Data Engineer

Advantage Smollan Limited; Winnersh; Hybrid; GBP 48,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail solutions partner in the UK seeks a Data Engineer to oversee the entire data lifecycle. This role involves creating reliable data pipelines and optimizing performance within the Azure ecosystem, while working collaboratively in a hybrid environment. Required qualifications include proficiency in Python and experience with data engineering in a commercial context. The position offers competitive salary, benefits, and career growth opportunities.

Benefits

Pension (4%)

Life Assurance

Electric Vehicle Scheme

GymFlex

WeCare ERP

Perkbox

Taste Card

Qualifications

• Data Engineering experience in a commercial business.
• Hands-on experience with Azure Stack: Synapse, Azure SQL, Databricks.
• Proficient with CI/CD tools and practices.

Responsibilities

• Own the full data lifecycle from ingestion to serving.
• Create robust data pipelines from APIs and databases.
• Work within the Azure ecosystem for performance optimization.
• Monitor data pipelines and define metrics/alerts.
• Maintain CI/CD pipelines for versioning and security.

Skills

Proficiency in Python

Experience with Spark

CI/CD with Azure DevOps

Understanding of geospatial data processing

Tools

Azure SQL

Synapse

Databricks

Docker

Terraform

Job description

Salary: £48,000 per annum + annual company bonus

Hours: Monday to Friday, 35 hours per week

Location: Winnersh, RG41 (Hybrid) majority home based + travel to Slovenia

Great data engineering is about more than just moving bits from A to B; it’s about building the resilient architecture that powers our entire business. We are looking for a Data Engineer who loves to build, test, and refine. While you’ll work under the guidance of our Architects, you will have true ownership over the development, monitoring, and quality of your own pipelines within a collaborative, international team.

The Role: What You’ll Be Doing

You will own the full data lifecycle—from ingestion and integration to modeling and serving:

• Build & Ingest: Create robust, fault-tolerant batch and near-real-time pipelines from APIs, transactional databases, and external sources.
• Transform & Model: Use Spark and Python to build reliable data models and schemas that serve our downstream users.
• Optimise the Warehouse: Work within the Azure ecosystem (Synapse, SQL, Data Lake) to ensure performance, partitioning, and schema evolution.
• Observability: Don’t just build it—monitor it. You’ll define metrics and alerts to proactively catch failures before they impact the business.
• Modern DevOps: Maintain CI/CD pipelines and automated deployments to keep our data artefacts versioned and secure.

What You’ll Bring

We need an engineer who is proactive, creative, and comfortable with a "build-and-break" mentality for resilience.

• The Experience: Data Engineering experience in a commercial business with a proven track record of delivering projects incrementally.
• The Azure Stack: Hands-on experience with Synapse, Azure SQL, and Databricks.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in Python and Spark, plus experience with CI/CD (Azure DevOps/GitHub Actions).
• Specialist Knowledge: An understanding of geospatial data processing (spatial joins/projections) and monitoring/observability tools.
• Nice to Haves: Experience with GCP, containerisation (Docker/K8s), Infrastructure as Code (Terraform), or orchestration tools like Airflow.

What We’ll Offer You:

• Benefits include: Pension (4%), Life Assurance, Electric Vehicle Scheme,, GymFlex, WeCare ERP + Toothfairy, Perkbox, Taste Card
• 24 days annual leave + bank holidays (increasing 1 day per year up to 29 days)
• Ongoing support to enable you to fulfil your role to the best of your potential.
• Opportunity to work in a dynamic and innovative environment.
• Career growth and development opportunities.
• Supportive and inclusive company culture.

Ready to architect the future of our data?

If you’re a builder who thrives on solving complex integration puzzles, apply today! Our recruitment team looks forward to reviewing your application!

More about us...

Smollan is a full-service retail solutions partner with over 90 years of heritage, helping brands win at the point of purchase. Operating across 61 countries, we are trusted by over 500 global and local brands and employ more than 90,000 people. Our purpose is to create growth and transform lives by connecting people to products and possibilities.

We deliver intelligent, end-to-end retail execution and experiences across the physical and digital landscape, directed by data and powered by technology and people. Our capabilities include Sales & Merchandising, Activations & Experiences, and Data & Technology. Smollan grows brands by growing people, creating value for clients and impact for consumers every day.