Head of Analytics Engineering

Shawbrook

Data Platform

London, England, GB

Posted on

Employer reference: REF1619I

The Opportunity

Shawbrook provides finance to a wide range of customer segments that value the premium experience, flexibility and certainly we deliver.  We are a purpose-led organisation, with a focus on delivering long-term sustainable value for all our stakeholders.

We have a diversified offering, with our innovative lending propositions tailored to meet specific customer needs in carefully selected markets across SME, Real Estate and Personal. Our products range from complex structured credit facilities for growth-focused businesses to mortgages for professional landlords and property investors, as well as simple loans for consumers delivered digitally.  We fuel our lending through customer deposits, which we attract by delivering a premium experience, choice and consistently great value to smart savers.

The business model we have created is unique and difficult to replicate, with our ‘best of both’ approach combining deep human expertise with advanced digital, tech and data capabilities.  This combination not only allows us to deliver excellent customer experiences, but to do so efficiently and at scale.  We are proud of our innovative and agile culture, which drives consistently high employee engagement scores and makes Shawbrook an attractive destination for the best talent. If you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, contribute new ideas and believe anything is possible, you’re our kind of person.

Work with us because you:

  • Want to be part of a bank built for the dynamics of the modern world
  • Relish a challenge and enjoy a fast-paced, innovative and hardworking culture
  • Enjoy finding new and better ways to solve complexity and make things happen
  • Want to belong to a diverse culture that stands shoulder to shoulder with minority and underrepresented groups
  • Care about society and the environment and want to be part of a business that cares too
  • Want to continue to grow professionally and be the best version of yourself

The Role & Responsibilities

The Head of Analytics Engineering is a leadership role accountable for how data is transformed, structured and delivered for analytics, reporting and data science across Shawbrook, as well as the performance, capability and culture of the teams that build and operate them.

This role owns the bank’s analytics engineering capability, ensuring that data is shaped into high-quality, reusable and trusted assets that enable faster, better decision-making and support both commercial and regulatory outcomes. You will lead the development of Strategic Data Assets and the analytics data layer, bridging the gap between core data platforms and business consumption.

You will define and embed standards for data modelling and transformation, ensuring consistency, reuse and clarity across the analytics landscape. This includes driving adoption of common definitions, reducing duplication and enabling a scalable self-service experience for business users, aligned to the bank’s ambition to create a trustworthy and accessible analytics ecosystem.

The role is accountable for building and leading a high-performing Analytics Engineering team, setting clear expectations and ways of working that balance speed of delivery with control and quality. You will foster a culture of ownership, collaboration and continuous improvement, ensuring teams take responsibility for the usability and reliability of the data they produce.

Working closely with the Head of Data Engineering & Architecture, this role ensures that upstream platform and architectural decisions enable effective downstream consumption. You will also partner with Data Governance to embed controls, lineage and data quality into analytics outputs, supporting regulatory expectations and improving confidence in data across the bank.

Key Responsibilities

  • Own and lead the Analytics Engineering capability, with accountability for how data is transformed, modelled and delivered for analytics, reporting and data science use cases.
  • Define and maintain the roadmap for analytics data models and Strategic Data Assets. Establish and embed consistent modelling standards, data contracts and transformation patterns that enable reuse, scalability and trust in data.
  • Lead the development and adoption of Strategic Data Assets, ensuring clear ownership, quality, and alignment to a bank-wide data model
  • Partner closely with Data Engineering & Architecture to ensure upstream design enables downstream usability, avoiding rework and fragmentation.
  • Collaborate with Data Governance to embed controls, data quality rules and lineage into outputs, supporting BCBS239-aligned outcomes on accuracy, completeness and traceability .
  • Work with business stakeholders to translate use cases into reusable data products, balancing bespoke delivery with standardisation. Act as the senior point of contact, providing clarity and confidence to users on what data exists, how it should be used and how it is governed.
  • Build and lead a high-performing team of analytics engineers, setting clear expectations on delivery quality, ownership and accountability.

 

    The Person

    Skills & Experience

    • Proven experience leading analytics engineering, data modelling or transformation teams in complex data environments.
    • Strong expertise in modern data transformation practices (e.g. ELT, data contracts, semantic layers) and modern analytics tooling such as dbt.
    • Strong stakeholder management, with the ability to translate business requirements into structured, reusable data solutions.
    • Experience driving adoption of shared data assets and reducing fragmentation across multiple teams or business units.
    • Experience building reusable, scalable data models that support both analytics and reporting use cases.
    • Deep understanding of how data modelling, quality and lineage underpin trusted analytics and regulatory reporting.
    • Track record of balancing delivery of business outcomes with the introduction of standards and controls.
    • Experience working in regulated environments where accuracy, auditability and control are critical.
    • Strong collaboration with engineering and architecture teams.

    Desirable experience

    • Experience operating within a hub-and-spoke data operating model.
    • Familiarity with metadata management, data cataloguing and lineage tooling.
    • Familiarity with Strategic Data Asset concepts, data contracts and domain-oriented data ownership.
    • Exposure to financial services, banking or similarly regulated industries.

    Key attributes

    • Pragmatic technical leader who can set direction without over-engineering.
    • Strong ownership mindset, taking accountability for how data is used and trusted, not just how it is built.
    • Able to simplify complex data landscapes into clear, usable structures for end users.
    • Strong people leader who builds trust, capability and psychological safety.
    • Outcome-focused, with a bias toward delivering usable, high-quality data rather than theoretical models.
    • Comfortable operating at both strategic and delivery levels, setting direction while staying close to execution.

    Reward

    Your Wellbeing - We take your health and well-being very seriously by providing a range of benefits to give you and your family peace of mind. These include:

    • Market-leading family-friendly policies, such as access to our Maternity, Adoption and Paternity policies from Day 1 of your employment
    • Free access to Headspace, a mindfulness & meditation digital health app
    • Free access to Peppy digital health app that offers personalised support through fertility treatment, becoming a parent, or menopause
    • EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) - Offering you support on a wide range of subjects, including financial concerns, mental wellbeing and more general queries around family, work, housing, and health
    • Cycle to work scheme
    • Discounts on gym membership
    • Contributory pension scheme & death in service

    Your Lifestyle - It’s important you strike the right balance between your work and personal life. We provide benefits to support you when at work and when you’re enjoying your leisure time.

    • Minimum of 27 days' holiday per year
    • Option to buy or sell holiday days through our flexi-holiday scheme
    • Discounts on gym membership nationwide
    • Access to discounts on a range of high street and online brands
    • Community support and charitable giving

    Your Contribution - We’re focused on rewarding those who go the extra mile in helping us achieve our goals.

    • Participation in our annual discretionary bonus scheme is designed to reward your contribution to our success
    • Proudly Shawbrook recognition scheme focuses on recognising our role models and thanking our colleagues for a job well done

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