Principal Data & AI Engineer- Media

Woolworths Group; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Team discounts

Rewards program

Flexible work approach

Job summary

Woolworths Group's Cartology unit seeks a Principal Data & AI Engineer to shape audience and measurement engineering. Based in Surry Hills with a three‑day office week, you will drive governance, data platforms, and AI-enabled insights across a large data foundation.

You’ll lead architectural direction, set engineering standards, and partner with Product and Engineering managers to define roadmaps and platform scope.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in data engineering with large-scale data platforms.

Responsibilities

• Set Technical Direction: Lead the architecture and engineering strategy for Cartology’s audience and measurement data platforms.
• Establish Engineering Standards: Define robust AI SDLC practices and technical benchmarks across Woolworths Group data systems.
• Lead Without Direct Reports: Drive technical excellence and team direction through direct architectural leadership and mentorship.
• Found the Data & AI COE: Help establish the Centre of Excellence for audience capability and media measurement.
• Partner with Leadership: Collaborate with Product and Senior Engineering Managers to shape delivery scope and platform roadmaps.
• Build End-to-End Solutions: Architect the complete data lifecycle, from rapid audience creation to comprehensive post-campaign reporting.
• Embed Commercial Guardrails: Ensure governance, privacy, and business logic are engineered directly into the data platform.
• Drive Business Impact: Align complex technical designs with commercial accuracy, revenue goals, and proven brand value.

Skills

Platform Architecture

Data Engineering

SQL

Python

dbt

Airflow

Ad-Tech knowledge

Technical Leadership

AI & SDLC

Commercial Acumen

Tools

LookML

Cube

dbt metrics

Hightouch

Census

RudderStack

Job description

Principal Data & AI Engineer- Audience & Measurement

• senior technical leadership role
• Surry Hills location with hybrid working (3 days in the office)
• Help establish the Centre of Excellence for audience capability and media measurement.

About Cartology, Audience Capabilities, and the Data & AI COE

Cartology is the Retail Media Business within Woolworths Group, connecting brands with customers through data-led experiences. Retail media runs on data: audiences planned before a campaign, measured during it, and proven after it, across our own channels and the open web.

We are investing in new audience capabilities: how audiences are created, governed, and activated across channels. Woolworths Group data platforms underpin the work, and the engineering bar is high: audiences that reach their channels in hours, with commercial guardrails engineered into the platform rather than bolted on as manual review.

Alongside the audience work, we are evolving measurement: post-campaign measurement and reporting with and without audience overlay, for on-network and off-network advertising, drawing on platform reporting, ad logs, and data clean rooms.

You join at the start. Initially you are part of the audience capability project team; as the capability matures you embed in the core Data & Audience team as a founding member of our Data & AI engineering Centre of Excellence (COE) for audience and media measurement. The COE shapes delivery of our audience capabilities from a Data & Audience perspective and drives our data & AI platform evolution: a governed semantic layer, conversational analytics, and AI-ready data for the next phase of growth.

What you’ll do:

As Principal Data & AI Engineer within Cartology’s Data & Audience team, you set the technical direction for audience and measurement engineering across Woolworths Group data platforms. In this senior technical leadership role, you guide architecture, standards, and AI SDLC practices without direct reports, partnering with Product and Engineering managers to stand up the Data & AI Centre of Excellence. You architect end-to-end data foundations from fast, governed audience activation to post-campaign measurement ensuring every technical decision balances high engineering standards with commercial accuracy and clear revenue impact

• Set Technical Direction:Lead the architecture and engineering strategy for Cartology’s audience and measurement data platforms.
• Establish Engineering Standards:Define robust AI SDLC practices and technical benchmarks across Woolworths Group data systems.
• Lead Without Direct Reports:Drive technical excellence and team direction through direct architectural leadership and mentorship.
• Found the Data & AI COE:Help establish the Centre of Excellence for audience capability and media measurement.
• Partner with Leadership:Collaborate closely with Product and Senior Engineering Managers to shape delivery scope and platform roadmaps.
• Build End-to-End Solutions:Architect the complete data lifecycle, from rapid audience creation to comprehensive post-campaign reporting.
• Embed Commercial Guardrails:Ensure governance, privacy, and business logic are engineered directly into the data platform.
• Drive Business Impact:Align complex technical designs with commercial accuracy, revenue goals, and proven brand value.

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What you’ll bring:

We are looking for a commercially fluent, ad-tech native Principal Data & AI Engineer who takes complete ownership of outcomes and interrogated business needs before writing code. You bring deep, hands on experience with ad logs, audience segmentation, platform reporting, and data clean rooms, understanding that accuracy is paramount when brand investments are on the line. As an AI-forward technical leader, you set the standard for how engineering teams build with AI while easily translating complex measurement logic for business stakeholders. Above all, you measure your personal success by the quality, reliability, and business impact of the platforms your fellow engineers ship.

• Proven Platform Architecture:8+ years in data engineering, with proven experience designing large scale data platforms in BigQuery, Snowflake, or Redshift.
• Core Technical Expertise:Mastery of SQL, Python, dbt, and Airflow, with a strong track record of building scalable data foundations.
• Ad-Tech Domain Knowledge:Deep experience with ad logs, audience segmentation, platform reporting, and campaign measurement within retail media, publishers, or agencies.
• Technical Leadership:Skilled in guiding senior engineers, conducting design reviews, and raising engineering standards without needing direct reports.
• AI & SDLC Enablement:Hands-on experience driving AI-assisted engineering practices, governance guardrails, and AI-ready data infrastructure.
• Commercial Acumen & Communication:Ability to translate complex technical designs into clear business outcomes for product and commercial stakeholders.
• Audience & Measurement Ecosystems (Desirable):Familiarity with data clean rooms, warehouse-native activation tools (Hightouch, Census, RudderStack), or platforms like Meta, LiveRamp, and DV360.
• Advanced Analytics & COE Setup (Desirable):Exposure to semantic layers (LookML, Cube, dbt metrics), closed-loop measurement, incrementality, or helping build a Centre of Excellence from scratch.

What you’ll experience:

• Develop your career in an organisation that gives you the time and space to think creatively and strategically
• Feel supported and empowered by your leaders
• A truly unique opportunity to be involved in creating, shaping and leading the new retail media industry.
• A global business with endless career possibilities around every corner and across every discipline.
• Team discounts across our range of Woolworths Group brands you know and love and a robust rewards program that celebrates and incentivises purpose-driven work.

Endless possibilities with Woolworths Group:

We’re a proud part of the Woolworths Group (200,000+ bright minds, passionate hearts and unique perspectives working together connected by a shared Purpose) ‘to create better experiences together for a better tomorrow.’

Here you’ll be supported and empowered to explore new ideas, make brave commitments and innovate better ways to meet the food and everyday needs of more than 24 million customers every week. Backed by a culture of genuine care, a flexible approach to work and the support to grow your career and make a meaningful impact, the possibilities for what we can achieve together are endless.

Everyone belongs at Woolworths Group:

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are key to realising our purpose of better together for a better tomorrow. We recognise the value our team’s diversity brings to our business, customers, and communities and that teams with diverse experiences and backgrounds enrich our group and are better able to innovate and solve problems. As one of the largest employers in Australia and New Zealand, we aim to create a truly inclusive workplace where everyone feels that they belong, can be their best selves, and reach their full potential.

We encourage all candidates to apply; please let us know in your application if we can support you with any adjustments in the hiring process.