Senior GCP Data Engineer

Talent Insights Group; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 129,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Talent Insights Group in Sydney is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to design, build and optimise data platforms in GCP and dbt, with hands-on ownership from end to end.

The 6–12 month contract offers a hybrid arrangement, with ~2 days in the office, and a day rate of 700–1000 AUD plus super. You will contribute to analytics, data modelling and real-time use cases to deliver tangible business value.

Qualifications

• Experience as a Senior Data Engineer in a complex/enterprise environment.
• Hands-on with Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Strong SQL skills and BigQuery knowledge.
• Proven ability to own data engineering initiatives end-to-end.
• Experience with dbt Core.

Responsibilities

• Design and optimise scalable data platforms and pipelines.
• Develop data solutions across the GCP ecosystem with dbt.
• Build data models and transformations using SQL and BigQuery.
• Translate business problems into data solutions and own delivery end-to-end.
• Apply ELT and modern data engineering practices.

Skills

Engineering fundamentals

Ownership

Communication

Autonomy

Tools

GCP

dbt Core

BigQuery

SQL

Job description

Senior Data Engineer – GCP / dbt / Data Platforms

6–12 Month Contract | Sydney | Hybrid

$700-1000 a day including super DOE

We’re looking for both Mid level and Senior Data Engineers to join a large-scale data and technology transformation within a complex enterprise environment.

The team is going through an exciting period of growth and change, building out data capabilities and platforms that will support a significant pipeline of work over the next 12 months.

This is a genuinely hands‑on engineering role, with a strong focus on GCP, dbt and modern data engineering, but we’re not just looking for someone who can tick a technology checklist.

We’re looking for an engineer who can understand the business problem behind the data, take ownership from end to end and build solutions that genuinely add value.

What you’ll be doing

• Design, build and optimise scalable data platforms, pipelines, databases, schemas and data models within a complex enterprise environment
• Develop modern data solutions across the GCP ecosystem, with a strong focus on dbt and cloud data engineering
• Build robust data pipelines and transformations using SQL, BigQuery and dbt
• Design performant, maintainable and fit‑for‑purpose data models
• Implement new data capabilities, structures and solutions across a large organisation
• Work with high‑volume data and contribute to solutions supporting analytics, reporting and broader business initiatives
• Explore and contribute to real‑time analytics and data use cases, with the ability to learn new technologies where required
• Apply modern ELT and data engineering best practices across ingestion, transformation and modelling
• Work closely with engineers, analysts and business stakeholders to understand problems and translate them into effective technical solutions
• Take ownership of engineering initiatives from understanding the problem through to delivery
• Contribute to data quality, governance, reliability and engineering standards
• Identify opportunities to improve existing processes, platforms and ways of working
• Stay curious about emerging technologies, including AI and AI‑enabled data solutions, and help the team adopt new approaches where they create genuine business value

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for a Data Engineer first and foremost — someone with strong engineering fundamentals who is comfortable operating in a changing environment and taking ownership.

You’ll ideally have:

• Strong commercial experience as a Senior Data Engineer within a complex or enterprise environment
• Strong hands‑on experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• Strong experience with dbt / dbt Core
• Excellent SQL skills, including query optimisation and performance tuning
• Experience with BigQuery and modern cloud data warehouse architectures
• Strong understanding of data modelling, database design and schema design
• Experience building scalable, reliable data pipelines and ELT processes
• Experience working within Agile delivery teams
• A track record of taking ownership of data engineering initiatives and delivering them end‑to‑end
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• The ability to understand the why behind a requirement, challenge assumptions and build solutions that address the underlying business problem
• A proactive, self‑starting approach with the ability to work autonomously
• A genuine interest in learning and adapting to new technologies

Highly regarded

• Experience with real‑time analytics, streaming or event‑driven data
• Exposure to AI / AI technologies and an interest in applying them to data problems
• Experience within audience analytics or measurement
• Experience working with large‑scale consumer, digital or transactional datasets
• Additional GCP services and modern data tooling

The right mindset is just as important as the technology. We’re looking for someone who is curious, commercially minded and focused on creating outcomes — not simply delivering tickets.

Technology

GCP | dbt | BigQuery | SQL | Data Modelling | ELT | Cloud Data Engineering

Experience with real‑time data, AI technologies and additional GCP services will be highly regarded.

Why this role?

This is an opportunity to join a team that is building and evolving its data capability at scale, with a significant pipeline of work ahead.

You’ll have the opportunity to work on meaningful data engineering challenges, influence how data platforms evolve and work closely with a range of technical and business stakeholders.

Rather than being brought in simply to execute a predefined backlog, you’ll have the opportunity to own problems, shape solutions and see your work have a tangible impact on the wider business.

The team is looking for people who can hit the ground running, bring fresh thinking and add value from day one.

Location

Sydney

Working arrangement: Hybrid, with approximately 2 days per week in the office