Director of Data Engineering

Role: Director of Data Engineering

Reports to: Chief Technology Officer

Location: London, hybrid 3 days in office  

Business Unit: Technology

Purpose of this role

The Director of Data Engineering will be a transformative leader responsible for defining and executing Travelex's enterprise-wide data strategy. This role combines building and implementing a modern data lakehouse architecture with developing sophisticated analytics and visualization platforms that translate complex data into actionable business intelligence across all regions.

As the architect of our global data ecosystem, you'll drive the modernization of our infrastructure while building a world-class team that delivers predictive insights, real-time dashboards, and automated reporting solutions. The position will play a crucial role in transforming Travelex's technical capabilities and business operations through advanced data solutions, combining strategic vision with hands-on technical leadership to drive Travelex's digital evolution.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Define and execute enterprise-wide data strategy while building high-performing data teams across engineering, analytics, and data science

• Lead the design and implementation of modern data lakehouse architecture, including data catalogue, governance frameworks, and analytics capabilities

• Drive organization-wide adoption of data-driven decision making and self-service analytics

• Partner with product teams to leverage data capabilities for product development while driving operational efficiency through automation

• Collaborate with the executive leadership to align data initiatives with business priorities and establishing data-driven OKRs aligned with company's strategic initiatives

Technical Leadership

• Architect scalable data lakehouse platform supporting both analytical and operational use cases

• Define technical roadmap and guide selection of key data technologies across ingestion, processing, storage, and analytics

• Design and implement robust data pipelines for real-time and batch processing

• Establish data standards, access control policies, and compliance frameworks following DevSecOps practices

Requirements

• 10+ years of data leadership experience, with 5+ years in senior leadership building modern data platforms at scale

• Experience with DevSecOps practices and CI/CD pipeline implementation

• Familiar with modern data lakehouse architecture and hands-on experience with:

  • Cloud platforms (AWS Redshift, DynamoDB, Kinesis or similar tools)

  • Data processing, orchestration, and analytics frameworks (DBT, Airflow or similar tools)

  • OLAP databases and analytics tools

  • Data catalogue and quality management tools

  • Event-driven architectures and API design

  • Building scalable ETL/ELT pipelines for diverse data sources

  • ML pipelines and MLOps practices

• Track record of leading digital transformation initiatives and modernizing legacy systems

• Financial services sector experience and management of geographically distributed team beneficial but not required

Why Travelex?

To remain the world’s leading foreign exchange specialist, we are focused on making our customers’ lives simpler, more engaging and hassle free while they travel or move money abroad. We promise to give them the freedom and peace of mind to explore the world, their way – enabling them to travel confidently because they know they have us to lean on.

Customer centricity and digital are at the heart of our business strategy. Our commitment to innovation has never been greater, with the development of a number of digital-first, greenfield products and services. And with the Travelex's resources, deep industry experience and leading brand we are inventing the future of FX, cross-border e-commerce, and international payments. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company.

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.