Forward Role Recruitment
Data Engineering Manager
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Data Engineering Manager (hands on) - Manchester
Manchester city centre (hybrid) 3 days on site per week
up to £88K + benefits
I’m working with a hypergrowth business in Manchester who are looking for a Data Engineering Manager. They have new PE investment behind them and a major transformation project is underway.
About the Role
This is a hands-on leadership role sitting at the centre of a significant data platform transformation. You will be running the data engineering squad, responsible for delivering the data infrastructure, pipelines, and reporting capabilities the wider business depends on.
They are moving away from traditional batch processing toward a real-time, event-driven architecture and you will be leading that technical journey while keeping everything running reliably in the meantime. It is not a steady-state role, there is a real mandate for change, proper investment to back it up, and a new Data Director coming in who wants to build something impressive.
What’s in it for you?
- £88,000
- Hybrid working, 3 days per week in Manchester City Centre
- 27 days holiday plus bank holidays, your birthday off
- Enhanced parental leave
- Income protection for up to 5 years, life assurance at 3x salary, health cash plan, virtual GP and therapy access
- Gym discounts, cycle to work, free food and a Friday bar + much more
- A genuine leadership seat at the table during a period of real transformation
- The chance to modernise a data platform from the ground up, event streaming, cloud-native, AI-ready
- Newly centralised data function with a clear path upward as it grows
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Must have:
- Cloud data engineering on AWS – this is non-negotiable
- People management and team leadership experience
- Strong SQL and T-SQL
- ETL/ELT pipelines, SSIS, Matillion or similar
- Data visualisation
- Infrastructure as Code awareness, Terraform or similar
- Stakeholder management
Nice to have:
- Real-time and event-driven data platform experience
- Lakehouse or cloud-native data platform architecture experience
- Data lakes, object storage, and large-scale analytical processing
- ML or advanced analytics exposure
- AWS security, networking and access control
- GDPR and data governance awareness
Day to Day:
- Leading and developing your data engineering squad performance conversations, career development, day-to-day support
- Getting hands-on across pipelines, cloud infrastructure, transformation layers, and reporting
- Driving the migration toward real-time, event-driven data processing
- Keeping existing SQL Server environments stable and performant while the modern platform is built out
- Working closely with stakeholders across the business to understand requirements and deliver solutions
- Embedding good engineering practices CI/CD, IaC, Agile where they are not already in place
- Mentoring colleagues and helping to grow capability across the team
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Why it’s a good time to join them?
The data, analytics and insights functions previously operated separately are being brought together for the first time under a single Data Director. That means you would be joining at the moment the foundation is being laid, not after the decisions have already been made.
There is a signed-off transformation programme, a technical roadmap that includes real-time streaming, AI-readiness and a move toward a modern cloud platform, and senior leadership that genuinely values data.
APPLY NOW
with your CV or email alicia@forwardrole.com
Please note the role cannot offer sponsorship and is not suitable for those on short term visas
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills