Data Products Engineering Lead

Role Overview

• Ensure high-performance and scalable engineering
• Define, measure and report on platform performance KPIs
• Guide teams in designing scalable, resilient backend systems and data pipelines
• Support performance investigations and platform optimisation efforts
• Promote shared ownership of quality, encouraging teams to build robust automated testing
• Ensure test coverage, test reliability and continuous improvement of testing practices
• Champion data quality practices including data model testing, schema validation and observability of data products
• Define and champion consistent API design principles, including data contracts and schema governance where applicable
• Oversee the governance of API changes, versioning and documentation quality
• Ensure APIs are discoverable, well-structured and reliable
• Lead refactoring and modernisation initiatives
• Prioritise and track improvements to system health
• Promote best practices in performance tuning, code quality and maintainability
• Participate in decisions on new frameworks, tooling and engineering approaches
• Standardise tooling and processes across teams
• Look for opportunities to improve development workflows and reduce friction
• Support the transition toward microservices and event-driven patterns
• Maintain clear architectural documentation and architectural decision records
• Participate in architecture reviews and cross-team planning
• Work closely with the data platform lead to ensure data products and platform strategy is well aligned
• Define documentation guidelines and ensure they are followed
• Implement structured incident reporting and post-incident review processes
• Promote clear, accessible documentation as part of engineering culture
• Establish and maintain a security-first culture across engineering teams
• Lead threat modelling exercises and coordinate vulnerability remediation
• Lead a cross-functional team spanning backend, frontend and analytics engineering disciplines, fostering collaboration across different technical domains
• Drive predictable Agile delivery and support effective planning
• Monitor individual and team performance and promote accountability
• Support hiring, onboarding and continuous development of engineers

Requirements

• Proven experience in a technical leadership role working on large-scale, business-critical SaaS platforms
• Proven experience leading cross-functional engineering teams spanning backend, frontend and analytics disciplines, with the depth to engage credibly across all three
• Strong engineering background spanning backend systems, data modelling and tooling, and frontend development
• Hands-on experience with PHP, SQL, and at least one other backend language
• Solid understanding of system architecture, microservices, event-driven systems and API design
• Good knowledge of modern cloud environments, CI/CD practices and observability tools
• Experience with performance tuning, debugging and scalability challenges
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust across teams
• Practical leadership style focused on enabling engineers and removing blockers
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills
• A proactive, improvement-minded approach to engineering

Tech Stack

• Cloud
• Microservices
• PHP
• SQL

Benefits

• Online interview with the Talent Partner and Engineering Leads
• Online technical interview with the Head of Data and the Head of Platform
• At Reward Gateway, we are committed to ensuring an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all candidates. If you have any specific requirements or need reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment journey, please let your Talent Acquisition Partner know. Your needs are important to us, and we want to ensure an equitable experience for every candidate.
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