Data Acquisition Lead in Reading

Thames Water is looking for a Data Acquisition Lead to manage the team responsible for ingesting and integrating data from core business systems into our Azure-based Enterprise Data Platform. You’ll lead a team of Data Engineers and Data Business Analysts, own the end-to-end acquisition process, and ensure high-quality, reliable data pipelines that power analytics across the organisation.

What you’ll be doing as a Data Acquisition Lead:

• Lead and mentor a team of Data Engineers and Data BAs.
• Own data ingestion pipelines from source systems into the Azure data lake.
• Design and implement ETL/ELT processes using Azure Data Factory, Databricks, and PySpark.
• Work with Data Architects and Data Scientists to prioritise and deliver required datasets.
• Solve complex data integration challenges, including APIs and unstructured data.
• Maintain data standards, documentation, and data quality across all pipelines.
• Support analytics and BI teams with trusted, well-engineered data flows.

Essential Skills & Experience:

• Extensive experience as a Data Engineer with leadership capability.
• Strong Azure full-stack experience, including:

• Azure Data Factory (expert)
• Azure Databricks administration (clusters, security, Delta Lake)
• ADLS Gen2 (permissions, structure, lifecycle)
• Azure DevOps (CI/CD for data pipelines)

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary of up to £70,000 per annum depending on experience.
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays).
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

Who are we?

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive.

Working at Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.