Data Platform & Engineering Lead

Data Platform & Engineering Lead

Because your new ideas are our way new ways of working. Evolve, your way.

We are seeking a hands on Data Platform & Engineering Lead to drive Primark’s migration from Teradata to a modern Databricks Lakehouse environment. You will establish and lead a high performing data engineering function, define platform strategy, and deliver scalable, secure data pipelines. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise (SQL, Python/PySpark, Databricks) with strong leadership capability.

What You’ll Get 

People are at the heart of what we do here, so it’s essential we provide you with the right environment to perform at your very best. Let’s talk lifestyle:

• Healthcare, pension, and potential bonus.
• 27 days of leave, plus bank holidays and if you want, you can buy 5 more.

Because Primark is all about tailoring to you, we offer Tax Saver Tickets, fitness centre, and a subsidised cafeteria.

What You’ll Do as an Data Platform & Engineering Lead

We want you to feel challenged and inspired. Here, you’ll develop your skills across a range of responsibilities:

• Lead the end‑to‑end migration from Teradata to a cloud‑native Databricks platform, ensuring performance, governance, and scalability.
• Design and implement scalable data pipelines and ETL/ELT workflows using Databricks, Python/PySpark, and advanced SQL.
• Architect and maintain medallion/lakehouse data models (bronze/silver/gold).
• Build and mentor a data engineering team, defining coding standards, best practices, and delivery processes.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with analytics, data science, and business teams to deliver high‑quality data solutions.

What You’ll Bring  

Here at Primark, we want everyone to feel valued – so please bring your authentic self to work, of course with some other key experience and abilities for this role in particular:

• Strong hands‑on expertise in Databricks and Spark (including Delta Lake and Databricks SQL), advanced SQL, and migration of enterprise workloads from Teradata to modern cloud platforms.
• Experience delivering and operating scalable data platforms on Azure (Data Lake, Data Factory, Unity Catalog desirable), with a strong focus on performance, reliability, and data quality.
• Proven technical leader, guiding architecture and engineering standards while leading internal and third‑party teams in agile, fast‑paced environments.
• Demonstrated ability to translate data platform and engineering outcomes into measurable commercial value, including cost optimisation, faster insights, and improved business performance.
• Product‑ and value‑driven mindset, managing data platforms as products through roadmapping, service levels, adoption, and value‑based backlog prioritisation aligned to OKRs/KPIs.
• Strong commercial acumen and problem‑solving capability, with experience in cloud cost and performance optimisation (FinOps) and stakeholder decision support.
• Collaborative and inspirational leader with retail experience, known for coaching teams, driving continuous improvement, and building a high‑performance learning culture aligned to Primark values.

Does this sound like you? Great, because we can’t wait to see what you’ll bring. You’ll be supported within a team of equally capable people, celebrating who you are and aiding you reach your potential. At Primark, we’re excited about our future - and we’re excited to develop yours.  

About Primark 

At Primark, people matter. They’re the beating heart of our business and the reason we’ve grown from our first store in Dublin in 1969 to a £9bn+ turnover business and over 80,000 colleagues and over 440 stores in 17 countries today. Our values run through everything we do. In essence, we're Caring and always strive to put people first. We're also Dynamic, bravely pushing the boundaries to stay ahead. And finally, we succeed Together.     

If you need any reasonable adjustments or have an accessibility request, during your recruitment journey, such as extended time or breaks between online assessments, a sign language interpreter, mobility access, or assistive technology please contact your talent acquisition specialist. 

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All offers of employment are subject to background checks, including right to work, reference education and for some roles criminal, and financial checks. If you have any concerns, please reach out to our talent acquisition team to discuss. 
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