Data Engineering Lead
We have an exciting opportunity for a Data Engineering Lead to head up the team supporting our ERP services and help shape the transformation of how the organisation uses data.
Application deadline: Tuesday, 03 June 2025 - 23:45
Location: Cambridge, UK (Hybrid working)
Full-Time : 35 Hours per week
Contract: Open-ended
Salary: £55,000 per annum, plus competitive 12% pension benefit
Annual Leave : 25 days pro rata in year 1, increasing by 1 day pa to 28 days
BirdLife International is the world’s largest nature conservation partnership. Through our unique local-to-global approach, we deliver high impact and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people.
We are looking for a Data Engineering Lead to head up the team supporting our ERP services. In this role, you will take the lead on how we use data across the organisation - your work will have a meaningful impact on everything from business systems to scientific data.
How you will do this:
- Partnering with colleagues across the organisation to understand the organisational requirements.
- Helping design and selecting the right technology solutions to meet those requirements.
- Proposing resourcing options for development and ongoing support to business/conservation systems.
- Supporting, managing and maintaining the data fabric and underlying systems within the Azure environment.
- Helping to run, improve, and manage projects for our Unit 4 ERP system.
- Leading the Data Engineering team within the IT department.
- Researching and developing best practices for BirdLife IT to handle data.
- Working with teams across the organisation to keep things running smoothly and reliably.
- Designing, implementing, and managing databases and data models using Azure SQL Database, MySQL Database, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, and other Azure database services.
- Design and implementation of data strategy to include data pipelines, data warehousing and BI analytics.
Ideally you will have:
- Comprehensive experience of IaaS services – Azure, AWS.
- Expertise with database development and CI/CD pipelines.
- Experience of Azure Synapse and Azure Data factory.
- Experience with principles of continuous integration and deployment.
- Comprehensive experience of MS Azure.
- Experience of using version control (Git, Github)
- Comprehensive experience of databases. MySQL, TSQL, PostGIS, PostgreSQL.
- Extensive experience in scripting languages: PowerShell, bash, R and Python
- Proven ability to manage multiple technical projects.
- Proven ability to motivate and guide a small busy team.
See the full job description here.
Some of our benefits:
- We are able to offer a hybrid model of working on-site and from home/remote for most roles, which helps to ensure a flexible work-life balance.
- A chance to work in the award-winning David Attenborough Building, which brings together much of the Cambridge-based conservation community on a ‘conservation campus.’
- A generous pension scheme, up to 12% company contribution.
- Holiday starting at 25 days excluding Bank Holidays and increasing for every year of service up to a maximum of 28 days.
- Full access to LinkedIn Learning with access to more than 13,000 high-quality, on-demand courses.
- Cycle to work scheme.
- Employee Assistance Programme, including access to Health Assured online health portal (webinars, nutritional advice, 4-week programmes, financial wellbeing and more).
BirdLife values a diverse workforce and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Find out more about our Diversity statement.
We are committed to building and maintaining an inclusive and supportive culture, a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed on merit. We aim to promote a more inclusive environment, which attracts all candidates and signals our commitment to celebrate and promote diversity.
We will consider putting into place appropriate reasonable adjustments for candidates who may have a disability.
Interviews: Interviews will be held week commencing 09 June 2025
- Department
- IT
- Locations
- Cambridge, UK
- Remote status
- Hybrid
- Yearly salary
- £55,000
- Employment type
- Full-time

About BirdLife International
BirdLife International is the world’s largest nature conservation Partnership. Together we are 123 BirdLife Partners worldwide – one per country or territory – and growing.
We are driven by our belief that local people, working for nature in their own places but connected nationally and internationally through our global Partnership, are the key to sustaining all life on this planet.
Data Engineering Lead
We have an exciting opportunity for a Data Engineering Lead to head up the team supporting our ERP services and help shape the transformation of how the organisation uses data.
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