Data Engineer

About ZURU

ZURU is a dynamic company focused on disrupting industries through innovation and automation. With a presence in Toys, Tech, and Edge sectors, ZURU is committed to shaping a better future. Founded in 2003, ZURU has rapidly expanded to over 5000 employees across more than 30 international locations. The company is recognized globally for its award-winning brands in toys, such as Bunch O Balloons and Mini Brands, and in FMCG, including MONDAY Haircare.

Position Overview

This role is pivotal in leading ZURU's data platform and product teams to achieve significant business outcomes across all divisions. You will manage the Platform team, overseeing technologies like Databricks, AWS, Fivetran, and orchestration tools, while guiding the Data Products team to deliver value rapidly. The emphasis is on shipping solutions in weeks, measuring tangible impact, enabling self-service capabilities, and iterating quickly based on performance.

Position Impact

• First 2 weeks: Take ownership of the data platform, including the ongoing Databricks migration, AWS SSO, and Fivetran connectors. Understand the product roadmap and stakeholder requirements, identifying key business obstacles.
• First month: Deliver 1-2 quick wins, establish a weekly reporting cadence for team progress, manage the Platform team's immediate priorities, and build relationships with key business stakeholders.
• First quarter: Ensure the Data Products team consistently delivers measurable weekly value, stabilize the Databricks migration, and implement development/production separation for the platform. Make rapid, informed decisions and establish a federated model where the platform supports self-service by domain teams.
• By month six: The Data Products team should be recognized as a high-impact partner by business units. The platform infrastructure must be stable with high uptime (99.5%+). You will possess deep expertise in Databricks, AWS, and Fivetran, enabling you to mentor the Platform team. Low-impact initiatives will be retired, and successful ones will be scaled. A composable data stack will be in place to support ZURU's data and AI ambitions.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Lead Data Teams Toward Business Outcomes: Oversee the Data Platform team, managing core infrastructure like Databricks, Fivetran, AWS SSO, and orchestration. Provide architectural guidance, conduct code reviews, and offer technical mentorship to ensure the platform facilitates self-service without becoming a bottleneck.
• Drive Federation, Not Centralisation: The platform team will provide shared capabilities (lakehouse, governance), while business unit teams manage their own data products and analytics. Establish clear boundaries, with the platform handling integration layers and business units managing operational definitions and domain knowledge, aiming for 80% self-service.
• Ship Incrementally, Learn Fast: Employ short development cycles, prioritizing Minimum Viable Product (MVP) delivery within 2-3 weeks. Validate solutions with one business unit before broader rollout. Actively discontinue initiatives that do not show measurable impact within 4-6 weeks, favoring rapid, reversible decisions.
• Measure Impact, Not Output: Focus on business outcomes (e.g., time saved, improved decision quality) rather than technical deliverables like dashboards or pipelines. Ensure every data product demonstrates measurable impact within two months or is retired.
• Build Composable, Not Monolithic: Design modular, open, and adaptable systems to avoid vendor lock-in and complexity. Continuously simplify the technology stack while ensuring scalability. Collaborate with data teams to build evolving foundations.
• Enable Self-Service Without Bureaucracy: Prioritize documentation and standardized processes over support tickets. Aim for 95%+ of data access requests to be auto-approved through clear governance. Minimize platform team involvement in individual business unit support.
• Govern Without Slowing Down: Ensure security, privacy, and compliance while enabling speed through lightweight documentation for MVPs and automated frameworks. Implement standards, automation, and clear guardrails to facilitate safe acceleration.
• Partner Across Business Units: Build credibility through consistent delivery of value. Engage weekly with stakeholders, starting with business problems. Be prepared to challenge and halt low-value work to maintain focus on high-impact outcomes.
• Develop Talent and Build Capability: Manage and mentor the data engineering team, fostering a high-performance environment. Prioritize capability growth through hiring, coaching, and restructuring. Encourage experimentation and learning from failures.

Tools & Technologies

• Cloud: AWS (S3, IAM, MWAA Airflow, ECS etc.)
• Data tools: Databricks, Delta, Notebooks, SQL, Fivetran, DBT, Airflow, PowerBI, Terraform.

Additional Information

LIFE@ZURU fosters a high-performing culture that encourages excellence, learning, and continuous improvement. We empower talented individuals to perform at their best daily. ZURU's fast growth trajectory offers unique career development opportunities. We support employee wellbeing through various benefits and tools, recognizing that personal wellbeing is key to professional success.

What We Offer

• A culture that supports growth.
• Collaboration with a high-caliber team.
• Competitive remuneration.