[Hiring] Senior Data Engineer / Developer @Smart Working Solutions

Role Description

As a Senior Data Engineer / Developer, you will take primary ownership of data across the business, delivering end-to-end data engineering solutions and supporting backend development. This is a senior, hands-on role with approximately 75% of your time focused on data engineering and 25% on backend development.

• Work closely with the CFO on financial analysis and reporting.
• Collaborate with two existing developers where deeper application development is required.
• Improve the existing data environment, supporting financial operations.
• Deliver practical solutions that improve efficiency and business visibility.
• Work independently, taking ownership from concept through to production.
• Make commercially sensible technical decisions.

Responsibilities

• Take end-to-end ownership of data across the business, independently managing requirements from concept through to production.
• Collaborate with two existing developers where deeper application development is required.
• Prioritise payroll-related data requirements and develop a new invoicing system to automate the existing highly manual invoicing process.
• Assess the legacy SQL database and wider Azure data environment, recommending and implementing practical improvements.
• Build and maintain data pipelines and integrations across Azure, HubSpot, Xero and Stripe.
• Analyse club financial performance and membership utilisation, producing reports for clubs and internal dashboards.
• Combine HubSpot and financial data to provide visibility into campaign costs, customer acquisition costs and overall business costs.
• Develop data services, REST APIs and backend functionality to integrate data and insights into the application, accounting for approximately 25% of the role.
• Maintain the existing Power BI environment and evaluate its suitability against cost and reporting requirements, recommending alternative tools where they provide better value.
• Automate manual business processes and data handling using Power Automate or other appropriate tools.
• Work closely with the CFO and leadership to translate financial and business requirements into practical data solutions.
• Deliver meaningful analysis against established business KPIs, supporting financial reporting and decision-making.
• Evaluate technical approaches pragmatically, prioritising improvements to existing systems where appropriate rather than unnecessary rebuilds.
• Handle sensitive payroll and financial information responsibly, maintaining appropriate confidentiality and care.

Qualifications

• Strong SQL and T-SQL expertise, including data modelling and experience improving legacy SQL databases.
• Hands-on experience building and maintaining data pipelines and integrations within Microsoft Azure, including Azure SQL, Azure Data Factory and Azure Data Lake Storage.
• Commercial backend development experience, including REST API development, system integrations and Git.
• Strong Power BI experience, including DAX, Power Query / M, Dataflows and Paginated Reports.
• Ability to evaluate Power BI costs, limitations and alternative business intelligence solutions without being dependent on a single tool.
• Experience automating business processes and data workflows, with the ability to deliver practical automation solutions.
• Proven ability to translate business and financial requirements into working data engineering solutions.
• Demonstrated end-to-end ownership of data engineering requirements, from initial concept through to production delivery.
• Strong data engineering expertise combined with genuine backend development capability, suitable for a role split approximately 75% data engineering and 25% backend development.
• Experience working with existing or legacy data environments and identifying pragmatic improvements.
• Excellent spoken English communication skills, with the ability to explain technical work and sensitive financial information clearly to the CFO and senior leadership.
• Ability to work independently, take initiative and deliver solutions without relying on detailed specifications.
• Collaborative approach to working with a small development team while maintaining ownership of individual deliverables.
• Commercial awareness and sound technical judgement, including the ability to recommend more cost-effective tools or approaches.
• Trustworthiness and discretion when handling confidential payroll, financial and business information.

Nice to Have

• Experience working with financial processes and systems, including payroll, invoicing, billing automation, Xero or Stripe.
• Experience in financial modelling and forecasting.
• Experience with .NET and Azure application development.
• Experience working with HubSpot data, marketing cost analysis or marketing attribution.
• Familiarity with Metabase or other business intelligence and reporting tools.
• Experience using Fivetran.