Lead Data Engineer

Lead Data Engineer

Job title: Lead Data Engineer

Location: Sofia

Overview of the role:

Lead Data Engineer provides technical leadership for a data engineering squad, combining hands-on pipeline development with responsibility for engineering standards, architectural decisions, and team coordination. Leads the delivery of reliable, well-governed data products within a cloud-based data lakehouse that enable analytics, reporting, and downstream AI/ML consumption. Leads teams in developing, operating and supporting data products and reporting required by our business.  Works closely with data platform, analytics, data science, and product teams to shape data engineering practices and ensure data models accurately represent poker gameplay, player activity, and commercial metrics. Requires deep technical expertise in data engineering combined with proven leadership in a squad-based delivery environment.

This role follows a hybrid approach to working, allowing you to combine working from home with working in our modern offices. These discussions are between you and your manager to find the best pattern for you both, while recognising that quality time together is essential for keeping us mission-aligned.
Our teams work from a lively location nestled within this historic city. Enjoy the best of both worlds with winter and summer offices, tantalizing free snacks and a gaming paradise for endless entertainment.

What you'll do:

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Set technical direction for the data engineering squad, establishing standards for pipeline design, data modelling patterns, testing practices, and code quality that the team follows consistently
• Lead architectural decisions for data pipeline and data model design, evaluating approaches for ingestion, transformation, and serving that balance performance, maintainability, and governance requirements
• Represent data engineering in cross-functional forums including architecture reviews, data governance discussions, and platform evolution planning

Pipeline Development & Data Modelling

• Design, build, and maintain complex batch and streaming data pipelines that ingest data from event streams, transform it through structured layers, and serve it to downstream consumers, setting patterns for the team to adopt
• Own and evolve core data models providing a single source of truth for poker gameplay, player activity, and commercial metrics, ensuring models are well-documented, performant, and aligned with business definitions
• Drive pipeline reliability and performance improvements, establishing monitoring, alerting, and data quality validation standards across the squad's pipeline estate

Team Coordination & Mentoring

• Coordinate work across the data engineering squad, ensuring effective task distribution, delivery cadence, and alignment with sprint commitments and stakeholder priorities
• Mentor and coach data engineers within the team, conducting code reviews, driving knowledge sharing, and raising the technical capability of the squad
• Support downstream consumers in understanding available data products and their appropriate use, acting as the primary technical point of contact for the squad's data domain

What you'll bring:

Essential

• 7+ years of experience building data pipelines in cloud-based data lakehouse or data warehouse environments, including both batch and streaming ingestion patterns
• Proven technical leadership experience within a data engineering team, including setting development standards, leading design discussions, and making architectural decisions
• Strong skills in Python and SQL for data transformation, processing, and pipeline development at scale
• Deep experience with event-driven data ingestion from streaming platforms, including schema management, consumer group coordination, and backfill strategies
• Solid understanding of data modelling concepts including star schema, medallion architecture, slowly changing dimensions, and data quality frameworks
• Excellent communication and leadership skills with the ability to coordinate across teams, mentor engineers, and engage with product, analytics, and platform stakeholders

Desirable

• Experience with Databricks, including notebooks, jobs, Delta Lake, and Unity Catalog for data governance in multi-team environments
• Familiarity with Kafka for stream ingestion and real-time data product consumption, including schema registry and Protobuf serialisation
• Experience with Terraform for data infrastructure provisioning and environment management
• Background in leading distributed data engineering teams across multiple locations
• Experience in regulated or B2B platform environments where data compliance, auditability, and multi-jurisdictional data handling are important
• Working knowledge of data quality monitoring frameworks and automated data validation practices

It’s ok if you don’t think you tick every box on this list. We love people who want to challenge themselves and are passionate about what they do. If you believe you can contribute in some areas and are eager to learn, we encourage you to apply.

Why choose us:

Aside from a generous base salary, we have a fantastic benefits & rewards program that is designed to encourage personal and career development.

• Discretionary annual performance bonus
• 30 days paid leave
• Health and Dental Insurance for you, your partner and your children (if you all live at the same address)
• Personal life insurance and disability coverage
• Wellbeing fund
• Continuous learning support for certifications and career growth
• 26 weeks primary carer leave at 100% pay & 4 weeks secondary carer leave pay at 100% pay, no eligibility period applies
• A sports’ card membership valid across the country
• Discounts as a compliment form us among different services
• Monthly food vouchers

Equal opportunities:

At Flutter International we are committed to creating an inclusive environment where our people can be their authentic selves and thrive. We embrace and celebrate diversity, respecting all our uniqueness and differences.

We welcome you to let us know whether you have any accessibility needs. All you need to do is email us at [email protected]. Your journey with us is focused on ensuring you have what you need to be your best self.

Learn more about the works we are doing on Inclusion and Belonging here: https://careers.flutterinternational.com/working-at-flutter-international/diversity-equity-inclusion/

The group:

PokerStars is a proud member of the Flutter Entertainment family, a global leader in sports betting, iGaming, and entertainment. We're not just another company; we're listed on both the prestigious FTSE 100 index on the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). What sets us apart is our world class brands, cutting-edge products, and our International division includes our operations in over 100 global markets and offers sports betting, casino, poker, rummy and lottery, mainly online. What truly defines us is our commitment to ensuring that the excitement of gaming and entertainment is experienced in a responsible and sustainable way. Our remarkable team of over 8,000 colleagues drives this vision, spread across 28 offices worldwide.