Principal Data Engineer

This isnt a standard ETL role. Were looking for a data systems pioneer to build our entire data ecosystem from scratch with the executive backing and autonomy to make it happen. The Vision

Imagine a central data platform that ingests real-time IoT data from industrial inspections to predict equipment failures or unifies decades of lab results to optimise entire supply buildthisanalytics engineand the high-performance real-time data backends for our most critical products. If youre excited by the challenge of turning messy complexreal-worlddata into fast reliable products this is your role.

As a Principal Data Engineer you will own the flow of data across our organization. Your dual mission is to : 1) Engineer a central world-class analytics engine that provides clean trustworthy data for AI and business intelligence. 2) Architect and build the data-intensive backends for our flagship products selecting the right tools to ensure low-latency and high-reliability. What Youll Build and Own

• Architect Product Data Layers : Design the data models and select the optimal persistence technologies (e.g. PostgreSQL NoSQL Time-Series DBs) for new high-throughput digital products.
• Build the Core Analytics Engine : Engineer our core data platform using modern tools like dbt Spark and cloud warehouses (Snowflake BigQuery or Databricks) to create a single source of truth.
• Develop High-Performance Pipelines : Build and operate robust observable data pipelines for both massive batch processing and low-latency real-time streams (e.g. using Kafka Flink).
• Harvest & Generalize Data Patterns : Identify common data challenges and solutions packaging them into reusable pipelines modules and best practices for other teams to leverage.
• Champion Data Quality : Implement and promote a strong data quality culture using modern frameworks (e.g. Great Expectations) to ensure our data is always trustworthy.
• Grow the Foundation : As the first Principal on the team you will play a key role in shaping our technical culture and mentoring future hires as we build out the data engineering function.

• Data Platforms & Warehousing : Deep expertise in modern cloud data platforms like Snowflake BigQuery or Databricks (Delta Lake).
• Data Processing & Transformation : Expert-level proficiency with Apache Spark (PySpark / Scala) and modern data transformation tools especially dbt.
• Application Data Architecture : Proven experience designing data models for transactional systems. Hands-on experience with PostgreSQL is essential; experience with NoSQL or Time-Series DBs is a strong plus.
• Streaming & Orchestration : Hands-on experience with workflow orchestration (Airflow Dagster) and real-time streaming technologies (Kafka Flink).
• Programming & SQL : Expert-level SQL and strong programming skills in Python or Scala for data engineering.

Who You Are

• You are a pragmaticdata systems builder with extensive (8 years) of experience.
• You have a proven track record of turning complex messy data into reliable high-performance products and platforms.
• You thrive on greenfield challenges and have architected major data systems from the ground up.
• You are a pragmatist who can balance the needs of large-scale analytics with the low-latency demands of user-facing applications.
• You are obsessed with data quality and building systems that are both powerful and trustworthy.

• Top-of-Market Compensation : A highly competitive salary and bonus package for Madrid designed to attract and retain premier talent for this strategic role.
• Greenfield Ownership & Autonomy : This is not an optimization role. You have a mandate to build from scratch with the freedom to choose the right tools for the job backed by C-level sponsorship.
• Foundational Impact : You will be the first Principal Data Engineer in our new Digital Hub shaping the technology culture and future of data at a global leader.
• A Compelling Problem Space : Work on unique tangible data challenges that have a real-world impact on global safety sustainability and supply chains.
• A Clear Growth Path : This role offers a direct path to technical leadership and the opportunity to build and mentor a team around your architectural vision.

Remote Work : No