Principal Data Engineer

Principal Data Engineer

£110,000 + 20% bonus

Hybrid | London

We're working with a global branded entertainment business, operating across multiple international markets, to find a Principal Data Engineer who will shape the future of their data estate.

This is a genuine player-coach role at a pivotal moment. The business is mid-transformation, moving from a legacy environment to a modern, cloud-native platform built on Databricks and Azure. You'll define the architecture, drive execution, build the team, and set the technical culture from the ground up.

You'll be the technical face of data to the business: sitting with senior stakeholders, translating complex trade-offs into plain language, and holding the line on what gets built right versus what gets fixed fast.

Responsibilities as a Principal Data Engineer:

• Define the directional architecture for the new data estate, including Lakehouse, Medallion and Eventing patterns on Databricks and Azure
• Lead discovery of the legacy estate: identify what to kill, what to keep, and how to migrate without breaking continuity
• Line manage, hire and develop the Data Engineering squad, setting technical standards and team culture
• Implement modern engineering hygiene: CI/CD, automated testing, observability and FinOps
• Partner with the Data Delivery Lead to balance tactical fixes against strategic build
• Represent the data function in setting organisation-wide standards for coding, security and DevOps

Requirements:

• 5 to 8 years in data engineering or data architecture, with at least 3 years in a leadership position
• Expert-level Databricks, Azure and SQL/Python
• Proven track record of refactoring legacy estates onto modern platforms without breaking things
• GCP and BigQuery experience is a strong advantage
• High EQ, comfortable presenting to leadership and managing non-technical stakeholders
• A software engineering mindset, not a scripting one

Why apply:

• Real architectural ownership from day one, not inherited decisions
• A mandate to build the team and culture around you
• Visibility at VP and leadership level across a major international business
• Hybrid working from London

If you're a Principal Data Engineer who wants to lead something meaningful rather than maintain something inherited, this is worth a conversation. Apply below or reach out directly.

Due to the high volume of applications, not all applicants will receive feedback.