Lead Data Engineer

OVERVIEW: This role exists to provide technical leadership within the data engineering team, setting the standard for engineering excellence while remaining deeply hands-on. The Lead Data Engineer drives the design and delivery of scalable, resilient data platforms and pipelines that underpin Gymshark's ambition to be a truly data driven business. Sitting at the intersection of craft and collaboration, this role shapes technical direction, raises the capability of those around them, and ensures the team builds the right things in the right way. WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING: Technical Leadership: ● Own and drive the technical design and architecture of data pipelines, data models, and platform components across the team. ● Set and enforce engineering standards: code quality, testing, observability, security, and documentation, ensuring the whole team operates to them ● Lead technical discovery, design sessions, and code reviews, providing constructive, actionable feedback that elevates team output. ● Identify and drive resolution of technical debt, proactively surfacing risks and proposing pragmatic solutions. ● Evaluate emerging tools and technologies (within the GCP ecosystem and beyond) and make grounded recommendations to the Data Engineering Manager. ● Work with the Data Engineering manager to find solutions to complex or ambiguous data engineering problems, unblocking the team and stakeholders. ● Ensure architectural decisions align with Gymshark's data strategy, platform vision, and evolving business needs. ● Champion a culture of engineering excellence through example, documentation, and knowledge sharing. Delivery: ● Own and drive the technical design and architecture of data pipelines, data models, and platform components across the team. ● Set and enforce engineering standards: code quality, testing, observability, security, and documentation, ensuring the whole team operates to them. ● Lead technical discovery, design sessions, and code reviews, providing constructive, actionable feedback that elevates team output. ● Identify and drive resolution of technical debt, proactively surfacing risks and proposing pragmatic solutions. ● Evaluate emerging tools and technologies (within the GCP ecosystem and beyond) and make grounded recommendations to the Data Engineering Manager. ● Work with the Data Engineering manager to find solutions to complex or ambiguous data engineering problems, unblocking the team and stakeholders. ● Ensure architectural decisions align with Gymshark's data strategy, platform vision, and evolving business needs. ● Champion a culture of engineering excellence through example, documentation, and knowledge sharing. People & Craft: ● Mentor and coach Data Engineers (Junior through Senior), supporting their technical growth and career progression. ● Facilitate knowledge sharing sessions, pairing, and documentation to build collective capability and reduce knowledge silos. ● Contribute to hiring: lead technical interviews, calibrate assessments, and help onboard new team members effectively. ● Partner with the Data Engineering Manager on team development planning, identifying skill gaps and proposing learning opportunities. ● Ensure team members feel supported, challenged, and set up to do their best work. Governance & Collaboration: ● Partner with Data Governance to embed data quality, access control, and privacy by design into all engineering work. ● Collaborate cross functionally with Data Product, and wider Tech teams to ensure joined up platform delivery. ● Maintain accurate and comprehensive technical documentation: architecture decision records, runbooks, pipeline specs, and data dictionaries. ● Uphold data governance, security, and compliance standards across all data engineering activities. WHAT YOU'LL NEED: Essential Criteria: ● Strong experience in data engineering in a senior or lead-level technical role. ● Deep expertise in Google Cloud Platform: BigQuery, Dataflow, Pub/Sub, Cloud Storage, and Clo…