Data Engineer (AI & Software) - Winchester/Hybrid

Mayflower Recruitment Ltd; Winchester; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Mayflower Recruitment Ltd is seeking a Data Engineer to work across the data, AI and software engineering stack in Winchester, UK. You will design data pipelines, model and organise data, and ensure governance and quality across the platform.

The role involves preparing data for ML/AI features, integrating AI services, and deploying models in production. Strong Python/Java skills, SQL, and cloud experience are essential; the candidate should be comfortable moving between tasks as priorities

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a data engineering, software engineering or similar technical role.
• Strong programming skills in Python or Java, and willingness to work in both.
• Solid SQL and data modelling, ETL/ELT and pipeline design.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain scalable data pipelines (batch and streaming) that feed analytics, reporting and AI workloads.
• Model, clean and organise data so it's reliable, well documented and easy for others to use.
• Look after data quality, monitoring and governance across the platform.
• Prepare and manage the data that powers machine learning models and AI features.
• Help integrate AI technologies, such as large language models, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and ML services, into our products and workflows.
• Support the deployment, monitoring and improvement of models in production.
• Keep an eye on the fast-moving AI landscape and suggest where new tools could add value.
• Write clean, tested, maintainable code, mainly in Python and Java.

Skills

Python

Java

SQL

Data modeling

Cloud platforms

Tools

Airflow

Kafka

Spark

Docker

Job description

We're looking for a Data Engineer who enjoys working across the whole stack: building reliable data pipelines, putting AI and machine learning into production, and writing solid software to tie it all together.

This isn't a narrow, single-lane role. You'll move between data, AI and engineering work depending on what the team needs most, and you'll be comfortable picking up new tools as our platform evolves.

What you'll do

• Design, build and maintain scalable data pipelines (batch and streaming) that feed analytics, reporting and AI workloads
• Model, clean and organise data so it's reliable, well documented and easy for others to use
• Look after data quality, monitoring and governance across the platform

AI and machine learning

• Prepare and manage the data that powers machine learning models and AI features
• Help integrate AI technologies, such as large language models, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and ML services, into our products and workflows
• Support the deployment, monitoring and improvement of models in production
• Keep an eye on the fast-moving AI landscape and suggest where new tools could add value

Software engineering

• Write clean, tested, maintainable code, mainly in Python and Java
• Build services, APIs and tooling that connect data and AI components to the wider system
• Contribute to code reviews, CI/CD pipelines and good engineering practice across the team

Across the team

• Work with analysts, data scientists, engineers and business stakeholders to turn problems into practical solutions
• Pick up whatever needs doing to move work forward, from infrastructure to documentation

What we're looking for

• Proven experience in a data engineering, software engineering or similar technical role
• Strong programming skills in at least one general-purpose language, ideally Python or Java, and willingness to work in both
• Solid SQL and a good grasp of data modelling, ETL/ELT and pipeline design
• Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud platform (e.g. AWS, Azure or GCP)
• Practical exposure to AI or machine learning, whether building models, integrating AI services or preparing data for them
• Familiarity with software engineering fundamentals: version control, testing, code review and CI/CD
• The ability to explain technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical colleagues

Security clearance - Required

You must have been resident in the UK for at least the last five years. Successful candidates will need to obtain and maintain this clearance as a condition of employment.

Nice to have

• Experience with distributed data processing or streaming tools (e.g. Spark, Kafka)
• Workflow orchestration (e.g. Airflow, Dagster or similar)
• Working with LLMs, vector databases, embeddings or RAG patterns
• MLOps practices: model versioning, deployment and monitoring
• Containers and infrastructure as code (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform)
• Experience with modern data warehouses or lakehouses (e.g. Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery)

The kind of person who thrives here

We care more about range and attitude than ticking every box. You'll do well in this role if you:

• Enjoy variety and are happy to switch between data, AI and software work as priorities change
• Are curious and pick up new languages, tools and frameworks quickly
• Take ownership of problems end to end, rather than handing off at the edge of your specialism
• Prefer practical, working solutions over perfect ones, and know when to go deeper
• Share knowledge openly and enjoy helping the people around you improve