demand for data engineering resources, prioritising tasks and projects based on business needs and strategic goals.
• Monitor and report on the progress of data engineering projects, addressing any issues or risks that may arise.
• Collaborate closely with Analytics Leads, Data Architects, and the wider Digital and Information team to ensure seamless integration and operation of data solutions.
• Develop and implement a robust data operations capability to ensure the smooth running and reliability of our data estate.
• Drive the adoption of cloud technologies and modern data engineering practices within the team.
• Ensure data governance and compliance with relevant regulations and standards.
• Work with the team to define and implement best practices for data engineering, including coding standards, documentation, version control.

What you’ll bring to IAG Cargo

Skills

• Expert in SQL and database concepts including performance tuning and optimisation.
• Solid understanding of data warehousing principles and data modelling practice.
• Strong engineering skills, preferably in the following toolsets: AWS services (S3, EC2, Lambda, Glue), ETL Tools (e.g. Apache Airflow), Streaming processing tools (e.g. Kinesis), Snowflake, Python.
• Excellent knowledge of creation and maintenance of data pipelines.
• Skilled in establishing and managing pipelines and change with CI/CD tooling.
• Strong problem‑solving and analytical skills, with the ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex data‑related issues.
• Proficient in data integration techniques including APIs and real‑time ingestion.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with cross‑functional teams.
• Capable of building, leading, and developing a team of data engineers.
• Strong project management skills and an ability to manage multiple projects and priorities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent.
• Professional certifications in relevant technologies (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Snowflake SnowPro Certification).

Experience

• Experienced and confident leadership of data engineering activities (essential).
• Expert in data engineering practice on cloud data platforms (essential).
• Background in data analysis and preparation, including experience with large data sets and unstructured data (desirable).
• Knowledge of AI/Data Science principles (desirable).

We’ll treat you right. Wherever you work within IAG Cargo, you’ll play a part in helping us deliver what the world needs and join a diverse and inclusive business that’s making a difference. As well as a competitive salary and bonus, we offer a range of benefits to support our colleagues, which include:

• A hybrid environment with 3 days a week in the office and two from home.
• From the day you join us, you’ll get access to brilliant staff travel benefits including unlimited basic and premium standby tickets on British Airways and group airlines.
• You’ll also receive up to 30 discounted ‘Hotline’ airfares per year for yourself, friends, and family.
• Flexible bank holiday policy - Individuals not on shift have the flexibility to swap the statutory public holidays, with the days you choose to take off instead.
• All our colleagues get access to LinkedIn learning and Rosetta Stone Language courses.
• For health and wellbeing we offer a free onsite gym facility as well as access to the UNMIND app and a community of Mental Health First Aiders.
• Access to discounts on Apple, cinema tickets and loads of other goodies through Perks at work.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Our recruitment procedures positively support our equity, diversity, and inclusion agenda. All candidates are considered strictly on their merits in relation to the criteria for the role, treated fairly and consistently and have their individual needs responded to throughout the process.