Data Engineering Lead in London

Data Engineering Lead in London

London Full-Time 80000 - 100000 £ / year (est.) No home office possible
Royal Canin SAS

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead a team of data engineers to create and optimise data solutions.
  • Company: Join Royal Canin, a purpose-driven company transforming into a data-driven organisation.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, bonus, and best-in-class learning opportunities from day one.
  • Other info: Collaborative environment with opportunities for career growth and development.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact by driving engineering excellence and community standardisation.
  • Qualifications: 8+ years in engineering management, strong product mindset, and proficiency in SQL and Python.

The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 £ per year.

The Platform & Engineering team at Royal Canin is responsible for managing our data capabilities, including the creation, operation, and optimization of the data platform, assets, and pipelines. This is a growing team, supporting an advanced analytics agenda at Royal Canin that is rapidly transforming it into a data driven organisation. To accelerate achieving this objective, we are looking for an experienced Data Engineering Manager with knowledge on Product Engineering to join our team.

Senior Data Engineering Manager, Analytics Products leads and develops a team of data engineers (blend of associates and external 3rd party vendors) embedded across multiple cross-functional squads who work day-to-day with product, analytics, and business teams. Reporting to the Head of Platform & Engineering, this role is a critical link between the global data platform and the analytics squads, ensuring the speed and quality of delivery meets the business’s analytical needs. The primary focus of this role is people leadership, engineering excellence, and community standardization, ensuring consistency, quality, and scalability across all analytical products. This role will not own a single product area but instead enable multiple squads to deliver high-quality data solutions through shared standards, best practices, and design thinking.

What are we looking for?

  • An experienced engineering leader with a strong product mindset and technical background in building robust, analytical products (or analytical components within a B2B solution) by partnering with data science team and product managers.
  • A leader who excels at coaching, mentoring, and developing data and software engineering talent with familiarity in managing engineers embedded in cross-functional teams or a matrix organization.
  • Someone who is comfortable with ambiguity and thrives in a collaborative environment, partnering closely with product and analytics leaders to bring a vision to life.
  • A strategic thinker who can guide technical decisions on architecture, weigh trade-offs, and ensure the team is building scalable and reliable solutions while delivering at speed.
  • More than 8 years of experience in engineering and engineering management roles or equivalent, ideally within the CPG, Consumer Products, Retail, Telecom industries or Analytical B2B solution providers.
  • Proficiency in SQL, Python, or other data-focused programming languages and data modeling principles.
  • Experience with big data technologies (e.g. Spark) and distributed data processing.
  • Good experience managing cloud-based data platforms, ideally Azure.
  • Experience developing using agile software development methodologies principles such as DevOps, CI/CD, unit testing.
  • Good understanding of Data Protection and Privacy principles and practices including GDPR and other local governance regulations applied to CPG and retail industries.
  • Ability to create a technical community with both internal and external engineers and retaining the engagement of a team of likeminded experts.
  • Ability to balance the needs of business and technical stakeholders.
  • Fluent in English.

What will be your key responsibilities?

  • People Leadership & Chapter Management: Manage, coach, and develop a distributed team of data engineers working across different squads. Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development planning. Foster a strong data engineering community with shared ownership and identity. Support hiring, onboarding, and retention of top engineering talent.
  • Engineering Standards & Community Enablement: Define, implement, and enforce engineering standards across squads (coding, testing, documentation, data modeling). Establish best practices for pipelines, orchestration, and data reliability. Lead community rituals (team meetings, knowledge sharing sessions, design reviews). Promote reuse of data models, pipelines, libraries and tooling to avoid duplication.
  • Engineering Architecture & Governance: Provide architectural guidance to engineers across squads. Ensure alignment and compliance with data platform usage (warehousing, orchestration, transformation ways of working). Drive consistency in data modeling approaches and semantic layers for analytics products. Champion data quality, observability, and governance practices.
  • Cross-Squad Alignment & Delivery Enablement: Partner with product managers and tech leads to align on priorities and technical direction. Identify and enable cross-functional opportunities and dependencies across squads. Remove blockers and improve engineering productivity at scale. Balance autonomy of squads with the need for standardization.
  • Operational Excellence: Improve development workflows, CI/CD practices, and deployment standards in collaboration with the platform team. Define and track engineering metrics (e.g., pipeline reliability, delivery velocity, data quality SLAs) in collaboration with platform team. Ensure incident management are defined and post-mortem practices are consistently applied. Lead engineering perspective on DevOps practices and support models.

What can you expect from Mars?

  • Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
  • Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
  • Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
  • An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.

Data Engineering Lead in London employer: Royal Canin SAS

At Royal Canin, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture. As a Data Engineering Lead, you will have the opportunity to lead a talented team while benefiting from our commitment to professional growth through best-in-class learning resources and a competitive salary package. Join us in our mission to transform into a data-driven organisation, where your contributions will directly impact our analytics agenda and the future of our company.
Royal Canin SAS

Contact Detail:

Royal Canin SAS Recruiting Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫

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

✨Tip Number 1

Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the data engineering field, especially those who work at Royal Canin or similar companies. A friendly chat can lead to insider info about job openings and even referrals.

✨Tip Number 2

Show off your skills! Prepare a portfolio showcasing your past projects, especially those involving SQL, Python, or big data technologies. This will help you stand out during interviews and demonstrate your hands-on experience.

✨Tip Number 3

Get involved in the community! Join online forums or local meetups related to data engineering. Engaging with others in the field can lead to valuable connections and insights that might just land you that dream job.

✨Tip Number 4

Apply through our website! We love seeing candidates who take the initiative. Make sure to tailor your application to highlight your leadership and technical skills, as these are key for the Data Engineering Lead role.

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

Data Engineering
People Leadership
Coaching and Mentoring
SQL
Python
Data Modelling Principles
Big Data Technologies
Spark
Cloud-based Data Platforms
Azure
Agile Software Development
DevOps
CI/CD
Data Protection and Privacy Principles
Technical Community Building

Some tips for your application 🫡

Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV reflects the skills and experiences that match the job description. Highlight your experience in data engineering, leadership, and any relevant technologies like SQL or Python. We want to see how you can contribute to our team!

Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Use it to tell us why you're passionate about data engineering and how your background aligns with our goals at Royal Canin. Be genuine and let your personality come through!

Showcase Your Leadership Skills: Since this role involves managing a team, make sure to highlight your leadership experience. Share examples of how you've coached or mentored others, and how you've fostered collaboration in previous roles. We love seeing strong leaders!

Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website for the best chance of getting noticed. It’s super easy, and you’ll be able to keep track of your application status. Plus, we can’t wait to see what you bring to the table!

How to prepare for a job interview at Royal Canin SAS

✨Know Your Data Engineering Fundamentals

Make sure you brush up on your SQL, Python, and big data technologies like Spark. Be ready to discuss how you've applied these skills in previous roles, especially in building analytical products or components. This will show that you have the technical chops to lead a team effectively.

✨Showcase Your Leadership Style

Prepare examples of how you've coached and developed engineering talent in the past. Think about specific instances where you fostered a strong community among your team members. Highlight your experience with performance reviews and career development planning to demonstrate your commitment to people leadership.

✨Emphasise Collaboration and Communication

Since this role involves working closely with product managers and analytics leaders, be ready to discuss how you've successfully navigated cross-functional teams. Share examples of how you've balanced the needs of both technical and business stakeholders to achieve project goals.

✨Understand the Bigger Picture

Familiarise yourself with the company's vision for becoming a data-driven organisation. Be prepared to discuss how you can contribute to this goal by ensuring engineering excellence and community standardisation. Show that you can think strategically about architecture and governance while still delivering at speed.

Data Engineering Lead in London
Royal Canin SAS
Location: London

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