Lead Data Engineer

About The Role

Hippo is a rapidly growing digital consultancy passionate about building and delivering transformative digital solutions for a diverse range of Public and Private sector clients. We are recruiting for a Lead Data Engineer to join our Hippo Herd. We work at the intersection of strategy, design, and technology to solve complex problems and create lasting value. Our collaborative and agile culture empowers our teams to make a genuine impact.

As a Lead Data Engineer, you will play an important role in making Hippo the best Consultancy out there. You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team combining data, design, product, delivery, analysis and engineering to deliver bespoke digital services that make a positive and meaningful impact on organisations and society. We're confident in our abilities, authentic in our approach, and passionate about what we do.

You will act as a Lead Consultant providing technical expertise in data engineering practices both internally and to our clients. Lead Data Engineers at Hippo are experts in their field, leaders of people and teams, who drive strategic technical deliverables while maintaining high‑level client relationships.

Our solutions empower our customers to build and support secure, scalable, and well‑engineered systems beyond traditional boundaries. We leverage deep data insights and continuous innovation to deliver awesome platforms that allow our customers to understand and get the most from their data and digital services. The Lead Data Engineer will be a key player and implementer in this mission.

Your Role in a Nutshell

• Act as a technical SME within the Hippo engineering community to ensure user‑centred software is developed based on business requirements and best practice.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues and stakeholders to explore, design and deliver solutions to complex client problems.
• Design and manage software development and deployment pipelines, resolving issues and potential bottlenecks before they occur.
• Continuously review and prioritise the delivery team’s workload and anticipate the need for realignment with evolving priorities.
• Be a strong communicator and presenter, presenting solutions and progress to internal and external stakeholders in a clear, concise manner.
• Build great relationships with your team and stakeholders, identifying and ensuring that challenges are overcome.
• Lead in the recruitment and on‑boarding of other engineers, and support consultants in their professional development.
• Lead on new business opportunities, writing technical bids and proposals.
• Promote Hippo’s Data Herd externally through writing blogs, workshops, or speaking at conferences.

Skills and experience that you need

Essential Experience

• Excellent experience delivering in Python and experience with at least one other core language.
• Excellent experience of SQL and relational databases.
• Solid experience of Cloud providers such as AWS, Azure or GCP.
• Solid experience of working with Snowflake and dbt.
• Strong experience of working with different data formats, e.g., CSV, JSON and XML.
• Expertise in building reliable Data Pipelines.
• Experience operating as a technical leader on complex projects and able to manage stakeholder expectations.
• Expertise in coaching and guiding others on the best way to achieve an optimal solution.
• Excellent verbal/written communication skills, able to articulate in both technical/non‑technical terms depending on audience.
• Mastery of working in an Agile Environment and CI/CD practices.
• Ability to define working procedures and methodologies for the team.

Desirable Experience

• Knowledge of NoSQL databases.
• Experience in Data Modelling is highly desirable.
• Broader knowledge of IT — e.g., Security and Networking.

What makes us great

Alongside working with some of the most talented people out there and on‑top of a competitive salary, which we’re transparent about from the outset, you can also expect a range of benefits:

• Contributory Pension Scheme (Hippo 6% & Employee 2%)
• 25 Days Holiday plus UK Public Holidays
• Perkbox access for a wide range of discounts
• Critical illness cover
• Life assurance and death in service cover
• Volunteer days
• Cycle-to-work scheme for the avid cyclists
• Salary sacrifice electric vehicles scheme
• Season ticket loans
• Financial and general wellbeing sessions
• Flexible benefits scheme with options of:
• Private health cover
• Private dental cover
• Additional company pension contributions
• Additional holidays (up to an extra 2 days)
• Wellbeing contribution
• Charity contributions
• Tree planting

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Hippo

At Hippo, we’re dedicated to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace that works for everyone. We understand that having a diverse team unlocks our capacity for innovation, creativity and problem solving. Only by building a community of diverse perspectives, cultures and socio‑economic backgrounds can we create an environment where all can contribute and thrive.

We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups including women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent and people with disabilities. We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process that reflects our workplace culture. We are a registered Disability Confident Employer, Mindful Employer, Endometriosis Friendly Employer and a member of the Armed Forces Covenant. Hippo continually strives to remove barriers, provide accommodations and offer reasonable adjustments to ensure equity throughout our practices.

Hi, we’re Hippo

At Hippo, we design with empathy and build for impact. We do this by combining data‑informed evidence, human‑centred design and software engineering. We're a digital services partner who is genuinely invested in helping our clients thrive as modern organisations. Our delivery methodology is truly agile, from concept to reality, supporting innovation and continuous improvement to achieve your desired outcomes.

We firmly believe that technology should serve humanity, not the other way around. We take a human‑centred approach to everything we do because we understand that complex problems require a service design approach. This means understanding how users behave and ensuring our solutions work for them in the real world.

Our combination of data, design, and engineering delivers bespoke digital services that make a positive and meaningful impact on organisations and society.

Have a look through our Website at Our Story & Purpose, Our Culture & Values, Case Studies and Our Solutions & Services to find out some more!

Hippo Locations

We are headquartered in Leeds and have offices across the UK in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London and Bristol. We're on the lookout for top talent nationwide but you need to be located within reasonable travelling distance from one of our offices. Given the dynamic nature of a consulting business, you may be required to work on‑site at a Hippo office or at an in/out of town client location for a number of days per week (client dependent) and therefore candidates will need to be open/flexible to travel and working on one of those sites at least 2 days per week. We offer a generous relocation support package of up to £8,000 (please ask for terms and conditions) to help make your move a smooth one.