Principal Data Engineer

This is a senior technical leadership role for someone who can operate beyond the boundaries of an individual team. You’ll shape our data engineering strategy, influence architecture and technical direction across the organisation, and lead complex, high-impact initiatives from concept through to delivery.

You’ll combine deep technical expertise with strong organisational influence, working with engineers, architects, product leaders, data professionals, and senior stakeholders to solve some of our most important data challenges.

What you’ll do

• Define and influence the technical strategy and direction for data engineering across the organisation.
• Lead the architecture and delivery of complex, high-impact data platforms and products built on AWS.
• Operate across team and organisational boundaries, identifying opportunities and solving problems that span multiple areas of the business.
• Establish strong engineering principles and standards across data engineering, including scalability, reliability, security, observability, data quality, and governance.
• Make and influence significant architectural and technology decisions across our AWS data estate.
• Partner with senior engineering, product, and business stakeholders to translate strategic objectives into technical outcomes.
• Act as a technical authority and trusted advisor on data engineering, data platforms, and AWS architecture.
• Identify and address systemic technical challenges, helping evolve our architecture, engineering practices, and ways of working.
• Lead through influence rather than hierarchy, bringing teams together around a clear technical vision.
• Stay hands-on where it adds value, particularly around architecture, technical design, complex problem solving, and critical delivery., At this level, success isn’t measured solely by the code you write or the projects you personally deliver.

You’ll be expected to have broad technical and organisational impact. You’ll identify problems before they become blockers, connect teams and initiatives, shape architectural direction, and create clarity where there is ambiguity.

You’ll influence decisions well beyond your immediate team and help establish the technical foundations and engineering practices that enable the wider organisation to scale.

You’ll have significant autonomy and will be trusted to determine what needs to change, why it matters, and how we should get there.

What you’ll get

• The opportunity to shape the direction of data engineering across the organisation.
• Significant technical autonomy and influence over our AWS data platform.
• Complex, high-impact engineering challenges.
• The opportunity to work closely with senior technical and business leaders.
• A collaborative engineering culture focused on quality, learning, and continuous improvement.
• Support for continued technical and leadership development.
• A competitive salary and benefits package.

If you’re a deep technical data engineer who wants to operate at organisational level, shape strategy, influence architecture, and raise the bar for engineering as a whole, we’d love to hear from you.

• Extensive experience in data engineering, with a track record of delivering complex, large-scale data platforms and systems.
• Demonstrable experience operating at Staff, Principal, or equivalent technical leadership level.
• Deep expertise in data engineering, distributed systems, data platforms, and modern data architecture.
• Strong commercial experience with AWS, including designing and operating production data platforms and services.
• Strong programming skills in Python, Java, Scala, or a similar language, alongside excellent SQL skills.
• Experience with AWS data and analytics services.
• Strong understanding of data modelling, distributed processing, streaming, data lakes/lakehouses, and data platform design.
• A track record of making high-quality architectural decisions and influencing technical direction across multiple teams.
• Experience tackling ambiguous, organisation-wide technical problems and turning them into clear, actionable strategies.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to influence senior technical and non-technical audiences.
• A strong coaching and mentoring mindset, with a passion for developing engineers and raising engineering standards.
• The ability to balance strategic thinking with pragmatic execution.

MCS Group is a leading professional recruitment services company resourcing for the specialist IT & Digital, Technical & Engineering and Professional Services recruitment markets in Northern Ireland. MCS Group is widely recognised as a genuine market leader in IT & Digital recruitment in Northern Ireland, with an increasing profile in the Technical & Engineering and Professional Services markets.

At MCS we connect people!! We work with the majority of NI’ leadings employers in the sector, from large foreign direct investment (FDI) organisations to successful, locally owned technology firms, connecting talented professional with the best career opportunities.

Our Team

At MCS Group our track record is impressive and through our highly experienced team we offer employers almost 100 years successful delivery experience in specialist disciplines.

Our consultants know the market and speak your language. They will help you cut through the flannel and will work hard to help you achieve your goals, either as candidate seeking a career improvement or an employer seeking talented people.

Ethics & Values

Honesty, trust and confidentiality are the pillars which underpin everything we do. We are known for treating people with respect and will deal with you in a straightforward manner. We are focused on long term wins for our candidates and clients.