Lead Software Engineer (Data Platform)

Join FTSE Russell, a leading global provider of financial market indices. As a Lead Software Engineer for our Data Platform, you will design and build scalable data systems using Python, Spark, and AWS. This hands-on technical leadership role will allow you to influence the platform's architecture and engineering standards while coaching and supporting junior and mid-level engineers.

• Design and build scalable data systems using Python, Spark, and AWS, while shaping engineering standards and guiding other engineers.
• Lead technical discussions, contribute to architecture decisions, and translate business problems into practical, well-designed technical solutions.
• Coach and support junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews and guidance, helping to raise the overall engineering bar across the team.
• Bring strong software engineering fundamentals into a data platform environment
• We’re looking for someone who will:
• Work closely with stakeholders to shape solutions, not just implement requirements
• Balance hands-on delivery with technical leadership and influence
• If you enjoy solving real problems, challenging assumptions, and building systems properly — this is the role for you
• Improve how engineering is done, not just what is delivered
• Confident engaging stakeholders and shaping solutions from ambiguous requirements
• Comfortable building production-grade systems using Python, databases, and modern engineering practices
• We value strong fundamentals and adaptability over experience with any specific tools
• Software engineers first, with experience working on data platforms or data-intensive systems
• Hands-on technical leaders, not purely managerial or tool-specific specialists
• Experienced in improving engineering standards and supporting other engineers
• The strongest candidates will be:
• Able to make sound architectural decisions, balancing trade-offs pragmatically
• Interest in financial markets, indices, or data-driven products
• Exposure to modern data architectures (lakehouse, Iceberg, etc.)
• Experience with Apache Spark or distributed data processing
• Familiarity with AWS data services