Head of Data Management and Engineering in Manchester

About THG We are THG, a global ecommerce group on a mission to be the global online leader in beauty and sports nutrition. Our portfolio of leading retailers and brands such as LOOKFANTASTIC, Myprotein, ESPA, Perricone MD, and Cult Beauty form our two core businesses: ensuring everyone is paid on time, that materials are sourced and arrive promptly, that we meet our legal obligations and that our health, safety, and security is safeguarded.Why be the Head of Data Engineering and Governance at THG? THG is building a world-class data function to power one of the UK's largest e-commerce businesses. As Head of Engineering & Governance, you will own the quality, availability and structure of the data that enables every business-facing team across our Beauty and Nutrition divisions.Your remit is the layer above that: how data is structured, governed, made available and used across the business. You will set the direction for how THG gets the most from its data ecosystem, ensuring that analytics teams, data scientists, and business leaders can trust and act on the data they see.Engineering (how we build, structure and maintain our data domains), Governance (how we ensure quality, consistency and trust), and Reporting (how we present business performance data consistently across PLC). Our data foundations need significant work — we have talented analysts who have been doing engineering work without the structure or tools to do it well, governance that is essentially non-existent, and reporting that has grown organically without consistency. Strategic DirectionSet the vision and roadmap for data engineering, governance and reporting across THG PLCDefine how data domains (Customer, Commercial, Operations) should be structured, stored and made available for analytics, data science and AI use casesOwn the relationship with Ingenuity on platform and data matters — setting requirements, managing dependencies and ensuring PLC needs are reflected in the Ingen roadmapEvaluate where THG should use Ingen capability versus external tooling, and ensure every technology choice is documented and commercially justifiedDrive the business towards a single source of truth — reducing data silos, resolving mastering conflicts, and building confidence in our data across the organisationEngineering & Data PlatformLead the Engineering team in building and maintaining the data pipelines, domain datasets and platform architecture that underpin analytics across Beauty and NutritionOwn the evolution of our GCP/BigQuery platform — from how data is ingested and stored, to how it is structured for downstream consumptionSet engineering standards — version control, testing, error handling, documentation — and ensure they are consistently appliedChampion the use of AI and automation in data engineering — this is a small team that needs to move fast, and we expect the use of AI-assisted pipeline development and management to be embedded in how we workData GovernanceLead the Data Governance function from a standing start — we have no established governance framework and this is a greenfield opportunity to build it properlyOwn the framework for how THG manages data quality, metadata, data definitions and lineage across PLCWork with Ingenuity to ensure governance standards are consistent across both PLC and Ingen data infrastructureBuild the culture and processes that make governance a positive enabler rather than a compliance burdenReporting & BIOwn the consistency and quality of all business performance reporting across THG PLC — dashboards, KPI reports, executive-level viewsEnsure that any regularly used report or dashboard is owned, maintained and built to a consistent standard — no more ad hoc reporting that lives outside a managed frameworkLead the evolution of our Tableau estate and assess when alternative or complementary tooling should be introducedLeadership & PeopleLead, develop and retain a high-performing team across three functions — Engineering, Governance and ReportingSet clear direction and accountability for each function, developing your direct reports into leaders in their own rightBuild a culture of engineering excellence, curiosity and continuous improvementInfluence and educate senior stakeholders across the business — building data literacy and trust in data assetsWhat skills and experience do I need for this role?EssentialSignificant experience (typically 8+ years) in data engineering, data platform or data leadership roles, with at least 3 years at a senior or head-of levelDeep hands-on experience with GCP and BigQuery — you must have built and scaled data platforms on this stackExperience across multiple data domains — ideally at least two of Customer, Commercial and OperationsProven track record of evolving a business's data architecture — you can point to concrete examples of how you changed the way a business ingests, stores and consumes its dataStrong understanding of data governance principles — data quality, metadata management, mastering and lineageExperience working with or alongside a technology partner or platform team (similar to our Ingenuity relationship)Demonstrated use of AI in data engineering contexts — AI-assisted pipeline development, automated quality monitoring, or similarStrong leadership and stakeholder management skills — able to influence at Director and C-suite levelDesirableExperience in e-commerce, retail or consumer goodsFamiliarity with Dataform, dbt or equivalent transformation frameworksExperience with data cataloguing or governance tooling (Collibra, Alation, DataHub or equivalent)Exposure to ML/AI platform requirements — understanding what good data foundations look like to enable data science and personalisationWhat’s in it for me?Career DevelopmentAccess bespoke development programmes that have been designed and developed by our in-house L&D team.Continued development through our upskilling programme that is delivered in partnership with an industry-leading training provider.Enhanced Leave25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.Enhanced maternity and paternity pay, depending on length of service.Wellbeing SupportAccess face-to-face and virtual appointments with our in-house GP.Access our 247 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which is provided by Bupa.State-of-the-art on-site gym.Other PerksSave up to 12% on the cost of personal tech through our salary sacrifice scheme.Subsidised bus pass from Manchester City Centre to our ICON office.Up to 50% staff discount on THG brands.On-site staff shop.Refer them and get up to 1000 when they pass their probation.Anniversary gifts when you hit 5 and 10 years of service.THG is proud to be a Disability Confident Committed employer. THG is committed to creating a diverse & inclusive environment and hence welcomes applications from all sections of the community.If you haven't heard from us within that time frame or should you have any specific questions about this or other applications for positions at THG please contact one of our Talent team to discuss further.