Lead Data Engineer IT · Billericay ·

Location: Billericay / Hybrid

Salary: Competitive

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Hours: 40 hours per week, Monday-Friday

Shape the future of our data platform. Lead through expertise. Make a lasting impact. You are someone who enjoys solving complex data challenges, setting technical direction, and helping others grow along the way. You take pride in building scalable, reliable data platforms, not just delivering solutions for today, but creating foundations that support future growth. At Ground Control, we're investing heavily in our data capabilities and Microsoft Fabric platform. This is an opportunity to become the technical authority for our data estate, influencing architecture, engineering standards and long-term strategy. You'll have the autonomy to make key technical decisions, the opportunity to mentor and develop engineers, and the support of a collaborative team that values expertise, innovation and continuous improvement.

What you'll do:

• Act as the technical lead for our Microsoft Fabric platform, helping shape how data is engineered, governed and utilised across the business.
• Own the technical direction of our Microsoft Fabric platform, making architecture decisions that improve scalability, performance and long-term sustainability.
• Lead the continued migration from legacy on-premise data solutions into Microsoft Fabric, helping modernise the organisation's data landscape.
• Design, build and optimise robust data pipelines across Fabric Lakehouse, Data Engineering, Data Warehouse and Data Integration workloads.
• Create and enhance analytical data models that provide the foundation for Power BI reporting and self-service analytics across the business.
• Establish engineering standards, coding practices and documentation that improve consistency, quality and knowledge sharing across the team.
• Coach and mentor Data Engineers through code reviews, pairing and hands‑on technical guidance, helping grow capability and reduce single points of failure.
• Drive improvements in platform performance, security, governance and cost optimisation, ensuring the environment remains reliable and future‑ready.
• Work closely with Microsoft and technical partners, helping shape platform strategy while supporting the retirement of legacy technologies such as SSIS and KingswaySoft.

What you'll get:

• The opportunity to become the technical authority for a business‑wide Microsoft Fabric platform.
• Significant influence over architecture, engineering standards and the future direction of the data function.
• The chance to lead through expertise and mentoring, without the distractions of line management responsibilities.
• A supportive environment that values continuous improvement, collaboration and technical excellence.
• Opportunities to work with modern data technologies while driving a large‑scale platform transformation.
• The ability to make a visible impact across a growing business where data plays an increasingly strategic role.

What we're looking for:

• Strong hands‑on experience with Microsoft Fabric, including architecture design, implementation and best practice adoption.
• Proven experience leading or owning large‑scale data platform initiatives, particularly migration projects from on‑premise environments to cloud‑based solutions.
• Advanced SQL expertise with experience optimising complex queries, transformations and data workloads.
• Experience designing analytical data models and supporting datasets that enable effective Power BI reporting.
• A track record of establishing engineering standards, documentation frameworks and knowledge‑sharing practices.
• Experience coaching, mentoring and developing Data Engineers through practical, hands‑on leadership.
• Strong problem‑solving skills with the ability to balance technical excellence, business needs and platform stability.
• An understanding of data governance, quality, security and operational best practice within production environments.
• Experience with DevOps, CI/CD practices, Fabric capacity management, or decommissioning legacy ETL tooling such as SSIS or KingswaySoft would be advantageous.

If you're looking for a role where you can combine deep technical expertise with genuine influence, helping to shape a modern data platform while developing those around you, we'd love to hear from you.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary – aligned with your skills and experience.
• Performance‑linked bonus: Bonus opportunities aligned to your level and contribution.
• Pension scheme – helping you plan for the future.
• Recognition schemes – celebrating and rewarding great work.
• Private GP service – fast, convenient access to medical support.
• Life insurance – providing added peace of mind.
• Subsidised gym membership – supporting your health and wellbeing.
• Holiday buy scheme – purchase up to 5 additional days of annual leave.

Equal Opportunities Statement: At Ground Control, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to thrive. We believe that diversity drives innovation and success, and we welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic as defined in the Equality Act 2010. We actively support and promote an inclusive culture, ensuring fair and equitable treatment throughout the recruitment process and across all stages of employment, including training, development, promotion, pay, and termination. We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants and employees, and to creating a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying, or victimisation. We expect all colleagues to uphold our values of dignity, respect, and inclusion. We take a zero‑tolerance approach to any form of discriminatory behaviour and are committed to continuous improvement through training, inclusive policies, and accountability at all levels.