Lead Data Engineer

Challenger Limited is an ASX-listed investment management firm managing $128.2 billion in assets (as at 31 December 2025). Life with us is fast moving and always exciting. Together we're driving to deliver our vision to provide our customers with financial security for a better retirement. We achieve this goal by providing a work environment where people from diverse backgrounds, with a range of skills and experiences can contribute and succeed.

Lead Data Engineer Sydney Hybrid Working

We're looking for a Lead Data Engineer to help design, build and support Challenger's evolving data platform. Reporting to the Data Products & Delivery Lead, you'll play a key technical leadership role across data engineering and architecture, helping guide technical decisions, establish engineering standards and deliver scalable, well-governed data solutions. You'll work across data platforms, analytics and emerging AI initiatives, while remaining hands on with delivery.

What you'll be doing

• Technical Leadership & Engineering Delivery: Lead the design, build and support of data solutions across Challenger's modern data platform, including pipelines, data models, semantic layers and reporting foundations.
• Establish and promote engineering standards across design, testing, deployment, monitoring and support.
• Review technical work delivered by internal teams and external partners, ensuring solutions are scalable, maintainable and fit for purpose.
• Monitor and improve platform performance, reliability, observability and data quality.
• Provide technical coaching and mentorship to data and analytics engineers through design reviews, code reviews and hands on guidance.

Solution Design & Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner with senior stakeholders across Technology and the broader business to understand challenges and design practical data solutions.
• Translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions aligned with Challenger's data strategy.
• Communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non technical audiences.

Data Governance & Data Management

• Support the continued maturity of Challenger's data governance capability.
• Embed ownership, lineage, metadata, access controls and data quality practices into delivery outcomes.
• Contribute to the ongoing development and adoption of the enterprise data catalogue.

Data, Analytics & AI

• Contribute to Challenger's evolving data, analytics and AI capabilities.
• Provide practical input into how structured and unstructured data should be managed to support current and future AI use cases.
• Stay abreast of emerging trends and opportunities across data engineering, analytics and AI.

What we're looking for

you're an experienced data engineering leader who combines strong technical capability with a practical, collaborative approach. Comfortable shaping technical direction while remaining hands on, you enjoy solving complex data challenges, building scalable solutions and working with stakeholders across both technology and the business. You lead through influence, value strong engineering practices and enjoy helping others develop their capability.

Plus, you'll bring:

• Significant experience across data engineering, data architecture or a related discipline, operating at a senior individual contributor or technical lead level.
• Experience designing, building and supporting enterprise scale data platforms and data products.
• Strong capability across data modelling, pipeline design, cloud data warehousing and modern analytics platforms.
• Experience working across the full software development lifecycle (SDLC), including solution design, testing, deployment, monitoring and production support.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills and the ability to translate business requirements into practical technical solutions.
• Experience working with engineering teams, delivery partners and vendors within complex delivery environments.
• Experience in financial services or another regulated environment.

Technical Skills

• Experience with modern data platforms and tools such as Snowflake, Fivetran, Coalesce and Power BI.
• Hands on experience with AI tooling, automation, unstructured data and practical AI use cases in a modern data environment.

Why Challenger?

Working at Challenger means being part of a connected team that enjoys what they do. We're small enough to move quickly, and big enough to make meaningful change. We support your growth and development, offer flexibility, and value the unique contributions people bring. We provide access to a range of exclusive employee benefits that will support you both personally and professionally and a hybrid work environment including.

• Discretionary bonus scheme.
• Employee share plan.
• Eighteen weeks paid leave for all new parents.
• Flexibility on when, and how, parental leave is taken.
• Challenger Day - one extra day off every year in recognition of the effort our people make.
• Subsidised on site café and fantastic central location a stone's throw from Martin Place Metro
• Additional support leave (fertility treatment leave, gender affirmation leaves).
• Extra superannuation contributions.
• Access to Fitness Passport.

Challenger's employee value proposition guides how we work: Grow and realise your potential, supporting each other, stronger together and making things happen. Our culture encourages curiosity, considered thinking and meaningful contribution, with opportunities to build a broad and rewarding career. We are committed to fostering a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace where people of all backgrounds, identities and ways of thinking can thrive, and promoting flexible working to support work life balance. Challenger is proud to be a Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Employer of Choice for Gender Equality, a Family Friendly Workplace and recognised as a Bronze Employer in the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI), the national benchmark for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion.

Job type: Permanent

Posting Close Date : 07/08/2026

Life at Challenger is fast moving and always exciting. Together we're driving to deliver our vision to provide our customers with financial security for retirement. Our people bring their diverse backgrounds and perspectives to a workplace which is inclusive, flexible, and driven by our values - act with integrity, aim high, collaborate and think customer. Our environment is one where our passionate teams can thrive. Our people quickly discover that a role at Challenger is much more than just a job. Our working environment is unique and encourages our employees to share their ideas and feel empowered to tackle new opportunities.