Principal Data Engineer

This is an opportunity for a Principal Data Engineer to take ownership of enterprise-scale data engineering initiatives within a well-established organisation undergoing significant investment in its data and technology capabilities. You’ll combine hands-on technical leadership with team mentorship, shaping engineering best practice while driving the delivery of secure, scalable, and high-performing data products., You will lead the delivery and ongoing operation of data engineering solutions, ensuring data products are secure, resilient, and scalable.

Responsibilities include:

• Leading the design, build, testing, and deployment of data pipelines and data products

• Driving data engineering best practices across development, automation, monitoring, and operations

• Coaching, mentoring, and supporting Data Engineers and Senior Data Engineers

• Leading incident management, root cause analysis, and service improvement initiatives

• Helping define engineering standards, coding practices, and automated testing frameworks

• Working closely with product, platform, architecture, and business stakeholders to deliver valuable data solutions

• Supporting agile delivery activities including planning, retrospectives, and continuous improvement initiatives

• Improving platform reliability, observability, performance, and cost efficiency

• Contributing to technical strategy and influencing engineering direction across the wider organisation

• Participating in a rota supporting business-critical data products

• Strong commercial experience in SQL development

• Expertise in cloud-based data engineering and modern data architectures

• Experience with technologies such as Snowflake, AWS, dbt, or comparable cloud data platforms

• Strong understanding of data ingestion, processing, storage, and optimisation techniques

• Experience building and supporting production-grade data systems

• Knowledge of CI/CD practices, DevOps principles, and agile delivery environments

• Strong understanding of data security, governance, and access control frameworks

• Experience leading technical teams and mentoring engineers

• Ability to influence stakeholders and communicate effectively across technical and non-technical audiences

• Strong problem-solving skills with a focus on reliability, scalability, and continuous improvement

They are a large, complex organisation investing heavily in its digital and data transformation agenda. Data plays a critical role in supporting decision-making, operational efficiency, and innovation across the business. Their engineering teams work in a collaborative environment focused on modern cloud technologies, automation, and continuous improvement. You will join a team that values technical excellence, knowledge sharing, and long-term career development.