Lead Data Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 6, 2026. First seen by Alion on Nov 4, 2026. Vodafone Group scores C on the Alion truth index.
Who we are
VOIS (Vodafone Intelligent Solutions) is a strategic arm of Vodafone Group Plc, creating value for customers by delivering intelligent solutions through Talent, Technology & Transformation.
As the largest shared services organisation in the global telco industry with 30,000 FTE, our portfolio of next-generation solutions and services are designed in partnership with customers across Vodafone Group, local markets, and partner markets to simplify and drive growth. With our strategic partner Accenture, we work alongside our Vodafone customers, other Telco and tech companies to drive transformation, meet the challenges of our industry and ensure we stay relevant and resilient. This partnership is a unique, industry-first model which brings together the best of in-house and 3rd party capability.
We work with customers across 28 countries from 10 VOIS locations: Albania, Egypt, Hungary, India, Romania, Spain, Turkey, UK, Germany, Ireland, and with a network of teams in Czech Republic, Italy, Greece, and Portugal.
#VOIS #BeUnrivalled #CreateTheFuture
About this role
We are seeking a Lead Data Engineer to provide senior technical engineering leadership within Data Products & Insights, part of Digital Engineering, Digital & IT.
Based flexibly in Newbury or Paddington, UK, you will lead the technical design and delivery of complex, product-facing data solutions, including pipelines, transformations, models and serving interfaces. You will translate architecture and platform standards into practical engineering solutions while helping raise engineering quality across the wider team.
Reporting to the Data Products & Insights Lead, you will work across Architecture, Platform, Product, Data Science and ML & AI Engineering to ensure data products are scalable, secure, resilient, maintainable and ready for production.
The role has no direct or dotted-line reports, with technical leadership delivered through design authority, engineering assurance, mentoring and collaboration.
What you’ll do
- Lead the technical design and delivery of complex data products, pipelines, transformations, models and serving interfaces within agreed architecture and platform guardrails.
- Lead adoption and assurance of engineering practices across Python, SQL, data transformation, orchestration, CI/CD, automated testing, data quality, observability and documentation.
- Review critical designs and code, providing technical direction that improves engineering quality, consistency and maintainability.
- Resolve complex production issues and ensure solutions meet appropriate standards for scalability, security, resilience, maintainability and operational readiness.
- Define reusable product-engineering patterns while avoiding duplication of shared platform capabilities or bypassing established controls.
- Escalate cross-domain architectural decisions to the Lead Data Architect where appropriate.
- Collaborate with Data Science and ML & AI Engineering teams on trusted features, training data, inference data and outcome data.
- Design and support reliable batch, streaming and event-driven data pipelines.
- Provide technical leadership and mentoring to experienced engineers through critical design reviews, code reviews and production-incident resolution.
- Provide technical input into estimates, tooling and technology choices.
- Help reduce engineering defects, rework and duplicated patterns while improving conformance with architecture, data contracts, testing and security controls.
Who you are
- You are an experienced Data Engineer who combines advanced hands-on engineering capability with the technical judgement needed to guide complex production data solutions.
You will bring:
- Extensive production Data Engineering experience, including technical leadership of complex data solutions.
- Advanced Python and SQL capability.
- Strong experience with dbt or equivalent transformation and orchestration tooling.
- Strong knowledge of Google Cloud Platform data services or equivalent cloud technologies.
- Proven experience designing reliable batch, streaming and event-driven pipelines.
- Deep understanding of automated testing, CI/CD, observability, data quality, lineage, security and operational supportability.
- Experience designing scalable, resilient and maintainable data solutions within established architecture and platform standards.
- Sound technical judgement around data contracts, scalability, cloud cost, resilience and the reuse of shared platform services.
- Evidence of technical mentoring, critical design and code review, and leadership during production incidents.
- The ability to provide technical direction through influence and collaborate effectively across Architecture, Platform, Product, Data Science and ML & AI Engineering.
- Experience helping ensure data products are production-ready, secure and aligned with established engineering controls.
Not a perfect fit?
Concerned you may not meet every requirement? Vodafone is committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive. If you are excited about this role but your experience does not align exactly with every aspect of the job description, you are encouraged to apply. You may be the right candidate for this or another opportunity, and the recruitment team will support you in exploring where your skills fit best.
What's in it for you
- The opportunity to take a leading technical role in the design and delivery of complex, production-grade data products.
- Work across batch, streaming and event-driven architectures, addressing a broad range of Data Engineering challenges.
- Influence engineering standards and reusable patterns across Python, SQL, transformation, orchestration, testing, CI/CD and observability.
- Collaborate closely with Architecture, Platform, Product, Data Science and ML & AI Engineering teams.
- Influence technical choices covering scalability, resilience, security, cloud cost and maintainability.
- Apply AI-assisted engineering practices while maintaining human accountability, security, privacy, traceability and production discipline.
- Mentor experienced engineers and help improve technical quality across the wider Data Products & Insights team.
What skills you will learn
Through this role, you will have opportunities to further develop:
- Technical Data Engineering leadership, including critical design review, mentoring and engineering assurance.
- Advanced cloud-native Data Engineering, including the design of scalable batch, streaming and event-driven solutions.
- Production engineering practices, spanning automated testing, CI/CD, observability, data quality, lineage, security and resilience.
- Reusable data-product engineering patterns, balancing product requirements with shared platform capabilities and architectural controls.
- Cloud data engineering, through the use of Google Cloud Platform data services or equivalent technologies.
- Data Science and ML/AI integration, including collaboration around trusted features, training, inference and outcome data.
- Architecture and platform alignment, strengthening decision-making around data contracts, scalability, cost, resilience and reuse.
- AI-assisted engineering practices that support efficient delivery while maintaining production quality, traceability and accountability.
VOIS Equal Opportunity Employer Commitment
Vodafone recognises and celebrates the value of diversity in building a workforce that reflects the customers and communities it serves. No form of discrimination is tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, discrimination based on race, colour, age, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, ethnicity, disability, religion or belief, political affiliation, trade union membership, nationality, citizenship, indigenous status, medical condition, HIV status, neurodiversity, social origin, cultural background, marital or civil partnership status, or socio-economic background.
Join Us
At Vodafone, we’re working hard to build a better future. A more connected, inclusive and sustainable world. As a dynamic global community, it's our human spirit, together with technology, that empowers us to achieve this.
We challenge and innovate in order to connect people, businesses, and communities across the world. Delighting our customers and earning their loyalty drive us, and we experiment, learn fast and get it done, together.
With us, you can be truly be yourself and belong, share inspiration, embrace new opportunities, thrive, and make a real difference.
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