Neem Consulting is recruiting on behalf of our Client, a well-established and highly regarded commercial water utilities company based in Stoke-on-Trent.

Our Client is undertaking a significant business and technology transformation programme, modernising its core platforms, data capabilities, operating processes and customer experience. As part of this transformation, they are investing heavily in their data and analytics capabilities and are seeking a talented Data Engineer to help build the foundations of a modern, data-driven organisation.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing Digital, Data & Technology function and play a key role in designing, building and supporting the data platforms, pipelines and services that will power future reporting, analytics, operational decision-making and Business Intelligence capabilities.

The Role

Reporting to the Lead Data Engineer, the Data Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing and maintaining robust, scalable data solutions that support the organisation's strategic data objectives.

You will work closely with Data Analysts, business stakeholders, architects and technology teams to ensure that high-quality, secure and accessible data is available across the organisation. The role offers the opportunity to work with modern cloud technologies, enterprise-scale data platforms and a broad range of business-critical systems.

The successful candidate will combine strong technical engineering skills with a pragmatic and collaborative approach to solving business problems through data.

Key Responsibilities

Data Engineering & Platform Development

• Design, develop and maintain scalable data pipelines and ETL/ELT processes across cloud and on-premise environments.
• Build, optimise and support enterprise data platforms, data warehouses and data models.
• Develop efficient and maintainable solutions for ingesting, transforming and delivering data across the organisation.
• Support the evolution of modern cloud-based data platforms and services.
• Contribute to the development of data engineering standards, patterns and architectural principles.

Data integration

• Integrate data from multiple internal and external sources, including enterprise applications, operational systems, APIs and third-party platforms.
• Design and maintain reliable data ingestion and integration processes.
• Ensure consistency, accuracy and completeness of data across systems.
• Support enterprise-wide data interoperability and data sharing initiatives.

Data Quality, Governance & Security

• Implement data quality controls and validation processes.
• Support data governance, metadata management and data lineage initiatives.
• Ensure data solutions comply with security, privacy and regulatory requirements.
• Work closely with governance and security teams to embed best practice data management principles.
• Support compliance with GDPR and broader data protection requirements.

Operational Support & Continuous Improvement

• Monitor, maintain and troubleshoot data pipelines and platform performance.
• Resolve data-related issues and implement preventative improvements.
• Support platform upgrades, enhancements and cloud migration activities.
• Identify opportunities to automate manual processes and improve operational efficiency.
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives across the wider data function.

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Work closely with Data Analysts and business stakeholders to understand reporting and analytics requirements.
• Translate business needs into scalable technical solutions.
• Provide technical guidance and support to colleagues across the organisation.
• Collaborate effectively with architects, developers, infrastructure teams and third-party suppliers.

Essential Skills and Experience

• Proven experience in a Data Engineering role within a medium or large organisation.
• Strong SQL development skills.
• Strong Python programming capability or equivalent data engineering languages.
• Experience designing and supporting ETL/ELT processes.
• Experience with Azure Data Factory, Apache Airflow or similar data integration tools.
• Experience working with cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure, AWS or Google Cloud.
• Experience with modern data warehousing technologies such as Synapse, Snowflake, Redshift or similar.
• Experience using Git and CI/CD deployment practices.
• Understanding of data governance, data quality and data protection principles.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Degree qualification in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Software Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Microsoft DP-700 certification.
• Experience working with enterprise ERP, CRM or billing platforms.
• Experience supporting large-scale data transformation or cloud migration programmes.
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform.
• Knowledge of data lake architectures and streaming technologies such as Kafka.
• Experience working within Agile or DevOps environments.
• Experience within utilities, customer service or other regulated industries.
• Exposure to Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Lake, Azure Synapse or related technologies.

Personal Attributes

• Strong analytical and problem-solving mindset.
• Self-motivated and proactive, with a continuous improvement mentality.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced transformation environment.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality.
• Collaborative and team-oriented approach.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

Benefits

Our Client offers a competitive benefits package including:

• Hybrid working arrangements
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Birthday leave
• Opportunity to buy or sell up to 5 days annual leave
• Enhanced family-friendly policies
• Employee Assistance Programme with 24/7 wellbeing support
• Medicash healthcare plan
• Perkbox discounts and rewards platform
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
• Competitive pension scheme with employer matched contributions
• Life Assurance cover
• Ongoing professional development and learning opportunities

Why Apply?

This is an opportunity to join an organisation that is investing heavily in data, technology and digital transformation. You will work with modern technologies, help shape a growing data capability, and play a key role in enabling better decision-making across the business.

The role offers exposure to large-scale transformation initiatives, cloud technologies, enterprise data platforms and the opportunity to make a tangible impact within a business that sees data as a strategic asset for future growth.