Lead Data Platform Engineer

About this role

About us
We are a leading consultancy with a purpose to make an enduring impact on health and healthcare. We work with leaders and frontline teams to improve health, transform healthcare, drive adoption of innovation and create value through investment.
Our consultancy serves the entire healthcare sector, from payors and providers of care, to life science companies, health tech and sector suppliers and health investors. We provide end-to-end services, from strategy through implementation, accelerated by data, digital and AI.
We shape opinion through evidence-based thought leadership on key issues affecting health. With unmatched ability to access and use health data, our consultants are a driving force for delivering positive and meaningful change.
About the role
The Lead Platform Engineer is the senior technical lead for CF’s data platform, combining design authority over platform architecture, helping to mentor and direct the data engineering team and managing delivery of platform and data engineering workstreams.
The role sits within CF’s unified data function (Data Innovation and Data Ops), which is led by the Director of Data, Analytics and Intelligence, as the most senior role within the function’s Data Ops team. Within the team this role sits alongside the Lead Data Scientist(s).
Operating with delegated design authority from the Director of Data, Analytics and Intelligence, the Lead Platform Engineer translates the company’s strategic architectural direction into detailed technical designs, implementation patterns and platform standards, enabling the engineering team to execute against them.
They bring deep technical expertise, experience and knowledge to support the Director in delivery and the strategic architecture, technology strategy, vendor relationships, commercial targets and regulatory frameworks within which the Lead Platform Engineer operates.
They help to coach and manage the data engineer(s) within the Data Operations team. They own the day to day management of the platform and lead data engineering and infrastructure workstreams. They own the platform, infrastructure and data engineering capability that underpins it. The Lead Platform Engineer works collaboratively with the Lead Data Scientist(s), who manage the data science consulting track and direct delivery for the client-facing technical consulting team.
The Lead Platform Engineer contributes to CF’s commercial activities in a focused way: providing technical expertise to support partnership opportunities with platform vendors such as Databricks and with data and research organisations and contributing technical input to proposals where platform architecture or infrastructure design is relevant.
Responsibilities
Platform architecture and design

• Produce detailed technical designs for CF’s cloud infrastructure (OCI, Databricks) and NHS data pipelines, working within the strategic architecture set by the Director

• Define integration patterns, data flow designs and component specifications that the data engineering team implements

• Make implementation-level technology decisions (tooling, frameworks, configuration approaches) within the Director’s strategic technology selections

• Design scalable, secure platform architectures that support CF’s multi-region operations (UK, Middle East, EU) and comply with NHS IG, ISO 27001 and GDPR requirements

• Own and maintain platform design documentation, reference architectures and decision records

• Evaluate emerging platform technologies and make recommendations to the Director on adoption, with supporting technical assessment
Delivery management

• Own day-to-day delivery management of platform and data engineering workstreams in line with the unified function’s strategy and priorities

• Develop and maintain technical workplans for platform initiatives, coordinating with the Director and Lead Data Scientist(s) on sequencing and dependencies

• Manage the data engineering team’s capacity across concurrent workstreams, balancing platform development, Data Operations support and client delivery contributions

• Coordinate QA and testing for platform components, ensuring work meets quality standards before release

• Identify and escalate delivery risks, resource constraints and scope changes to the Director with sufficient lead time

• Ensure platform workstreams are delivered to agreed timelines and within resource constraints
Technical standards and quality

• Define and maintain engineering standards, design patterns and reference implementations for the data platform

• Conduct architectural review of platform changes before they enter development, ensuring design coherence and technical soundness

• Contribute to the build quality assurance process for platform components, embedding quality gates in delivery

• Design the security architecture for platform components in line with the Director’s IG framework and ISO 27001 requirements

• Identify and communicate technical risks and architectural trade-offs, with clear recommendations
Commercial and partnership contribution

• Provide technical expertise to support partnership opportunities with platform vendors such as Databricks, contributing design knowledge and technical credibility to commercial discussions led by the Director and Partners

• Support the Director in technical discussions with data and research organisations where platform architecture or data infrastructure expertise is required

• Contribute to the technical sections of proposals and client-facing materials where platform architecture, infrastructure design or data engineering capability is relevant

• Develop an understanding of CF’s growth ambitions and the data platform’s role in enabling them

• Ensure every contact with external stakeholders (technology partners, data organisations, potential recruits) supports the CF brand and aligns with CF values
Collaboration and technical advisory

• Work closely with the Lead Data Scientist(s)…