Principal Data Engineer

Our client is looking for a Principal Data Engineer to act as the bridge between complex technical architecture and strategic business value. This is a high-impact, client-facing leadership role for an expert who can tackle deep technical challenges while keeping a customer-first mindset. Ideally you hold a Databricks Champion or Databricks Professional certification.

As the primary technical authority for clients, you will make sure their Databricks data platforms are resilient, scalable and aligned with their long-term business goals.

What You'll Be Doing

• Customer excellence and stakeholder management: Act as the strategic partner to client business owners, aligning technical data solutions with corporate goals while championing reliability and clean data for every consumer.
• Solution architecture and tech strategy: Drive complex, large-scale data architectures and multi-year technology roadmaps, balancing innovation with cost efficiency and operational stability.
• Delivery and execution: Oversee “team-of-teams” delivery performance, ensuring the quality and resilience of high-impact data pipelines while managing capacity planning and team velocity.
• Incident management and resilience: Lead triage and resolution of critical platform incidents, own root-cause prevention and keep communication with clients transparent throughout recovery.
• Governance, risk and compliance: Implement robust governance frameworks and compliance controls, acting as the authoritative lead on risk mitigation and the primary technical contact for regulatory matters.
• Knowledge management and mentorship: Champion a culture of knowledge sharing, represent the firm at industry events and establish best practice across communities of practice.
• Business strategy: Influence long-term organisational health by driving platform efficiency, managing engineering budgets and leading strategic hiring and retention initiatives.

What You'll Bring

• Proven experience in a principal engineering role
• Extensive experience with cloud data platforms such as Azure or AWS, with a focus on Databricks
• Strong PySpark and SparkSQL skills
• Solid understanding of data modelling across relational and non-relational databases
• Proficiency in SQL, with experience in data integration and ETL tools
• Excellent knowledge of big data technologies and frameworks
• Strong knowledge of data governance and data security best practices
• An analytical mindset, attention to detail and a consultative approach
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills

Disclaimer: Any remuneration stated in this advertisement is indicative and will be dependent on the successful candidate's experience, skills and qualifications. Final remuneration will be agreed with the successful candidate and will be subject to the terms of the contract.