Contract Principal Data Engineer

Nasstar; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 166,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible remote-first working

Training and certifications

Collaborative culture

Job summary

Nasstar is seeking an experienced Contract Principal Data Engineer to support complex client engagements across Data & AI transformation programmes. This is a highly client-facing consultancy role with remote UK engagement.

You will lead Databricks architecture, guide delivery teams, and collaborate with stakeholders to shape platform strategy, governance and scalable data platforms across Azure and AWS.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as Principal Data Engineer/Lead Data Engineer/Data Architect in enterprise environments.
• Strong consultancy and client-facing capabilities.
• Deep Databricks expertise including architecture and leading delivery teams.
• Cloud-native data platforms on Azure and/or AWS.
• Advanced PySpark and SparkSQL with large-scale processing.
• Modern data architecture, ETL/ELT, and data modelling knowledge.
• Excellent SQL skills with large datasets.
• Data governance, security and platform reliability understanding.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.
• Ability to operate in fast-paced delivery environments.

Responsibilities

• Act as trusted technical advisor across client engagements.
• Build relationships with senior stakeholders and delivery teams.
• Translate complex technical concepts into business value and outcomes.
• Support platform strategy and roadmap planning.
• Lead enterprise Databricks solutions and architecture.
• Provide architectural leadership across cloud-native data initiatives.
• Define standards, best practices and scalable delivery approaches.
• Drive platform optimization, resilience and performance.

Skills

Databricks expertise

Client facing

Consultancy

SQL proficiency

Data governance

Cloud platforms (Azure/AWS)

PySpark/SparkSQL

Data architecture & ETL/ELT

Communication & stakeholder mgmt

Delivery leadership

Tools

Databricks

Azure

AWS

PySpark

SparkSQL

Job description

Contract Principal Data Engineer

Department: Services

Employment Type: Contract

Location: Remote, UK

Description

We are looking for an experienced Principal Data Engineer to join us on a contract basis, supporting complex client engagements across Data & AI transformation programmes.

This is a highly client-facing consultancy role, suited to someone who is comfortable operating at both strategic and hands-on technical levels. You will work directly with senior client stakeholders, delivery teams and architects to design and deliver scalable modern data platforms.

We are specifically looking for someone with deep expertise in Databricks, either operating at Architect level or leading high-performing engineering teams within enterprise environments.

The successful candidate will bring strong consulting capability, commercial awareness and stakeholder management skills alongside exceptional technical depth.

Key Responsibilities

Client Engagement & Stakeholder Management

• Act as a trusted technical advisor across client engagements.
• Build strong relationships with senior stakeholders, delivery leads and
  engineering teams.
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear business value and delivery
  outcomes.
• Support clients through technical decision-making, platform strategy and
  roadmap planning.

Databricks Leadership & Solution Architecture

• Lead the design and implementation of enterprise-scale Databricks solutions and modern data platforms.
• Provide architectural leadership across cloud-native data engineering
  initiatives.
• Define engineering standards, best practices and scalable delivery approaches.
• Drive platform optimisation, resilience and performance improvements.

Delivery & Consultancy

• Lead technical delivery across multiple client engagements within a consultancy environment.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams including Data Engineers, Architects, Product Owners and client stakeholders.
• Support project planning, technical governance and delivery execution.
• Ensure high-quality, scalable and maintainable engineering solutions.

Technical Leadership

• Mentor and guide engineering teams across modern data engineering practices.
• Lead technical problem-solving and incident resolution where required.
• Drive adoption of engineering best practices, automation and DevOps
  principles.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Proven experience operating as a Principal Data Engineer, Lead Data Engineer or Data Architect within enterprise environments.
• Strong consultancy and client-facing experience, ideally across multiple customer engagements.
• Deep expertise in Databricks, including architecture, optimisation and leading delivery teams.
• Strong experience designing and delivering cloud-native data platforms within
  Azure and/or AWS environments.
• Advanced experience with PySpark, SparkSQL and large-scale distributed data processing.
• Strong understanding of modern data architecture, ETL/ELT frameworks and
  data modelling.
• Excellent SQL skills and experience working with large-scale datasets.
• Strong understanding of data governance, security and platform reliability principles.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management and consulting skills.
• Ability to operate confidently in fast-paced, delivery-focused environments

Benefits

• Opportunity to work on complex, high-impact client programmes.
• Exposure to enterprise-scale Data & AI transformation initiatives.
• Flexible remote-first working model aligned to client requirements.
• Access to AWS & Databricks partner training and certifications.
• Collaborative culture focused on technical excellence and innovation.
• Opportunity to influence engineering standards, delivery capability and client success across Colibri Digital.