Job Title: Principal Data Engineer
Location: West London (Hybrid - 3 days per week on‑site)
Salary: Competitive + 15% bonus
The Opportunity
We're looking for an experienced Principal Data Engineer to provide technical leadership across data engineering capability within a complex, operationally‑focused organisation. This role will sit at the heart of the data platform function, shaping engineering standards, driving best practice, and enabling scalable, secure and high‑performing data solutions that support critical business decision‑making.
Preferred Background
Candidates with experience gained in logistics, supply chain, manufacturing, industrial, or similarly complex operational environments are particularly well suited to this role. Experience working with high‑volume, mission‑critical data in asset‑ or operations‑heavy organisations is highly desirable.
Key Responsibilities
- Act as the technical authority for data engineering best practice across multiple delivery teams
- Lead the design, build, testing and deployment of scalable, resilient data pipelines
- Own the reliability and performance of core data products, including monitoring and incident management
- Set and enforce standards for code quality, automation, documentation and version control
- Lead service reviews, root cause analysis and continuous improvement initiatives
- Support and coach senior engineers, contributing to capability growth and technical excellence
- Influence technical direction and architectural decisions across the data landscape
- Work closely with data product teams to improve developer experience and resolve data issues
- Line manage Senior Data Engineers and support their professional development
- Participate in an on‑call rota supporting live data platforms
Skills & Experience
- Strong hands‑on technical leadership within data engineering environments
- Advanced SQL development skills
- Deep experience designing and operating cloud‑based data platforms
- Strong knowledge of data ingestion, transformation and storage patterns
- Experience with modern data tooling (e.g. Snowflake, AWS, dbt, or comparable platforms)
- Solid understanding of enterprise data management, governance and security at scale
- Expertise in CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, monitoring and production support
- Ability to influence senior stakeholders and operate effectively in complex, ambiguous environments
- Pragmatic, delivery‑focused mindset with a strong sense of ownership
What's On Offer
- Competitive base salary
- 15% annual bonus
- Hybrid working model (3 days per week in West London)
- Opportunity to shape a strategic data engineering capability
- Career progression within a large, technologically ambitious organisation