Principal Data Engineer

Mott MacDonald; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading engineering consultancy in London is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to define and implement enterprise data architecture. The role involves working with cross-disciplinary teams to design scalable data systems and leading a team of data engineers. Ideal candidates should possess strong communication skills, cloud experience (preferably Azure), and a proven track record in data engineering and architecture. This position offers opportunities for impactful work and personal growth in a collaborative environment.

Benefits

Private medical insurance

Pension contributions matched 4.5%–7%

33–35 days holiday

Enhanced family and carers leave

Professional development and training

Qualifications

• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills bridging technical detail with business value.
• Experience in data engineering and architecture in complex or regulated enterprise environments.
• Expertise in designing scalable data architectures using cloud platforms (Azure preferred).
• Strong experience with data modelling and familiarity with ontology tools.
• Proven experience mentoring or managing other data engineers.
• Solid programming skills in Python and SQL.
• Experience with data pipeline orchestration tools.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement robust data pipelines for structured and unstructured data.
• Lead the development of semantic data models for interoperability.
• Provide technical direction and mentoring for a team of data engineers.
• Build and maintain data pipelines and infrastructure in a modern cloud environment.
• Partner with stakeholders to gather requirements and communicate architecture decisions.
• Promote robust data management including lineage and ethical data use.
• Apply industry trends in data architecture and metadata technologies.

Skills

Communication skills

Data engineering experience

Data architecture expertise

Cloud platform experience

Programming skills in Python and SQL

Familiarity with data orchestration tools

Tools

Azure

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Overview

Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management, and development consultancy with over 20,000 employees across more than 50 countries and 140+ offices. We work across global industries, delivering work that defines our future and makes a societal impact in the communities we serve. Our people power our performance – we succeed when they do. With opportunities to collaborate, learn, and grow, the possibilities for excellence are as varied as every individual. We are an employee-owned business that aims to empower, include, and value everyone. Whatever your ambition, Mott MacDonald is where people come to be brilliant.

Location/s: London
Recruiter contact: Nikki George

About the business unit

Mott MacDonald’s support services are the driving force behind our organisation, enabling us to run efficiently and effectively. The team offers specialist advice, best practice and technology to all areas of our business, designed for our global reach.

About the Role

We’re looking for a Principal Data Engineer to shape and implement our enterprise data architecture. This role suits someone who combines deep technical expertise with strong stakeholder engagement and a strategic mindset. You’ll help define and implement data foundations that enable impactful AI and analytics solutions across our global engineering, consulting, and infrastructure business. You’ll work with cross-disciplinary teams to design scalable, secure, and interoperable data systems, establish our enterprise data ontology, and lead a small team of data engineers.

What You’ll Do

• Enterprise data pipeline design & optimisation: design and implement robust data pipelines to map structured and unstructured data from diverse sources into the enterprise vector store, ensuring high-quality embeddings for downstream retrieval and analysis
• Ontology and data modelling: lead the development of semantic data models and domain ontologies for data interoperability and traceability
• Team leadership: provide technical direction and mentoring for a small team of data engineers
• Hands-On engineering: build, evolve, and maintain scalable, secure data pipelines, APIs, and infrastructure in a modern cloud environment (Azure preferred)
• Stakeholder collaboration: partner with technical and non-technical stakeholders across business units to gather requirements, align roadmaps, and communicate architecture decisions
• Governance & best practices: promote robust data management including lineage, observability, access control, and ethical data use
• Innovation & standards: stay ahead of industry trends in data architecture and metadata/semantic technologies and apply where valuable
• Enterprise data architecture: collaborate with architects to define and implement data patterns across systems to support analytical, AI, and operational use cases

What You’ll Bring

• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills—bridging technical detail and business value
• Experience in data engineering and architecture in complex or regulated enterprise environments
• Expertise in designing scalable data architectures using cloud platforms (Azure preferred)
• Strong experience with data modelling and familiarity with data catalogues, knowledge graphs, or ontology tools
• Proven experience mentoring or managing other data engineers
• Solid programming skills in Python and SQL, with familiarity with Git, CI/CD, Docker, and Kubernetes
• Experience with data pipeline orchestration tools (e.g., Dagster) and modern data stack components

Why Join Us

• Help shape the future of responsible, high-impact data and AI solutions in infrastructure, engineering, and consulting
• Work with a mature team focused on improving data engineering within our organisation
• Shape our enterprise data engineering practice from the ground up and contribute to enterprise data architecture and strategy
• Lead and mentor within a collaborative, fast-growing team focused on innovation with purpose
• Gain exposure to diverse, meaningful projects that create long-term social and environmental value

We are actively recruiting a diverse workforce reflective of the communities we serve. We recognise that differences in ability, skills and experience are strengths and encourage applications from all backgrounds.

#LI-NG

UK Immigration

Mott MacDonald Ltd. are not currently offering sponsorship to candidates under the Skilled Worker visa route in the UK. This decision follows changes to the Skilled Worker route by the UK Government in April 2024. We welcome applications from candidates eligible for alternative immigration routes that do not require sponsorship as a Skilled Worker now or in the future.

Other Policies

Agile working: We offer a hybrid working policy to balance client, team, and personal commitments.

Equality, diversity, and inclusion: We promote fair employment procedures and an inclusive environment where everyone can contribute.

Accessibility: If you need any support to apply or attend an interview, contact [e-mail].

Benefits (highlights)

• Health and wellbeing: private medical insurance, health cash plan, Peppy support, comprehensive wellbeing program, flexible benefits including wider health options
• Financial wellbeing: pension contributions matched 4.5%–7%, life assurance up to 4x (option to 6x), income protection, flexible benefits, potential annual bonus
• Lifestyle: 33–35 days holiday, buy/sell leave option, enhanced holiday after 5 years, saving schemes and retailer discounts
• Enhanced family and carers leave: maternity/adoption 26 weeks, paternity/partner leave, shared parental leave up to 24 weeks at full pay, caring leave
• Learning and development: professional subscription, mentoring, training, self-development
• Networks and social outcomes: employee networks supporting diverse communities and social impact

Apply now, or for more information about our application process, click here.