Data Engineering Lead

Who we are

CreateFuture is fast becoming the UK’s most recognisable digital consultancy, with years of experience building digital products and services for major organisations whilst putting our people first. We have offices in the centre of Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, and London as well as remote employees located throughout the country. 

We are a team of creators - whether that’s code, project plans, go to market strategies, culture initiatives, marketing campaigns, large language models or people policies. And together, with our clients, we create the future. This has seen us collaborate and partner across a multitude of industries and sectors, with the likes of PayPal, adidas, Natwest, FanDuel and Money Saving Expert, to name just a few.

Our reputation as a partner determined to deliver high-quality, robust and thoughtful products has enabled us to scale to over 500 people in the last couple of years, and it is our amazing people - along with the safe, supportive and friendly culture we have built - that makes CreateFuture a great place to work. Don’t just take our word for it though, we have been recognised by Best Workplaces UK multiple years in a row - across a number of categories - and our employee exit rate is astonishingly low. 

Join us on our journey… Let’s create something awesome, together, today.

About the role and team:

We’re looking for a hands-on Data Engineering Lead to shape how data is delivered and used. This role is primarily focused on delivering client-facing projects, and also line managing engineers within our Data Capability.

At CreateFuture, data isn’t just a back-end function. It’s central to how we design services, build impactful digital products, and help organisations evolve. As our Data Engineering Lead, you’ll combine deep technical expertise with a strong focus on people management. You’ll play a key role in the development, performance, and well-being of the engineers you manage, ensuring they thrive while also delivering high-quality work to our clients.

This is a client-facing, delivery-focused role that also requires a commitment to supporting and growing our internal capability. You’ll need to be equally comfortable building scalable data platforms and running effective 1:1s.

What you'll be doing:

• Deliver robust, cloud-native data platforms and pipelines for clients. This includes architecture, implementation, testing, deployment, and monitoring.
• Line manage engineers within our Data Capability. You’ll be responsible for their day-to-day support, growth, and performance. This includes setting development goals, holding regular 1:1s, conducting performance reviews, and helping shape a positive, inclusive team environment.
• Act as a key point of continuity and support for your direct reports, helping them navigate client work, internal initiatives, and their long-term career paths.
• Work directly with clients to shape data strategies, provide technical direction, and turn complex requirements into actionable solutions.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams including cloud, product, delivery, and design to ensure integrated, outcome-focused solutions.
• Contribute to continuous improvement across both delivery and capability, helping to evolve our practices, tooling, and engineering standards.

We'd love to talk to you if you have:

• Proven experience delivering scalable, cloud-based data platforms using tools such as Databricks, Spark or PySpark, and services from AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Experience in line management and people development. You’ve supported engineers with regular 1:1s, development planning, and performance conversations, and are confident nurturing a strong, inclusive team culture.
• Confidence working directly with clients. You can translate technical challenges into practical solutions and communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A focus on automation, technical excellence, and governance throughout the data engineering lifecycle.
• A desire to contribute to the success of the wider Data Capability, including hiring, coaching, and evolving how we support and grow our people..

Next steps:

Our Talent team aims to respond to all applications within a reasonable timeframe, regardless of whether or not we progress your application.

Our interview process: 

• 30-minute call with one of our Talent Acquisition Team.
• 90 minute competency-based interview and Take Home Task Review
• 60-minute People Leadership & Values-led interview.

Our interview process is designed as an opportunity both for our interviewers to learn about your expertise, interests and motivations and for you to gain insights into the role, team and business as a whole, so throughout the process, you’ll meet a few people from our team as well as others from across the business to help you get a well-rounded view of the role and life at CreateFuture.

We believe that representative teams made up of people with different backgrounds, skills, and points of view help us build the best workplace possible, and enable us to create genuinely innovative, broadly useful products.