Senior Data Engineer - Europe
Hiscox · Lisbon
Job Type:
PermanentBuild a brilliant future with Hiscox
About Hiscox
Hiscox is an international insurer specialising in luxury goods & property markets, as well as high-end professional insurance. As experts in risk, we empower individuals and businesses to achieve their ambitions. With offices in 9 European countries, we boast a highly international workforce, fostering a culture of inclusion, collaboration, and personal and professional growth.
About the Hiscox Data Team
The Europe Data Team is a cross-country, multidisciplinary group responsible for driving and enabling Hiscox Europe’s data capabilities. We combine expertise in Data Engineering, Data Analysis, and Data Management to deliver high-quality data pipelines, insightful reporting, and strong governance frameworks, working closely with business teams across Europe.
Our mission is to ensure trusted, consistent, and accessible data that empowers smarter decision-making and supports the evolution of our enterprise Hiscox Data Strategy.
The Role
The Senior Data Engineer for the Europe Data Team leads the design and evolution of our European data platform, which uses Microsoft Azure and Databricks. This role drives technical decisions aligned with the Hiscox Data Strategy, ensuring our data solutions are scalable, robust, efficient, and cost-effective.
Working with Data Analysts, Data Management, and business stakeholders across Europe, the Senior Data Engineer owns end-to-end engineering delivery for key platform components, sets the engineering standards the team works to, and leads the day-to-day work of a small engineering pod, while appraisal and progression remain with the Data Engineering Manager.
With ongoing data transformation in Europe, including the migration to Databricks and the decommissioning of legacy platforms, this position offers the chance to shape the technical direction of the platform while supporting daily operations and existing commitments.
Key Responsibilities
Platform Design & Engineering
- Lead the design and implementation of complex data pipelines and platform architecture on Databricks;
- Own the technical direction of the platform, including compute strategy, governance, and Delta Lake standards;
- Ensure the scalability, performance, and reliability of the Europe Data Platform;
- Lead data modelling and optimise data structures to ensure scalability, performance, and maintainability.
Platform Operations & Cost
- Own deployment execution, CI/CD, and observability, ensuring reliability and consistency of release processes;
- Drive infrastructure cost management (FinOps), identifying and delivering optimisation opportunities;
- Lead troubleshooting and resolution of complex data and platform issues;
- Act as a senior escalation point for platform incidents, ensuring timely resolution and follow-up.
Technical Leadership
- Define and enforce best practices in data engineering (standards, patterns, governance);
- Lead the day-to-day work of the engineering pod, including allocation, sequencing, and delivery quality;
- Mentor and support the development of junior and mid-level engineers through technical guidance and ongoing feedback;
- Contribute to hiring, onboarding, and the continuous improvement of engineering practices.
Collaboration & Solution Design
- Collaborate with senior stakeholders to understand and translate requirements into technical solutions;
- Partner with Data Analysts and Data Management to deliver end-to-end data solutions;
- Work with IT, Architecture, and Group Data teams on platform integration;
- Evaluate and integrate new technologies and improvements, including automation and AI-supported engineering practices.
Skills
Technical Skills
- Hands-on experience with Databricks is a must, including Spark/PySpark, Delta Lake, job orchestration, cluster configuration, and performance tuning;
- Experience with Unity Catalog, data governance, and access management within Databricks;
- Deep understanding of data modelling (star schema) and ETL processes;
- Advanced experience with SQL and Python; strong knowledge of Azure Data Services, including Azure Data Factory;
- Experience with CI/CD, version control, and deployment automation for data pipelines (e.g., Azure DevOps, Git);
- Experience with platform monitoring, observability, and cloud cost management (FinOps).
Functional Skills
- Ability to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions;
- Strong communication skills, able to explain technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders;
- Experience leading the day-to-day work of a small engineering team;
- Experience in Data Engineering or Data & Analytics roles (5+ years);
- Experience leading platform migrations, ideally within the insurance industry.
Education & Languages
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field;
- Fluent in English, both spoken and written.
Person Specification
- Comfortable operating in complex, cross-functional environments with evolving priorities;
- Takes ownership and accountability for technical outcomes end to end;
- Able to communicate ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences;
- Pragmatic in balancing technical excellence with delivery commitments;
- Motivated by developing others and raising the technical bar of the team;
- Resilient, adaptable, and committed to continuous learning and improvement.
Work with amazing people and be part of a unique culture