Senior Data Engineer

Description

We are hiring a data engineer to lead client delivery and build the next generation of engineers at Edge. This is a client‑facing leadership role. You will spend most of your time working directly with both public & private organisations working in the healthcare sector, leading project teams drawn from every grade, and coaching junior engineers face to face. If the phrase “forward‑deployed engineer” describes how you like to work, you will recognise this job.

Application Deadline: 18 October 2026

Department: Senior Data Engineers

Location: London

Compensation: £55,000 - £65,000 / year

Description

We are hiring a data engineer to lead client delivery and build the next generation of engineers at Edge. This is a client‑facing leadership role. You will spend most of your time working directly with both public & private organisations working in the healthcare sector, leading project teams drawn from every grade, and coaching junior engineers face to face. If the phrase “forward‑deployed engineer” describes how you like to work, you will recognise this job.

The engineering matters, and you will need to be a capable engineer. What makes someone excel here, though, is the ability to operate with clients and to develop people.

What it's like to work at Edge

The role is deliberately a mix of engineering and consulting. As a Senior Data Engineer you lead delivery with clients and develop the engineers around you, but you are still expected to be hands‑on: building pipelines, making architecture calls, and noticing when a build is drifting from good practice. You'll work closely with economists, data scientists and consultants, so the engineering always connects to the question the client is trying to answer.

The work is varied and often starts with a problem rather than a spec. We might be building data infrastructure for an NHS organisation, bringing together sensitive patient data safely so it can inform decisions, or creating a tool a client can run themselves. Because we work across the public and private health sector, no two projects look quite the same.

We are also small enough for people to shape what Edge does. Senior Data Engineers coach junior colleagues, contribute to bids and proposals, and help set how we engineer as a team. We set aside two training days each quarter, and gaps in the stack are something we train rather than screen out.

Edge is rated 4.9/5 on Glassdoor with 100% saying they would recommend the company. Recent reviews mention a supportive culture, interesting projects, personal development and lots of room to explore interests.

Key Responsibilities

• Plan and manage small and medium-sized projects, or the technical workstream of larger ones, supported by more senior colleagues;
• Produce client‑ready output: pipelines, models, reports and presentations that can go in front of a client as they stand;
• Play an active part in client relationships: presenting, updating and handling harder conversations, with coaching from senior staff as you take on more;
• Develop the junior engineers on your projects, coaching them through client interactions and managing their delivery as well as the technical work;
• Handle sensitive data the way it should be handled, following our quality and information security practices, because being trusted with patient data is the foundation of everything we do;
• Help the junior engineers around you get better, sharing what you know with the team and supporting new joiners as they find their feet;
• Apply senior judgement to the technical work itself: noticing when a build is drifting away from good practice and doing something about it;
• Look for the moments where good delivery opens the door to more work, and flag them to the senior colleague leading the account as well as contribute to bids and proposals.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

We greatly value diversity and would welcome applicants from a range of academic and professional backgrounds. While meeting all the stated job requirements can be beneficial, at Edge, we understand that diverse experiences and perspectives can bring great value to our work. So, if you're passionate about the work we do and share our values, we encourage you to apply, even if you don't meet every single criterion. The strongest applications will include examples of the following:

• You have delivered data work in a client‑facing setting, such as consulting, an agency or an embedded role for 2-4 years, and are comfortable presenting your work and being challenged on it;
• You have started developing others, whether through mentoring, onboarding or day‑to‑day coaching, and can give us an example of someone who is better at their job because of you;
• You manage your own delivery well against deadlines and can plan and delegate work for a small team;
• You have solid engineering foundations: strong SQL, plus experience with some of Azure or AWS, Databricks and Terraform. Gaps in the stack are fine, and we will train them;
• You care about healthcare. Experience with the NHS or health data is a real advantage, and a passion for the sector is essential;
• You take your own development seriously, come to your one‑to‑ones ready to work on something, and act on the feedback you get;
• You are the kind of colleague people want on a project: straight with clients, considerate of the team, and someone who takes pride in working in the health & care sector;
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a technical discipline (computer Science, Engineering, mathematics or similar) expected.

Benefits

• Discretionary annual bonus (typically averaging ~10% of base)
• 25 days annual leave per year, including the option of buying up to 5 additional days.
• Vitality Private health insurance and/or Bupa Cashplan
• Two days training per quarter to support professional development
• Cycle2Work scheme

We review applications on a rolling basis and invite candidates to interview as we go, so encourage you to apply early. If we receive a high number of strong applications, we may close the role before the advertised deadline.