Data Engineering Manager

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That's why we're looking for someone talented, someone who wants to develop their skills, someone like you.

£81,000-£85,000 (+ Benefits)

Directorate: Chief Operating Office

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Stratford, London . Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office)

External closing date: 5th July 2026

Internal closing date: 10th July 2026

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. If you require more time to apply as part of a reasonable adjustment, please contact as soon as possible.

Recruitment process: Screening call at 1st stage, and 2nd stage Technical interview with Technical test

How do I apply? We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won't be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly, and objectively.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We're looking for an experienced Data Engineering Manager to act as the lead for new data engineering technologies, setting standards, providing technical guidance, and ensuring consistent capability across the organisation, driving the design, scale, and optimisation of our data platform. This role combines hands-on technical leadership across Snowflake, dbt, AWS, and Python with strong people leadership, championing best practices in DataOps, observability, and dimensional modelling.

You'll play a key role in enabling Data Product delivery by building reliable, high-performance data pipelines, enhancing metadata and data catalog capabilities, and embedding AI tools and use cases within the engineering team. Working in an agile environment, you'll foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement while helping shape our data-driven future.

What will I be doing?

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable, efficient, and reliable data products using Snowflake, dbt, AWS, Python alongside Data Observability, Data Quality and Data Catalog/Discovery tools. Delivering highly governed data pipelines end to end.

• Thought leadership and expert in dimensional modelling and data warehousing best practices to ensure efficient data product provisioning and that data is structured optimally and cost efficiently for analytics, reporting, business intelligence or for other consumer data product use.

• Technical leadership for CRUK Data Engineering.

• Developing collaborations and relationships with other CRUK Data & Technology teams (e.g. Engineering, Architecture, Data Operations and Governance), departments and partners.

• Drive best practice and high-performance software delivery through DataOps principles to automate workflows, improve data quality, and accelerate delivery

• Establish observability frameworks (monitoring, logging, alerting) to ensure data pipeline health and performance in adherence to Data Product maturity acceptance criteria.

• Develop and maintain metadata for Data Products and data assets to enrich and enable a functioning Data Catalog to improve discoverability, governance, and metadata management for Data Product accessibility.

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of data engineers, fostering a culture of engineering excellence, collaboration, agile practices and continuous improvement. Set clear technical direction, prioritise delivery, and coach team members.

• Grow AI skills and adoption within the team pivoting ways of working with agentic AI and skilling Data Engineers to work in the AI age.

• Promote best practices in software engineering (code reviews, testing, CI/CD, documentation) in line with DataOps principles and our aspirations for greater efficiencies through AI adoption.
  

What skills will I need?

• Multiple years of experience in data / analytics engineering, with at least significant time spent in a leadership/management role.

• Hands-on expertise with:

• Snowflake (data warehousing, performance tuning, cost optimization, Horizon Catalog, Cortex).

• dbt (modular analytics engineering, transformations, testing).

• AWS

• Python proficiency as a data engineer and Orchestration tools (e.g. Airflow)

• Data and Dimensional modelling (star schema, Kimball/Inmon methodologies, OBT).

• AI - copilots, agentic AI, MCP Servers

• Strong understanding of DataOps, CI/CD, git, and data observability.

• Experience with data catalog/discovery tools

• Familiarity with data governance, security, and compliance (GDPR).

• Proven ability to lead, mentor, and nurture high-performing, inclusive engineering teams.

• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with an ability to simplify and convey complex problems (technical concepts to non-technical audiences).

• Problem-solving mindset with a focus on scalability, reliability, and efficiency.

• Ability to balance technical depth with business impact.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We're looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you're interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we'd still love to hear from you.

Internal eligibility criteria

Internal candidates should ideally have completed their 6-month 'getting started' period before applying for other roles. You should also advise your current line manager at the point you make an internal application, or at the latest, at the point of being invited for an interview.

All internal candidates applying for a secondment, must have:

• Completed their getting started period

• Discussed their intention to apply and gained approval to apply with their line manager

• Been in their substantive (home) role for at least 6 months (this is only applicable if you have previously been on secondment)

If you do not confirm that you meet these requirements, we will not be able to progress your application.

For information about internal learning and development at Cancer Research UK please visit Fuse.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

Additional Information

For more information about working with us please visit our website or contact us at .

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