Data Engineer (DV Cleared)

Data Engineer (DV Cleared)
Contract | 2 Years | £650-£700/day | Multiple Seats | Remote (UK) | Client Confidential
Morela is proud to be supporting a UK-headquartered AI company building sovereign AI capability for defence and national security, in the search for several DV-cleared Data Engineers to join on a long-term contract basis. This is a 2-year engagement, with multiple seats available, paying £650-£700 per day. Active DV clearance is essential. The client's identity will be shared on introduction.

About the Client
Our client is a UK-headquartered AI company building sovereign AI capability for defence and national security. Established for around a decade, they are one of the country's leading builders of AI for high-risk, high-assurance environments.

Their platform is an AI operating system built entirely in the UK, designed for settings where security, trust and full infrastructure control are non-negotiable. It deploys across cloud, edge, on-premise and fully air-gapped systems, and is already live inside UK Defence and national security missions. They closed a substantial Series A round recently, hold a significant government framework position, and are scaling engineering and delivery across the UK.

The Role
This is a hands-on data engineering role at the heart of a genuinely high-assurance, security-critical environment. Several seats are open on this programme, working alongside a small, multidisciplinary team to build and maintain the data pipelines that sit behind the platform. You will be working with highly sensitive data in settings ranging from cloud through to fully air-gapped systems, on a long-term engagement with real scope to embed and grow within the programme.

Responsibilities
• Design, build and maintain ETL/ELT data pipelines handling sensitive, high-assurance data
• Work across cloud, edge, on-premise and fully air-gapped deployment environments
• Ensure data quality, integrity and reliability across ingestion, transformation and output
• Collaborate closely with the wider engineering team to support platform development
• Contribute to formal documentation and assurance evidence where required for defence-grade sign-off
• Work within a small team where standards are high and everyone contributes beyond their immediate remit
• Support the programme over the full duration of a long-term, 2-year engagement

Essential Requirements
• Active DV clearance - this is essential and non-negotiable given the environment
• Strong hands-on Python and SQL
• Solid experience building and maintaining ETL/ELT pipelines
• Comfort working in a secure, high-assurance environment where documentation and evidence matter as much as the code
• Ability to work independently within a small, multidisciplinary team
• Comfort committing to a long-term, 2-year engagement

Desirable Experience
• Experience with Kafka or other streaming data technologies
• Exposure to cloud platforms and infrastructure spanning secure or air-gapped deployments
• Prior experience in defence, national security or another high-assurance sector
• Experience contributing to formal test or assurance documentation

Working Environment
This is a long-term contract role, remote across the UK, with occasional travel to a client site where required. Multiple seats are available on this programme. You will be working within a small, multidisciplinary team in a scaling business, with genuine hands-on ownership from day one and real scope to grow with the programme over its full 2-year duration.

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