THG
Head of Engineering & Governance
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Head of Engineering & Governance
Head of Engineering and Governance – THG
About THG
We are THG, a global e-commerce group on a mission to be the global online leader in beauty and sports nutrition.
Our portfolio of leading retailers and brands such as LOOKFANTASTIC, Myprotein, ESPA, Perricone MD, and Cult Beauty form our two core businesses: THG Beauty and THG Nutrition.
From Manchester to New York, we’re powered by a team of over 2,500 people who work together, lead by example, and think BIG.
With us, you’ll go further, faster. What are you waiting for?
Location: Icon 1, WA15 0AF
About Central Functions
Central Functions is formed of the teams and people that serve the entire business. These people are integral to the smooth running of the business: ensuring everyone is paid on time, that materials are sourced and arrive promptly, that legal obligations are met, and that health, safety, and security are safeguarded.
Why Be the Head of Engineering and Governance at THG?
THG is building a world-class data function to power one of the UK’s largest e-commerce businesses. As Head of Engineering & Governance, you will:
- Own the quality, availability, and structure of the data that enables every business-facing team across our Beauty and Nutrition divisions.
- Lead data engineering, governance, and reporting—the layer above foundational platform plumbing.
You will not oversee low-level platform management; instead, you’ll shape how data are structured, governed, and used to deliver actionable insights.
You will direct three functions—Engineering (building and maintaining data platforms), Governance (ensuring quality and trust), and Reporting (consistent business performance visibility)—collaborating with Ingenuity to define requirements flowing from ingestion to insight.
We’re at the start of this journey. Our data foundations need significant development, requiring a leader to build and deliver a roadmap to fix:
-Analytics teams currently lack structured tools ; no formal governance framework; and reporting has grown without consistency.
It’s a greenfield opportunity—shape and restructure this function from the ground up.
What You’ll Do
Strategic Direction
- Set the vision and roadmap for data engineering, governance, and reporting across THG PLC.
- Define and structure data domains (Customer, Commercial, Operations) for analytics, data science, and AI use cases.
- Own relationships with Ingenuity on platform/data matters—setting requirements, managing dependencies, ensuring that THG’s needs are reflected in Ingenuity’s roadmap.
- Assess whether THG should leverage Ingenuity’s capabilities or external tools, with all tech choices documented and commercially justified.
- Drive adoption of a single source of truth, breaking down data silos, resolving conflicts, and fostering confidence in the organisation’s data.
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Engineering & Data Platform
- Lead the team building/maintaining data pipelines, domain datasets, and platform architecture across Beauty and Nutrition.
- Own the evolution of our GCP/BigQuery platform—from ingestion to storage to the structure of data for downstream consumption.
- Set engineering standards (version control, testing, error handling, documentation) and enforce compliance.
- Champion AI and automation in data engineering, embedding AI-assisted solutions in pipeline development and management for speed and efficiency.
Data Governance
- Lead data governance from scratch—founding a governance framework that ensures oversight of data quality, metadata, definitions, and lineage.
- Collaborate with Ingenuity on governance standards across the entire PLC data architecture.
- Build cultural adoption, ensuring governance adds value to teams and is not a compliance burden.
Reporting & BI
- Ensure the consistency and quality of business performance dashboards, KPI reports, and executive overviews across THG PLC.
- Standardise all regularly used reports/dashboards—eliminating ad-hoc reporting and enforcing managed workflows.
- Oversee the evolution of our Tableau estate, assessing when new or complementary BI tools should be adopted.
Leadership & People
- Lead a high-performing team across Engineering, Governance, and Reporting.
- Develop direct reports to be strong leaders while setting clear expectations for each function.
- Foster a culture of excellence, curiosity, and continuous improvement.
- Influence and educate senior stakeholders in data literacy and trust in data assets.
Required Skills and Experience
Essential
- Significant experience (8+ years) in data engineering, data platforms, or leadership roles, with at least three of those at a senior/Head-of level.
- Deep hands-on expertise with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and BigQuery—proven background in building and scaling platforms atop these stacks.
- Experience working across multiple data domains—ideally at least two of Customer, Commercial, and Operations.
- Proven track record of transforming data architecture—provide concrete examples of how you’ve changed ingestion, storage, and data accessibility in previous roles.
- Mastery of data governance principles including data quality, metadata, master data, and lineage.
- Experience collaborating with technology partners or platform teams (akin to THG’s engagement with Ingenuity).
- AI application in data engineering contexts such as AI-assisted pipeline development, automated quality monitoring, or comparable automation strategies.
- Strong leadership and stakeholder management—ability to influence effectively at Director and C-suite levels.
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Desirable
- Experience in e-commerce, retail, or consumer goods.
- Familiarity with Dataform or dbt transformation frameworks.
- Experience with data cataloguing or governance tools (e.g., Collibra, Alation, or DataHub).
- Exposure to ML/AI platform requirements, understanding data foundational needs for AI initiatives, personalisation, and wider data science applications.
Benefits and Perks
Career Development
- Access to custom in-house learning and development programmes, led by our L&D team.
- Continued skill-building through partnerships with leading trainer providers.
Enhanced Leave
- 25 days annual leave + public holidays.
- Birthday off paid—yes, we respect your celebration!
- Enriched maternity/paternity pay based on tenure.
- Up to 10 days compassionate leave.
- Opportunity to buy back up to three days per year.
- Earn two days volunteer leave after 12 months of service.
Wellbeing Support
- On-site GP consultations by private medical practitioners.
- Access to 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) via Bupa.
- State-of-the-art on-site gym.
- Availability of professional on-site physiotherapy.
Other Perks
- Salary sacrifice scheme allowing a 12% discount on personal technology purchases.
- Subsidised bus travel between Manchester City Centre and our Icon office.
- Up to 50% staff discount on THG brands.
- On-site staff shop for promotional and branded goods.
- Employee referral bonuses—earn up to £1000 when referred candidates pass probation.
- Anniversary gifts for 5- and 10-year company milestones.
THG’s Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
THG prides itself as a Disability Confident Committed employer. If invited to interview, please disclose any reasonable adjustments needed for a fair assessment of your abilities.
We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.
Note: Due to high application volumes, replies may take up to 14 days. For inquiries or details, contact the Talent team.
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