DataOps Engineering Manager

Job Description

About the role: 

Are you an experienced engineering leader who enjoys developing people as much as building great technology? As our DataOps Engineering Manager, you'll lead a team of 5+ engineers while remaining actively involved in hands-on engineering, shaping our data ingestion capabilities and contributing directly to the solutions your team delivers. 

This role offers a unique opportunity to combine people leadership, hands-on technical ownership, and stakeholder management, giving you the freedom to drive DataOps initiatives independently while making a tangible impact on our data platform. 

About the tech stack: 

Our DataOps environment is built around Azure Databricks, Azure Data Factory (ADF), and Apache Kafka for event streaming first, enabling scalable batch and event-driven data ingestion solutions within Microsoft Azure. 

We embrace CI/CD automation, automated framework testing, monitoring, logging, error handling, and solution optimization to build robust, scalable, and maintainable data pipelines. 

About your tasks: 

• Lead, coach, and develop your team: Take ownership of the people leadership of 5+ DataOps Engineers, supporting their professional growth through regular one-on-ones, mentoring, performance management, and career development. You'll foster a culture of accountability, technical excellence, and continuous learning while creating an environment where engineers can thrive. 

• Stay hands-on and build alongside your team: Actively contribute to the design, development, testing, and optimization of data ingestion frameworks and production-grade pipelines using Azure Databricks, ADF, and Kafka. You'll write code, solve complex engineering challenges, participate in code reviews, and lead by example, maintaining strong technical involvement alongside your management responsibilities. 

• Own the DataOps strategy and engineering roadmap: Independently drive DataOps initiatives, define technical priorities, and guide the evolution of our ingestion frameworks. You'll introduce and strengthen DevOps practices within Data Engineering, including CI/CD, automated testing, monitoring, logging, and error handling, while balancing delivery commitments with long-term platform scalability and reliability. 

• Build strong stakeholder partnerships: Collaborate closely with Data Architects, engineering leaders, product teams, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into scalable technical solutions. You'll align priorities, manage expectations, communicate progress and risks, and ensure engineering initiatives support broader business objectives. 

• Drive engineering excellence and continuous improvement: Take an active role in improving pipeline performance, reliability, observability, and cost efficiency. You'll help establish engineering standards, address technical debt, troubleshoot production challenges, and encourage your team to continuously improve the quality and maintainability of our data solutions. 

Qualifications

About you: 

• People leadership experience: You have proven experience managing and developing engineering teams of 5+ people, ideally within Data Engineering, DataOps, or platform engineering. You enjoy mentoring engineers, providing meaningful feedback, managing performance, and building a collaborative, high-performing team. 

• Hands-on DataOps engineering expertise: You have extensive practical experience designing, developing, and maintaining data ingestion pipelines using Azure Databricks, Azure Data Factory (ADF), and Apache Kafka. You're comfortable writing production-ready code, implementing ingestion frameworks, troubleshooting complex pipelines, and contributing directly to engineering deliverables. You have strong knowledge of CI/CD, automated testing, monitoring, logging, error handling, and performance optimization. 

• Stakeholder management and technical ownership: You have experience working with Data Architects, engineering teams, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions. You can independently drive complex initiatives, manage competing priorities, make sound architectural decisions, and communicate technical trade-offs clearly. 

• Balanced leadership mindset: You enjoy being both a people manager and an active engineer. You know when to empower your team and when to get directly involved in solving technical challenges. You value knowledge sharing, constructive feedback, and building reliable solutions together rather than managing engineering solely from a distance. 

Additional Information

About your benefits: 

In order to provide you with the best possible support for your individual needs - whether it‘s living a healthy life, having enough time for your family, or developing your skills - we offer a wide range of different, site-specific benefits: 

• Work from Home: If your job does not require you to be present in the office, we can arrange the place you work from individually - even for up to 20 days a year anywhere in the EU. 

• Personal development: Grow! We support and encourage your individual development through various in- and external trainings. 

• Vacation: 30 days paid vacation per annum (plus another day on Rosenmontag) and the option to take unpaid vacation of up to 10 days (after one year working with us). 

• Sports: Stay healthy. Profit from a membership (M) package at Urban Sports Club, so that you can take advantage of a huge variety of sport offers. 

• Redcare events: We promote teambuilding through creative team events, and celebrate our successes together at regularly scheduled parties. 

Compensation Grade: Grade 14