Lead Data Engineer

Lead Data Engineer

Who we are 

We are Two Circles. We are a Sports & Entertainment Marketing business. We grow audiences and revenues. We do that by knowing fans best. We work with clients to help them understand & influence what their fans are doing – the way fans spend their money, the events that fans attend, the channels fans respond to, the content fans watch and more. And we use the understanding this gives us to help our clients grow. Grow their audiences and grow their revenues - both direct to consumer and business to business revenues. Our platforms and services are trusted by over 900 clients globally, including the English Premier League, Red Bull, UEFA, VISA, the NFL, Nike and Amazon. We are almost 1000 people, based out of 14 offices, and we deliver work for sports and entertainment businesses of all shapes and sizes all over the world. 

What You Will Do 

We’re looking for a Lead Data Engineer to join our team of 100+ Data & BI Engineers, building our Audience Intelligence Platform and Helix data products—powering data-driven decision-making across the global sports and entertainment industry. 

Helix is our customer data platform (CDP) and master data management (MDM) solution, enabling organizations to unify fan data, create golden records, and drive personalized engagement through segmentation and insights. 

This is a hands-on technical individual contributor role where you will design, build, and scale data integration capabilities using Scala, distributed data processing (Spark), and AWS technologies. You’ll own delivery end-to-end while mentoring engineers and shaping how data flows into and across the Helix platform. 

You will play a key role in developing reusable, extensible data integration frameworks that enable rapid onboarding of new data sources and ensure reliable, scalable data pipelines. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Own end-to-end delivery of Helix data engineering and integration projects—from design through to deployment, monitoring, and production support

• Build and operate scalable data ingestion and processing pipelines using AWS services (e.g., S3, EMR/Spark, ECS, Lambda)

• Develop and maintain data workflows that support customer identity resolution, fan segmentation, and golden record creation

• Work with data storage and warehouse technologies such as PostgreSQL, Redshift, and S3-based data lakes

• Design, implement, and optimize ETL/ELT pipelines for large-scale structured and semi-structured data

• Define and enforce engineering best practices across code quality, testing, CI/CD, and deployment processes

• Troubleshoot complex data and system issues, ensuring high reliability, performance, and scalability

• Collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, and Data teams to deliver high-impact data solutions aligned to business needs

• Mentor and guide engineers through code reviews, pairing, and technical leadership, supporting their growth and delivery capability

• Continuously improve the Helix platform with a focus on reusability, observability, scalability, and maintainability

Requirements 

Core Experience 

• Strong experience in data engineering, with a focus on data ingestion, integration systems, and large-scale data processing

• Experience working with distributed data processing frameworks such as Spark

• Advanced proficiency in Scala and Python, with strong software engineering and object-oriented programming skills

• Hands-on experience with AWS, including services such as S3, EMR, ECS, Lambda, or similar

• Strong experience with SQL and relational databases, particularly PostgreSQL and/or Redshift

• Experience building ETL/ELT pipelines and working with data lakes and data warehouses

• Experience integrating data from APIs, files, and multiple external/internal systems

• Strong understanding of data modeling, data warehousing, and big data concepts

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and modern software development practices

• Proven ability to own and deliver projects end-to-end in a fast-paced environment

Leadership & Collaboration 

• Experience mentoring or leading engineers in a hands-on technical capacity

• Ability to break down complex problems and guide teams toward pragmatic, scalable solutions

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Ability to balance hands-on development with leadership responsibilities and delivery ownership

• Strong ownership mindset with a focus on delivering high-quality outcomes

Nice to Have 

• Experience working on Customer Data Platforms (CDP), Master Data Management (MDM), or identity resolution systems

• Experience building or working with multi-tenant SaaS data platforms

• Experience with data quality, data governance, or lineage frameworks

• Exposure to real-time or streaming data processing architectures

• Experience in sports, media, entertainment, or marketing analytics domains

What We’re Looking For 

We’re looking for a hands-on technical leader who enjoys building reliable, scalable data systems and working closely with engineers to deliver real outcomes. 

You’ll be successful in this role if you: 

• Enjoy coding and solving complex data engineering problems

• Take ownership of delivery from design through to production

• Thrive in environments where systems evolve incrementally rather than being built from scratch

• Care deeply about data quality, reliability, and performance

• Are comfortable working within and improving existing frameworks and platforms

• Enjoy mentoring engineers and raising the overall capability of the team

• Are excited by the opportunity to help organizations better understand and engage their customers and fans 

Professional Growth: Work on a variety of projects, enhancing your testing skills across different applications and technologies.

Impactful Work : Play a key role in delivering high-quality solutions that shape the future of the sports and entertainment industries.

Collaborative Environment : Be part of a team that values ideas, fosters a supportive atmosphere, and encourages continuous learning and improvement.

Innovative Culture: Join a company committed to revolutionizing fan and stakeholder engagement through cutting-edge technology.

Equal Opportunity Employer: Two Circles is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.