Principal Backend Engineer — Hybrid Data Platform

Publicis Media; Greater London; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension

Private Medical cover

Shared Parental Leave

Job summary

Publicis Media in London is seeking a principal-level backend/data platform engineer to own backend and data architecture across pipelines and platform APIs. You will shape data contracts, guide Databricks medallion pipelines, and implement AWS serverless patterns with secure, scalable designs.

The role demands senior leadership, mentoring, architecture decisions, and a pragmatic approach to trade-offs. You will work primarily from the office or client sites four days per week.

Qualifications

• Senior backend/ data platform ownership experience across multiple services or teams
• Expert Python backend engineering including API design and async/concurrent systems
• Hands-on Databricks / PySpark and lakehouse architecture
• Strong AWS serverless background (Lambda, API Gateway, S3, DynamoDB, IAM)
• In-depth multi-tenant SaaS design, authN/authZ, secrets management
• Experience designing stable data contracts and consumer-facing data models
• Proven technical leadership through mentoring and architecture decisions
• Experience in media, advertising, or similar industries

Responsibilities

• Own backend and data architecture across pipelines, platform APIs, and downstream products
• Define data contracts between warehouse outputs and platform surfaces
• Lead evolution of Databricksmedallion pipelines for analytics and product use cases
• Improve data quality and governance with schema enforcement and lineage
• Architect Python backend services on AWS serverless paths with auth patterns
• Shape capability exposure through OneSuite, including MCP integrations and CLI contracts
• Set engineering standards for testing, CI/CD, and observability
• Mentor senior engineers through reviews and pairing

Job description

Publicis Media in London is seeking a principal-level backend/data platform engineer to own backend and data architecture across pipelines and platform APIs. You will shape data contracts, guide Databricks medallion pipelines, and implement AWS serverless patterns with secure, scalable designs.

The role demands senior leadership, mentoring, architecture decisions, and a pragmatic approach to trade-offs. You will work primarily from the office or client sites four days per week.