Senior Data Engineer

Senior Data Engineer – SC Cleared (Inside IR35)

Location: Reading (Hybrid – 4 days on site)

Contract: 6 months initially

Clearance: Active SC required (Sole UK Passport Holder)

We’re supporting a major Defence & Aerospace programme and are looking for an experienced Senior Data Engineer to help build new data capabilities in a secure, greenfield environment. This role suits someone who thrives in complex technical landscapes, enjoys shaping modern data services, and is comfortable working with high‐volume engineering or sensor datasets.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain secure, scalable data pipelines across acquisition, integration, storage, processing and analysis.
• Develop automation, tooling and analytical capabilities to support data‐driven insights.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging data technologies suitable for secure environments.
• Collaborate with cross‐functional teams to define data, tooling and workflow requirements.
• Work across cloud platforms and diverse operating systems in mission‐focused settings.
• Support ML model development and data science workflows.
• Lead small work packages and mentor junior engineers.
• Contribute to architectural decisions and ensure high‐quality engineering outputs.

Essential Experience

• Proven background as a Data Engineer with strong ownership of deliverables.
• Strong Python and SQL skills.
• Experience with SQL & NoSQL database architectures.
• Hands‐on work with ETL/ELT pipelines and orchestration tools.
• Cloud experience (AWS, Azure or GCP).
• Exposure to Docker and API‐driven systems.
• Strong problem‐solving skills and ability to work collaboratively.
• Experience with aerospace, sensor, telemetry or other high‐volume engineering data is highly desirable.

Desirable

• STEM/Data/AI‐related degree.
• Experience influencing technical design decisions.
• CI/CD exposure.
• Familiarity with big data ecosystems (Spark, Hadoop, NiFi).
• Knowledge of Kubernetes, IaC (Terraform/Ansible), or ML deployment patterns.