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# Data Engineer (early career)

- **Company:** Optima Partners
- **Location:** Edinburgh, UK
- **Salary:** £33,938.0
- **Contract:** Internship / Graduate position
- **Skills:** Agile Methodology, Airflow, Amazon Web Services, Automation of Tests, Microsoft Azure, Cloud Computing, Continuous Integration, Information Engineering, Data Infrastructure, Extract Transform Load (ETL), Data Systems, Data Warehousing, Python (Programming Language), Scrum Methodology, Power BI, SQL Databases, Talend, Data Processing, Apache Spark, Git, Data Lakes, Qlikview, Apache Nifi, Looker Analytics, Data Pipelines, Databricks
- **Published:** October 30, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.adzuna.co.uk/jobs/details/5945257959

## About the Role

* Working knowledge of Python, SQL or similar data processing languages.
 * Some exposure to Spark or Databricks through work, study, training or projects.
 * Awareness of Delta Lake, notebooks and workflows; production experience is not essential.
 * Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure or GCP is desirable.
 * Basic understanding of relational databases and SQL queries.
 * Awareness of tools such as Airflow, Apache NiFi or Talend is helpful.
 * Foundations in data warehousing, modelling and schema design, with an interest in building dashboards using Power BI, QlikView and Looker to analyse and visualise data and communicate insights to clients.
 * Familiarity with Git and an interest in automated testing, CI/CD and collaborative development.
 * Up to one year's relevant commercial experience, or experience through internships, placements, graduate schemes, bootcamps or strong projects.
 * Team, client-facing or collaborative project experience is desirable.
 * Awareness of Agile or Scrum is beneficial

What you will bring

 * Strong problem-solving and analytical thinking abilities.
 * An inquisitive mindset, with curiosity about data engineering and a willingness to learn.
 * Good communication skills, with the ability to ask clear questions, share progress and explain technical ideas in an accessible way.
 * A team-oriented mindset with adaptability and a willingness to learn from feedback.

## Description

As a Data Engineer reporting to a Technical Lead Leader, you will help design, build test and maintain reliable data pipelines and solutions for clients across diverse sectors, working in multi-disciplinary teams with experienced engineers. This early-career role suits someone with up to two years commercial experience or equivalent project experience who wants to develop their technical and consulting skills.

You will learn alongside engineers, data scientists, architects and product specialists, with mentoring, knowledge sharing and support to develop your skills in modern data platforms and progress your career.
What you will be doing

 * Help build, test and maintain data pipelines using tools such as Databricks.
 * Support data warehouse and data lake development with guidance from experienced engineers.
 * Develop ETL/ELT workflows that make reliable, high-quality data accessible.
 * Collaborate with colleagues and clients to understand requirements and deliver practical data solutions.
 * Analyse data and create dashboards and visualisations using tools such as Power BI, Looker and QlikView.
 * Turn analysis into clear insights and compelling data stories that help clients make informed decisions.
 * Help improve system performance, reliability and cost efficiency through troubleshooting and automation, and keep documentation clear.