Lead Data Engineer

About Pret
Pret is an international on-the-go food and drink retailer founded in1986. Our purpose is to make every day a little bit brighter, through organiccoffee, freshly prepared food, and exceptional customer service to millions ofpeople. Pret runs hundreds of shops across the UK, France, USA, and Hong Kong,with additional shops run by franchise partners around the world.
Pret is transforming from a bricks-and-mortar focussed retailer to atruly customer-centric digital business with a leading consumer brand that aimsto stand for more than just ‘freshly made, healthy food, to go’. We’re aimingto better understand our customers and their preferences, so now is an excitingtime to join us!
The Role
The Lead Data Engineer will play a critical role indefining, shaping, and delivering Pret’s data engineering strategy, enablingscalable and efficient data solutions that power analytics, reporting, anddecision-making across the business.
Working as part of Pret’s highly skilledengineering team, you will lead the design and development of robust datapipelines and systems, ensuring performance, reliability, and scalability. Youwill be responsible for managing, mentoring, and upskilling a team of 2 DataEngineers and a Principal Data Systems Engineer, fostering a culture oftechnical excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Reporting to the Global Head of Engineering, theLead Data Engineer will work closely with stakeholders across Operations,Finance, Payroll, HR, and beyond, translating business needs into technicalsolutions and aligning the data engineering strategy with Pret’s technology roadmap.
This is a unique opportunity to lead Pret’s datatransformation journey, driving innovation and enabling the business to unlockthe full potential of its data.
Responsibilities
Shape and deliver Pret’s data engineering strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals and technology initiatives.
Lead the design, development, and optimisation of scalable data pipelines to ingest, transform, and store data for analytics and reporting.
Manage, mentor, and upskill a team of 2 Data Engineers and a Principal Data Systems Engineer, providing technical guidance, setting priorities, and fostering a high-performing team culture.
Oversee the delivery of high-quality ETL solutions across cloud-based platforms such as Snowflake and Azure, ensuring performance and reliability.
Champion modern software engineering best practices, including automated testing, peer code reviews, version control (Git), and CI/CD pipelines.
Collaborate with the Principal Data Engineer/DBA to ensure Pret’s data infrastructure is performant, secure, and scalable.
Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimise data pipelines and systems for performance, cost-effectiveness, and uptime.
Lead Agile DevOps sprint cycles, managing team backlogs, priorities, and delivery.
Collaborate directly with stakeholders across Operations, Finance, Payroll, HR, and IT to gather requirements and deliver data solutions that meet business needs.
Drive continuous improvement through exploration and adoption of emerging tools, technologies, and cloud capabilities.
Promote a culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation across the data engineering team.
Skills and experience
Essential:
5+ years’ experience as a Data Engineer, with at least 2 years in a lead or senior data engineering role.
Proven leadership experience managing and mentoring technical teams, including Data Engineers and DBAs.
Proficient in designing and optimising cloud-based data pipelines using platforms such as Snowflake and Azure.
Strong hands-on experience with Python, Java and SQL for data transformation, orchestration, and automation.
Experience collaborating with DBAs to optimise database performance and ensure infrastructure reliability.
Demonstrable experience working in a DevOps-led Agile environment, leading sprint cycles and managing team backlogs.
Proficiency in version control tools like Git and implementing CI/CD pipelines to automate deployments.
Experience monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimising data pipelines for scalability, reliability, and cost-efficiency.
Strong problem-solving, decision-making, and stakeholder engagement skills.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical audiences.
Desirable:
SnowPro Core or Advanced Certification.
Experience with Azure Synapse, Data Factory, and Logic Apps.
Experience with GCP (Dataflow and BigQuery)
Familiarity with distributed data processing frameworks such as PySpark.
Knowledge of Terraform for Infrastructure as Code.
Experience developing CI/CD pipelines with tools such as GitHub Actions.
Experience in database performance tuning, query optimisation, and monitoring tools.
Familiarity with event-driven architectures for real-time analytics.
Why JoinPret?
Lead and mentor a team of talented Data Engineers, shaping the future of Pret’s data strategy.
Play a key role in Pret’s digital transformation, delivering innovative and scalable data solutions.
Work in a collaborative, learning-focused environment with cutting-edge tools like Snowflake, Azure, and CI/CD pipelines.
Competitive salary, benefits, and the opportunity to make a tangible impact on Pret’s decision-making and technology roadmap.
If you are a strategic, collaborative,and technically skilled Lead Data Engineer who thrives on leadership,innovation, and delivering value-driven solutions – we’d love to hear from you!
Pret Offers
£80,000 - £90,000 plusannual bonus
33 days holiday a year including Bank Holidays
Private healthcare
Life assurance
Pret pension scheme
Season ticket loan
Free lunch and drinks
50% discount in Pret shops worldwide
Great reward and recognition events
Legendary parties
Closing date 5th January 2025

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