Director of Data & Platform Engineering

Director of Data & Platform Engineering

Salary: £130,000 plus extensive company benefits

Location: Hybrid – London (1 day per week)

Type: Permanent

A global leader in the entertainment space are seeking an experienced Director of Data Engineering to lead the design, development, and implementation of enterprise data architecture and engineering strategy. You'll oversee the data engineering and platform function, with a key focus on building a high-performing team and driving excellence across Databricks-based data platforms.

About the Role

A key focus will be managing the development and operational management of the data platform using Databricks. The successful candidate will also lead a high-performing team of data engineers and platform specialists, fostering collaboration across technical and business teams to deliver innovative solutions that drive value and support data-driven decision-making.

Key Responsibilities as Director of Data Engineering:

• Define and deliver a forward-thinking data engineering and architecture strategy aligned with business and digital goals.
• Lead and mentor a team of data engineers, architects, and platform specialists to foster innovation and excellence.
• Own the development and management of a modern, cloud-native data platform (Databricks), ensuring it’s scalable, secure, and performance-optimised.
• Design and oversee robust data pipelines (ETL/ELT) to enable seamless data ingestion, transformation, and integration.
• Drive best practices around CI/CD, containerisation, and infrastructure-as-code across data operations.
• Champion data governance principles and compliance (GDPR, internal policies), integrating them into engineering workflows.
• Work closely with stakeholders across business, data science, and IT to deliver impactful, fit-for-purpose data solutions.

Requirements as Director of Data Engineering:

• Proven leadership experience in data engineering and platform roles, ideally in a global or fast-paced environment.
• Deep expertise with Databricks and modern data platforms in the cloud (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
• Strong technical background in big data frameworks (e.g., Spark, Kafka), distributed systems, and scalable data architectures.
• Excellent understanding of data governance, security, and privacy, with practical knowledge of GDPR compliance.
• Track record of building and managing high-performing teams and driving transformation initiatives.

Interview Process:

• Recruiter Call
• Hiring Manager Intro
• 1-2 stage Panel Interview

This is a challenging opportunity for a Data and Platform Director with lots of autonomy to lead on a range of large transformation engagements while contributing to the organisations wider strategy and overall vision as they grow.

*Unfortunately, due to the high volume of applications, not all submissions will receive feedback.