Lead Data Engineer

The Lead Data Engineer connects the data suppliers (α-engineers) to the data users (β-engineers). The data suppliers (i.e. data owners and stewards in IT terminology) have the responsibility to provide clean data, meta- and masterdata to the data engineer, who is enabled to harmonize and connect the data and present it to the data users and facilitates them (e.g. CTO Energy, Quality, Supply Chain, Reliability, Process).

As a lead data engineer you are part of a dedicated Data Team and in close contact with the Data Governance Officer, the data architects and the industrial IT teams. You will be physically located in a manufacturing plant, but working corporate, reporting to the global CDO to preserve standardization and governance.

As a Lead Data Engineer,
 

• Leadership & Strategy
  • Lead and mentor a team of data engineers to design and implement robust, scalable, and high-performance data solutions.
  • Define and enforce best practices for data engineering, ensuring standardization and governance across projects.
  • Collaborate with business stakeholders, IT architects, and data governance teams to align data strategies with business objectives.
  • Act as a bridge between data engineers, data scientists, business users, and IT teams to ensure seamless collaboration.
• Technical Excellence
  • Design, develop, and maintain scalable data pipelines, ensuring optimal data integration, transformation, and storage.
  • Drive efficiency in ETL/ELT processes, data lakehouse management, and data virtualization techniques.
  • Ensure data is harmonized and standardized across multiple sources for accurate reporting and analytics.
  • Optimize Azure-based data infrastructure (Databricks, Microsoft Data Fabric) for performance, security, and cost efficiency.
  • Implement best practices for role-based access management, cluster management, and software deployment in the Azure cloud environment.
• Data Governance & Quality
  • Establish and enforce data quality standards and validation rules to ensure accuracy and reliability.
  • Drive the adoption of Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) and version control systems (GIT) for streamlined deployments.
  • Promote the implementation of CI/CD pipelines for automated data deployment and monitoring.
  • Ensure compliance with data security policies and regulatory requirements.

As a Lead Data Engineer, you:

• Hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Computer Science, IT, or Engineering.
• Have 10+ years of experience in data engineering, with a proven track record of designing and implementing scalable data architectures.
• Have experience in a leadership role, managing and mentoring data engineers.
• Are proficient in Azure cloud technologies, Databricks, and Microsoft Data Fabric.
• Have deep knowledge of big data frameworks, distributed cloud computing, and storage.
• Are skilled in SQL, Python, and Spark, with expertise in data modeling and optimization.
• Have experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform) and CI/CD pipelines.
• Have strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate business needs into data solutions.
• Possess excellent communication and leadership skills, enabling you to work cross-functionally with different teams.
• Are fluent in English (both spoken and written); good knowledge of French, Portuguese, or Dutch is a plus

Join Aperam, the world-leading stainless steel company that values sustainability and a positive impact on the world. Our 10,700 employees work hard every day to provide affordable long-lasting steel and alloy solutions that support a sustainable society. With our new Recycling and Renewables segment, we're at the forefront of the circular economy, using about 90% scrap metal in our production processes in Europe and producing charcoal from our FSC®-certified forestry in Brazil as a natural and renewable substitute for fossil fuels. 
Aperam is listed on the Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Madrid, and Luxembourg stock exchanges, with a production capacity of 2.5 million tons and customers in over 40 countries. In our company, we value i