Principal Data Engineer
25 days ago
Preston
Principal Data Engineer \n Lead the design and delivery of a modern cloud-based data platform, driving engineering standards, architecture, and innovation across a growing data function. \n The Opportunity \n This is a senior technical leadership role responsible for shaping data engineering strategy, architecture, and best practices across multiple product domains. Working within a modern cloud environment and Data Mesh architecture, you will drive the development of scalable, secure, and high-performing data solutions while mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction. \n Key Responsibilities \n\n • Provide technical leadership across data engineering teams and product domains.\n, • Define and implement data platform architecture, standards, and best practices.\n, • Design and optimise data ingestion, transformation, quality, security, monitoring, and governance processes.\n, • Lead the development of Data Mesh principles, data models, and semantic data layers.\n, • Drive automation, CI/CD adoption, and continuous improvement initiatives.\n, • Mentor and coach data engineers, promoting engineering excellence.\n, • Ensure cross-domain interoperability, scalability, and compliance.\n, • Collaborate with architects, platform engineers, and business stakeholders to deliver robust data solutions.\n\n About You \n\n • Extensive experience in cloud-based data engineering and distributed systems.\n, • Strong knowledge of Data Mesh, domain-driven design, and data product thinking.\n, • Proven ability to lead teams and deliver complex data engineering initiatives.\n, • Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.\n, • Passionate about engineering quality, innovation, and mentoring others.\n\n Essential Skills & Experience \n\n • 10+ years' experience in Data Engineering.\n, • Experience in a Lead or Principal Data Engineering role.\n, • Strong cloud data platform expertise, including Google Cloud Platform (GCP).\n, • Hands-on experience with BigQuery, Dataflow, Datastream, Data Fusion, Cloud Functions, Dataproc, and Airflow/Composer.\n, • Advanced SQL and Python skills.\n, • Expertise in data lakes, data warehouses, and modern data architectures.\n, • Strong understanding of data governance, lineage, MDM, data privacy, and PII handling.\n, • Experience optimising complex queries and large-scale data processing.\n, • Proven mentoring, coaching, and leadership capability.\n, • Experience working within Agile/Scrum environments and across the full software development lifecycle.\n\n This is an excellent opportunity for a senior data engineering leader to play a key role in the evolution of a modern cloud data platform, influencing architectural decisions and helping shape the future of a data-driven organisation.