Principal Data EngineerHybrid

Flybuys; City of Melbourne; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flybuysflex

Well-being days

Volunteer leave

Learning & development

Team member discount

Be Well Programs

All Team events

Hybrid social events

Starter kit merchandise

Job summary

Flybuys in Melbourne is hiring a Principal Data Engineer to own the technical approach and end-to-end engineering of data platforms and products. You will lead a team of data engineers, shape data architecture and ensure secure, governed, high-quality data delivery for members and partners.

You will design scalable pipelines, establish data governance and adopt AI-assisted engineering within privacy and security boundaries.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in data engineering with leadership experience.
• 2+ years leading teams delivering complex data products.
• Experience designing data platforms and governance.

Responsibilities

• Own data engineering platforms and end-to-end data product delivery.
• Lead and coach data engineers, including senior/lead roles.
• Design reusable data models, ingestion, transformation and streaming pipelines.
• Define data governance, quality, lineage, security and privacy guardrails.
• Evaluate new methods/technologies and apply AI-assisted engineering within governance.
• Collaborate with product, architects and stakeholders to frame opportunities.
• Ensure observability, testing, resilience and production readiness.
• Enable self-service data pipelines for other teams with governance.
• Contribute to roadmaps and manage technical debt, reliability, and costs.
• Handle other management-assigned responsibilities.

Skills

Data leadership

Data pipelines

SQL

Python

Airflow

dbt

Fivetran

Kinesis

Kafka

Azure

AWS

CI/CD

Data governance

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Airflow

dbt

Fivetran

Kinesis

Kafka

Job description

We’re known for being the country’s most popular rewards program, helping over 10 million Australians get more of what they value beyond the checkout. And through our extended network of partnerships with other nationally recognised brands, we make every day simpler, easier and more rewarding for our members. Plus, we’re also the winner of Canstar Blue's 2023, 2024 and 2025 Most Satisfied Customer award for Rewards Programs

But,we'remore than the card you carry around in your wallet or the app on your phone!Our diverse team islocatedall over Australia, and our incredible office islocatedright in the heart of Melbourne CBD.Staying true to our flexible working policy and people-centric culture, we ensure all our team members are set up to work remotely across Australia. We are outcomes-focused, and everything we do is aligned with our core principles - Own, Act and Inspire.

Your Team

We've already built a pretty amazing team, but we're not looking for more of the same. Our day-to-day is made stronger when we surround ourselves with people who are different, like you.

Your Role

The Principal Data Engineer owns the technical approach and end-to-end engineering of data platforms and data products, from discovery through design, delivery, secure operation and improvement. The role combines hands-on data engineering with people leadership, enabling reliable, governed data that delivers measurable value for members, partners and Flybuys.

• Responsible for the design and implementation of data engineering platforms, maintaining and improving infrastructure as code capabilities for scalable and efficient data solutions.
• Lead, manage and develop data engineers through coaching, feedback, reviews and reusable examples. Coach Senior/Lead Data Engineers and Data Quality engineer where assigned.
• Design and implement reusable data models, ingestion, transformation and streaming pipelines, and data architectures that balance consumer needs, reliability, security, cost and performance.
• Define and maintain data engineering governance and technical standards for data quality, integrity, lineage, access controls, privacy, security and operability. Embed these guardrails in delivery and operation, aligned with data governance policies and relevant assurance teams.
• Evaluate emerging data engineering methods and technologies and use approved AI-assisted engineering and automation to improve development, testing, documentation and operations within privacy, security and governance requirements.
• Partner with Product Management, Squad Leads, architects, business stakeholders, analysts and data scientists to frame data opportunities, validate assumptions and compare options. Constructively challenge choices against value, usability, feasibility, viability, risk, cost and delivery pace.
• Own data engineering initiatives from discovery and design through build, release and production improvement. Guide estimates, sequencing, dependencies and blocker resolution, making readiness, risks and trade-offs transparent.
• Ensure data platforms and pipelines are observable, testable, resilient and supportable. Establish monitoring, data quality checks, incident response and performance expectations before release, and resolve complex production issues through root-cause analysis.
• Enable flex squads and other teams to build and support their own data pipelines through governed self-service, providing design reviews and hands-on support to ensure standards and production-readiness requirements are met. Partner with Architecture, Security and Platform teams on novel, complex, high-risk, cross-domain or enterprise decisions.
• Contribute technical leadership beyond the immediate team, shaping coordinated data and technology roadmaps and making technical debt, reliability and security risks, costs and operational constraints visible for prioritisation.
• Undertake other reasonable accountabilities and deliverables assigned by management.

Your Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in computer science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 8+ years of experience in data engineering, with at least 2 years in a team leadership or management role, including significant experience delivering complex data products or platforms and owning their full engineering lifecycle.
• Extensive experience in designing, building, and managing data pipelines, data warehouses, and data lakes.
• Hands-on experience with cloud data warehouses (e.g., Google BigQuery, Snowflake) and related technologies.
• Strong proficiency in SQL and Python, with experience in other relevant languages.
• Knowledge of data governance, data quality, lineage and data security, including privacy, compliance, risk management and access controls throughout the data lifecycle.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including explaining complex data concepts to diverse audiences and partnering with product, design and delivery leaders in discovery, prioritisation and decision-making.
• Proven experience leading and managing distributed onshore and offshore data engineering teams, setting technical direction and delivery expectations, coaching engineers and coordinating with external delivery partners across time zones to maintain engineering standards and data quality.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities to address complex data challenges.
• Expertise in data pipeline and orchestration tools, with demonstrated proficiency in Apache Airflow and dbt. Hands-on experience configuring, integrating and operating Fivetran for data ingestion and Hightouch for reverse ETL and data activation, with appropriate monitoring, data quality, access controls and reliability practices.
• Strong experience with cloud platforms (AWS and Azure) including data, streaming, and infrastructure related services.
• Strong experience with streaming technologies, including one of Kafka, Confluent, or Kinesis.
• Exposure to Serverless compute services, with hands-on Lambda skills.
• Knowledge of best practices in data modelling, ETL processes, and system design.
• Expert-level Git and CI/CD toolchain skills, supported by modern engineering practices for automated testing, observability, release readiness, incident response and secure, resilient cloud-native data services.
• Innovative tendencies and can communicate the value of your ideas.
• Demonstrate strategic thinking and outcome accountability, balancing immediate delivery with long-term data platform health. Model Own, Act and Inspire through clear ownership, timely action and support for others.

We offer our valued team members a stack of exclusive benefits! To name a few...

• Flybuysflex | work from anywhere, measured on outcomes
• Two well-being days per year!
• Volunteer leave
• Ongoing learning & development programs and opportunities
• My Coles and Wesfarmers team member discount card
• Be Well Programs – Mind/Body/Soul
• Quarterly All Team events
• Hybrid social events
• New starter kit merchandise

We value ways of working that work for everyone and use our different strengths to make us stronger. We work hard to make sure everyone’s voice is heard and respected equally, regardless of identity, background, position, ability or lifestyle.

It is a condition of employment that successful applicants undergo a National Police Check prior to commencing.