Founding Data Engineer

Founding Data Engineer

• 4 day working week – Monday – Thursday
• Up to £90,000 + bonus / equity

About the company
A well-backed startup building a platform that enables car dealerships to acquire vehicles directly from private sellers in a more efficient, data-led way.
They are scaling quickly across the US and are now at the point where data needs to evolve from something functional into something structured, scalable and commercially powerful.

This is a Founding Data Engineer hire, offering real ownership from day one and the opportunity to shape how data underpins both the product and growth of the business.

They also offer a 4-day working week (Monday to Thursday), hybrid working with Wednesdays from home, and an office moving into Manchester city centre.

The role

• You’ll be joining an environment where data exists but is not yet optimised for scale.
• There is a bespoke dashboard, multiple data sources, and increasing complexity across marketing, CRM and dealership data.
• You will assess what exists, decide what needs to change, and build the right foundations.
• This role spans Data Engineering and Analytics Engineering, meaning you will not only move data but structure it in a way the business can use.

Responsibilities

• Assess data quality, structure and flow
• Build scalable data pipelines using Python and SQL
• Model and transform data into clean, usable layers
• Define architecture and tooling
• Integrate APIs, CRM and SaaS tools
• Own how data is surfaced across the business

What makes this different
You will make decisions on tooling and infrastructure, work through ambiguity, and balance speed with quality in a fast-moving environment.

Product and commercial focus
You will work closely with marketing, sales funnel and CRM data, helping shape a future data-driven product and improving conversion and performance.

What they’re looking for

• Strong Python and SQL
• MySQL experience
• API and SaaS integrations
• Cloud experience (Google Cloud preferred, AWS also relevant)
• Startup mindset with ownership and pace
• Experience working in a marketing-led or commercially driven environment, with a strong understanding of the sales funnel and customer journey, for example within SaaS, marketing platforms, marketplaces or recruitment businesses where data directly impacts acquisition, conversion and revenue

Environment
A fast-paced startup environment where priorities evolve, requiring pragmatism, ownership and collaboration.

Logistics & package

• Location: Bolton, moving to Manchester city centre
• Hybrid: 3 days onsite, Wednesdays from home
• Working pattern: 4-day week (Mon–Thurs, 8am–6pm)
• Salary: Up to £90,000 + bonus / equity