Principal Data Engineer

Job description

# Principal Data Engineer > Simple Machines · London, United Kingdom (Hybrid) · Full-time · Posted 2026-05-20 **Workplace:** hybrid **Department:** ANZ Data Engineering ## Description ### Principal Data Engineer ### Who We Are Simple Machines is a global, independent technology consultancy operating across Sydney, New Zealand, London, and Poland. We design and build modern data platforms, intelligent systems, and bespoke software at the intersection of **Data Engineering, Software Engineering** and **AI.** We work with enterprises, scale-ups, and government to turn messy, high-value data into products, platforms, and decisions that actually move the needle. We don’t do generic. We build things that matter - **We engineer data to life™.** ## Requirements ### The Role This is a **hands-on principal engineering role**, not an architecture-only seat and not a support function. You’ll be responsible for technical direction, platform design and architectural decision-making. You'll design and build **greenfield data platforms**, real-time pipelines, and data products for clients who are serious about using data properly. You’ll work in small, high-calibre teams and operate close to both the problem and the client. If you enjoy solving hard data problems, shaping modern architectures (data mesh, data products, contracts), and delivering real outcomes — this is your lane. ### What You’ll Be Doing **Lead Platform & Architecture Design** - Own the end-to-end architecture of modern, cloud-native data platforms - Design scalable data ecosystems using **data mesh, data products, and data contracts** - Make high-impact architectural decisions across ingestion, storage, processing, and access layers - Ensure platforms are secure, compliant, and production-grade by design **Build Modern Data Platforms** - Design and deliver cloud-native data platforms using **Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, and GCP** - Apply modern architectural patterns: **data mesh, data products, and data contracts** - Integrate deeply with client systems to enable scalable, consumer-oriented data access **Develop High-Performance Pipelines** - Build and optimise **batch and real-time pipelines** - Work with streaming and event-driven tech such as **Kafka, Flink, Kinesis, Pub/Sub** - Orchestrate workflows using **Airflow, Dataflow, Glue** **Work at Scale** - Process and transform large datasets using **Spark and Flink** - Design systems that perform in production - not just on paper **Own Data Storage & Performance** - Work across relational, NoSQL, and analytical stores (Postgres, BigQuery, Snowflake, Cassandra, MongoDB) - Optimise storage formats and access patterns (Parquet, Delta, ORC, Avro) **Cloud, Security & Governance** - Implement secure, compliant data solutions with **security by design** - Embed governance without killing developer velocity **Consult and Influence** - Work directly with clients to understand problems and shape solutions - Translate business needs into pragmatic engineering decisions - Act as a trusted technical advisor, not just an order taker **Technical Leadership & Quality** - Set engineering standards, patterns, and best practices across teams - Review designs and code, providing clear technical direction and mentorship - Raise the bar on data quality, testing, observability, and operational excellence ### What We’re Looking For **Core Engineering Strength** - Strong **Python and SQL** - Deep experience with **Spark** and modern data platforms (Databricks / Snowflake) - Solid grasp of cloud data services (AWS or GCP) **Architecture & Design Judgement** - Demonstrated ownership of large-scale data platform architectures - Strong data modelling skills and architectural decision-making ability - Comfortable balancing trade-offs between performance, cost, and complexity **Data Platform Experience** - Built and operated **large-scale data pipelines** in production - Strong data modelling capability and architectural judgement - Comfortable with multiple storage technologies and formats **Engineering Discipline** - Infrastructure-as-code experience (**Terraform, Pulumi**) - CI/CD pipelines using tools like **GitHub Actions, ArgoCD** - Data testing and quality frameworks (**dbt, Great Expectations, Soda**) **Delivery & Consulting Mindset** - Experience in consulting or professional services environments - Strong consulting instincts — able to challenge assumptions and guide clients toward better outcomes - Comfortable mentoring senior engineers and influencing technical culture ## Benefits ### Why Simple Machines - You’ll work on **interesting, high-impact problems** - You’ll build **modern platforms**, not maintain legacy mess - You’ll be surrounded by senior engineers who actually know their craft - You’ll have autonomy, influence, and room to grow If you’re a senior data engineer who wants to build properly, think clearly, and deliver real outcomes - we should talk. ## Apply [Apply at Simple Machines](https://apply.workable.com/simple-machines-3/j/602A386021/apply) --- Powered by [Workable](https://www.workable.com)