Data Platform Lead (5787)

Permanent

35 hours per week

Starting from £40,500 (plus allowances) 

Remote

The Children’s Society has been helping children and young people in this country for over 130 years. We run local services that support children when they are at their most vulnerable and in desperate need of help. We’re there for children, every step of the way. 

This role sits within our Digital, Data and Technology Team. 

The Role

We are seeking a Data Platform Lead to drive the design and delivery of a modern data platform that powers impactful insights for children and young people. This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role, combining technical excellence with a passion for social impact. You’ll lead the development of a scalable platform using Microsoft Fabric and Azure, while mentoring a high-performing analytics team and collaborating across the organisation to deliver data-driven change.

This role involves working extensively with complex, sensitive datasets related to children and young people. These datasets often come from diverse sources and may require significant cleaning, transformation, and contextual understanding. Applicants should be confident in working with this level of complexity and committed to using data responsibly to improve outcomes for vulnerable groups.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of four analysts, fostering a high-performing, collaborative culture.
• Provide strategic direction for data and insight initiatives across the organisation.
• Oversee the design and modernisation of data infrastructure using Microsoft Fabric and Azure.
• Translate organisational needs into actionable data strategies and insight products.
• Champion best practices in data governance, modelling, and analytics delivery.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders and external partners to deliver impactful, user-focused solutions.
• Stay informed on emerging technologies and drive innovation in data and insight.

About You

Technical & Engineering

• Extensive experience in data or software engineering, ideally in platform builds or modernisation projects.
• Strong data modelling, SQL, and Python (or equivalent scripting) skills.
• Deep understanding of ETL/ELT design patterns, orchestration, and data lineage.
• Hands-on experience with Azure (storage, compute, security) and Microsoft Fabric components (Dataflows, Lakehouse, Pipelines, Synapse).
• Familiarity with Azure Data Factory, Delta Lake, Git, CI/CD, and infrastructure-as-code.

Leadership & Strategy

• Proven ability to lead and mentor technical teams.
• Experience delivering insights and technical solutions in a youth, social care, or not-for-profit context.
• Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strategic thinker with a delivery mindset and a passion for social impact.

The Children’s Society runs over 100 local services that help thousands of young people who desperately need our support, and we campaign to get laws and policies changed to make children’s lives happier and safer. 

Every day we’re changing the lives of children in this country for the better – and with your help, tomorrow we can be there for even more. 

The Children’s Society is committed to safeguarding and protecting the children and young people that we work with.  As such, all posts are subject to a safer recruitment process, including the disclosure of criminal records and vetting checks.  We ensure that we have a range of policies and procedures in place which promote safeguarding and safer working practices across our services.

The closing date for applications is midnight on 23rd July. 

Interviews will be held on a date to be confirmed.