Lead Engineer- Data in London

Lead Engineer- Data in London

London Full-Time 63000 - 77000 £ / year (est.) Hybrid
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead the architectural direction of our data platform and innovate on self-serve analytics.
  • Company: Planday, a dynamic tech company improving workforce management globally.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, pension, health insurance, flexible remote work, and generous vacation.
  • Other info: Join a diverse team that values inclusion and offers excellent growth opportunities.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact on how businesses manage their workforce with cutting-edge data solutions.
  • Qualifications: Experience with Snowflake, dbt, SQL, Python, and cloud infrastructure.

The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.

Our Purpose

Planday from Xero is a leading digital solution that uncomplicates everyday scheduling and workforce management by making it easier for businesses and shift workers around the world to communicate, collaborate, and get work done.

Our Purpose

Planday from Xero is a leading digital solution that uncomplicates everyday scheduling and workforce management by making it easier for businesses and shift workers around the world to communicate, collaborate, and get work done.

Powered by a community of local industry experts, Planday provides a best-in-class digital platform that is easy to use, accurate, secure, and compliant with local needs and standards.

From payroll and accounting to POS and reporting, its open API and tech ecosystem is scalable to fit shifting business needs and to build an engaged, flexible workforce.

Founded in 2004, Planday is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark and supports over 400,000 users across Europe, Australia and the US. Planday was acquired by Xero in 2021.

How You’ll Make An Impact

As our Lead Engineer- Data, you will set the architectural direction of the data platform that enables both the decisions we make internally and the data-driven features our customers rely on.

Working with the Data, ML, Platform, and Product Engineering teams, you will keep ingestion, modelling, and orchestration dependable, and define the modelling, testing, and documentation standards the data function depends on.

You will innovate on how people work with data, building the agentic tooling and semantic modelling that let teams across Planday work from trusted data with confidence.

  • What You’ll Do
  • Set the architectural direction of our data platform so it serves analytics, product engineering, and AI/ML from one coherent design, collaborating with Platform and ML engineering on shared infrastructure.
  • Design the dbt models, semantic layer, and quality standards the data function depends on, with the validation and lineage to make them trustworthy downstream.
  • Own orchestration and observability in Dagster, and onboarding new sources in a way that scales.
  • Innovate on self-serve and AI-enabled analytics, from semantic models and agentic workflows to our BI layer.
  • Build the historical and low-latency foundations that make predictive and real-time use cases possible.
  • Introduce better modelling standards, tooling, and development environments.
  • Keep the platform reliable, performant, cost-effective, and compliant.
  • Success looks like
  • Architecture that holds up as we scale and as new use cases emerge, and that other engineers follow as a pattern.
  • Analysts ship faster and more efficiently because your tooling & standards remove friction.
  • A drop in repeat requests to the data team, as stakeholders answer their own questions through agentic workflows.
  • ML and product teams have the historical and real-time data they need, without bespoke workarounds.
  • Strong working relationships with the Data, ML, and Platform teams.
  • What You’ll Bring With You
  • Deep, hands-on Snowflake and dbt experience: modelling, semantic layers, agents & skills, testing, performance and cost tuning.
  • Production experience with a pipeline orchestrator, ideally Dagster (or similar Airflow, Prefect), including dependent workloads, partial failures, and observability.
  • Modern cloud infrastructure (Azure/AWS/GCP) and Kubernetes experience deploying and operating containerised workloads, plus infrastructure as code (Terraform).
  • Strong SQL & Python for pipelines, services, and automation.
  • Software engineering discipline across CI/CD, testing, and code review.
  • The ability to turn technical trade-offs into clear narratives that help stakeholders decide and trust the work.
  • Experience operating data systems, including incident response, cost, and data privacy practices.
  • At Planday, we offer you
  • Benefits like pension, health insurance, inclusive support for new parents and generous vacation
  • On top of your annual base salary, you are offered to be part of an Employee Share Plan
  • Growth and progression opportunities – we want you to grow with us
  • Flexible remote work
  • Strong social culture with lots of team and company activities
  • Meaningful work – everyone at Planday contributes to improving the lives of shift workers around the globe
  • Healthy work-life balance and autonomous approach to work. We trust in you and your abilities

Finally, our offices are not just workplaces (although they are pretty nice and well-located, we have to say!).

Plandayers are open and welcoming and at Planday, everyone has the freedom and support to show their true self at work.

At Planday, we firmly believe that diversity and inclusion are the cornerstones of innovation and a vibrant workplace culture.

As an equal opportunity employer, we strive to create an equitable experience for all candidates throughout the process.

Please let us know if you need any reasonable adjustments during the application or interview process.

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Lead Engineer- Data in London employer: Planday

Planday, as part of Xero, offers an exceptional work environment where innovation and collaboration are at the forefront. Employees benefit from a culture that prioritises personal growth and development, with ample opportunities for career advancement and skill enhancement. Located in a dynamic setting, Planday fosters a supportive atmosphere that encourages teamwork and celebrates success, making it an ideal place for those looking to make a meaningful impact in customer success.

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Contact Details:

Planday Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Lead Engineer- Data in London

✨Join Local Tech Meetups

Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Planday or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!

✨Contribute to Open Source Projects

Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Planday.

✨Tap into Online Developer Communities

Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Planday.

✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles

Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Planday that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!

We think you need these skills to ace Lead Engineer- Data in London

Architectural Design
Data Modelling
Semantic Layer Development
Quality Standards Definition
Orchestration in Dagster
Observability
AI-Enabled Analytics

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Planday.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Planday and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at Planday

✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Planday uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

✨Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.