Director of Data Engineering

Director of Data Engineering

Location: Remote Eastern US, UK or Germany (required valid right to work, no sponsorship available)
Department: Product & Technology
Reports to: VP of Engineering

The Opportunity

We’re looking for an exceptional engineering leader to build and grow high-performing data engineering squads responsible for the data foundation behind the next generation of intelligent products at Accelerant.

This is a role for someone who is passionate about building organisations as much as building data platforms.

We’re building engineering squads for the AI era-squads that combine exceptional people, modern engineering practices and AI to deliver dramatically more value than traditional software organisations. AI is fundamental to how we design, build, test and operate software, enabling our engineers to move faster, focus on higher-value problems and deliver greater impact.

As Director of Data Engineering, you’ll directly line manage data engineers and data platform engineers across one engineering squad today, growing to two, creating an environment where talented people thrive, grow and consistently deliver exceptional customer outcomes.

You’ll have end-to-end accountability for the health, effectiveness and outcomes of your squads. Working closely with Product, Architecture and specialists from across the business, you’ll help shape data products and platforms that solve real customer problems while continuing to evolve how engineering operates at Accelerant.

Where You’ll Have Impact

You’ll lead data engineering squads responsible for the data foundation of Accelerant’s risk exchange.

Your squads will build and run the data platform that gives domain teams the tooling, patterns and governance to deliver trusted, high-quality data products. The data platform squad is responsible for infrastructure, ingestion, access control and the tooling to create data domains, supporting our data mesh architecture across Accelerant. Domain data products drive our SaaS products, underpin internal analytics and fuel operational systems, enabling intelligent workflows and AI-powered capabilities that help specialty insurers and capital providers make faster, better-informed decisions. As our platform evolves, you’ll help shape increasingly autonomous systems where AI takes on more responsibility while people remain firmly in control.

Just as importantly, you’ll help build an engineering organisation that continually improves how data and software are designed, delivered and operated-creating an environment where talented engineers do their best work and consistently deliver exceptional outcomes.

How You’ll Make an Impact

Build Exceptional Squads

• Directly line manage data engineers and data platform engineers across one high-performing engineering squad today, growing to two.
• Build a culture of ownership, accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Hire exceptional engineers and help them grow into future technical and engineering leaders.
• Create an environment where engineers feel trusted, supported and empowered to do their best work.
• Foster inclusive, engaged squads that enjoy solving difficult data problems together.

Develop Great Engineers

• Invest heavily in coaching, mentoring and career development.
• Hold regular one-to-ones, performance reviews and career development conversations.
• Provide regular, meaningful feedback that helps engineers grow.
• Help individuals identify and achieve their career aspirations.
• Build leadership capability across your squads.
• Create a high-performance culture centred on trust, learning and continuous improvement.

Deliver Outstanding Outcomes

• Partner closely with Product Managers, Architects, domain teams and specialists from across the business to shape the data platform roadmap and deliver exceptional customer outcomes.
• Help squads establish clear goals, make informed trade-offs and maintain delivery momentum.
• Remove organisational blockers and manage dependencies across squads where needed.
• Balance speed of delivery with reliability, engineering quality, scalability and long-term maintainability.
• Support delivery when required while empowering squads to own execution.

Evolve Modern Engineering & Shape the Organisation

• Continuously evolve how your squads build and operate data platforms by embracing emerging AI capabilities, engineering practices and developer tooling.
• Help engineers maximise the value of AI while applying strong engineering judgement to everything that ships.
• Deliver the trusted, well-governed data that intelligent products, autonomous workflows and AI-powered capabilities depend on.
• Establish and continuously improve data quality, governance, monitoring and observability practices that build trust in data across the organisation.
• Encourage experimentation, learning and continuous improvement as technology rapidly evolves.
• Raise the bar for engineering effectiveness, developer experience and data and software quality.
• Champion truly cross-functional squads and close partnership with domain teams, bringing together the right people and expertise to solve problems end-to-end.
• Establish and continuously improve engineering standards, ways of working and technical excellence across your squads.
• Influence engineering strategy and organisational direction.
• Help shape the future of engineering at Accelerant by continually evolving how our squads operate, collaborate and deliver.
• Communicate clearly with stakeholders at every level.
• Be a trusted leader that others naturally seek out for guidance, support and perspective.

What You’ll Bring

A People Leader

• You have experience leading multiple engineering squads, ideally in data or platform engineering, delivering modern SaaS or data products.
• You’re passionate about coaching, mentoring and developing engineers.
• You have a track record of building high-performing engineering squads and creating strong engineering cultures.
• You naturally bring people together around a shared vision and create an environment where people can do their best work.
• You’re an excellent communicator who builds strong relationships across both technical and business functions.
• You’re comfortable leading through ambiguity and helping squads solve complex problems.

An Engineering Leader

• You have experience delivering modern data platforms and data products, including platforms that support AI-powered capabilities.
• You have a strong understanding of modern data engineering, cloud-native architectures and data modelling.
• You continually look for opportunities to improve engineering effectiveness through AI, automation and modern engineering practices.
• You balance speed, quality and long-term technical health through sound engineering judgement.
• You’re always looking for opportunities to simplify, improve and raise the bar for engineering excellence.
• You lead through strong engineering judgement and the right questions, enabling your squads to make sound technical decisions and grow their own expertise.
• You have experience establishing data quality, governance, monitoring and observability practices that create confidence across an organisation.

Why Join Accelerant?

• Build products that make a genuine difference – Help transform how specialty insurance operates through modern software, data and AI.
• Develop exceptional engineers – Build high-performing squads, mentor talented people and help shape the next generation of engineering leaders.
• Influence the future of engineering – Play a key role in defining the engineering culture, practices and ways of working across Accelerant.
• Solve meaningful, complex problems – Work alongside talented colleagues to tackle challenging data problems with real-world impact.
• Own outcomes, not just delivery – Our squads have genuine ownership, short feedback loops and the autonomy to make meaningful decisions.
• Work with modern technology – AI, cloud-native platforms and modern engineering practices are central to how we build data platforms and software.
• Join an ambitious engineering organisation – Help build an engineering culture focused on continuous learning, innovation and excellence.
• Remote-first and globally connected – Collaborate with exceptional colleagues around the world while enjoying the flexibility of remote working.

About Accelerant

Accelerant is a data-driven risk exchange connecting underwriters of specialty insurance risk with risk capital providers.

Founded in 2018 by insurance industry leaders and technology experts, Accelerant is reimagining how specialty insurance operates through technology, data and AI. Today, the Accelerant Risk Exchange supports insurers across more than 20 countries and over 250 specialty products, backed by an AM Best A- (Excellent) rating.

As we continue to evolve our platform, we’re investing in modern engineering practices and intelligent products that fundamentally improve how work gets done across the specialty insurance ecosystem.

Find out more: www.accelerant.ai