Principal Data Engineer

VML MAP; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading digital agency is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to lead the Data Engineering practice. This hands-on role involves building solutions and setting architectural standards for data infrastructure, including cloud platforms and various tools. The ideal candidate will have extensive practical experience in data engineering, knowledge of modern data stacks, and the ability to mentor a team of engineers. Strong client-facing skills and commercial awareness are also important. Join a team dedicated to transforming brands through data solutions.

Qualifications

• Extensive hands-on data engineering experience building production data pipelines.
• Deep expertise in modern data stack with tools like dbt and Airflow.
• Strong architectural skills with understanding of data quality and governance.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical architecture and standards for data pipelines.
• Implement modern data stacks ensuring analytics-ready data models.
• Act as a trusted advisor for clients on data architecture.

Skills

Hands-on data engineering experience

Proficiency in SQL

Proficiency in Python

Expertise in dbt

Expertise in Airflow

Experience with cloud platforms (GCP, Snowflake)

Mentoring skills

Client-facing skills

Tools

Terraform

Git

Job description

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer to lead our Data Engineering practice. This is a role for a hands‑on technical expert who can contribute to shape data solutions for world‑renowned brands while mentoring a team of talented engineers. As a technical leader, you will set the vision and standards for how VML MAP delivers data infrastructure, integrations, governance & orchestration. You will influence outcomes through your expertise and strategic guidance.

What will your day look like?

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role where you will both build solutions and shape the practice. This role however does not have direct people management.

• Architecture: Collaborate with architects to define standards for data pipelines, transformations, and integrations across cloud platforms (GCP, Snowflake, Azure) and CRM platforms (Salesforce Data Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, etc.), spanning both traditional data engineering and marketing technology ecosystems.
• Implementation: Ensure correct adoption of modern data stacks using dbt, orchestration tools (Airflow), infrastructure‑as‑code (Terraform), and ELT/ETL frameworks, with a focus on analytics‑ready data models. Serve as the final technical escalation resource when projects face complex implementation challenges.
• Client Advisory: Act as the trusted technical advisor for clients, providing strategic guidance on their data architecture and identifying opportunities where data infrastructure can drive business value.
• Practice Innovation & Acceleration: Pioneer emerging capabilities—including agentic automation and AI‑driven engineering—while building repeatable solution frameworks and service offerings that reduce time‑to‑value and enable consistency across client engagements.
• Mentor & Coach: Develop engineers through hands‑on mentorship, code reviews, and technical guidance, empowering them to solve complex challenges.
• Practice Leadership: Work closely with the Global Data Practice Lead and domain practice peers to shape practice direction, standards, and growth.
• Collaborate: Partner with Architects, Strategy Consultants, and client services teams to deliver integrated, winning solutions.

Who are you going to work with?

You will join a team of hands‑on Data Engineers who are passionate about building reliable, scalable data infrastructure. They're technically strong but need someone who can provide architectural direction and help them taking their Data Practice to the next level. Although not direct people management, you'll lead through coaching, and setting the technical vision. Beside your team, you will collaborate with a wide array of stakeholders across our organization (strategy leads, account directors, etc.)

What do you bring to the table?

You are a natural technical leader who thrives on both hands‑on coding and high‑level architectural strategy. You excel at mentoring engineers and can clearly communicate complex technical trade‑offs to clients and stakeholders.

• Extensive years of hands‑on data engineering experience building production data pipelines and data warehouses.
• Deep expertise in the modern data stack: dbt, Airflow, Terraform, and cloud data platforms (GCP BigQuery, Snowflake).
• Strong architectural skills with a deep understanding of data modeling, quality, and governance.
• Proficiency in SQL, Python, and modern engineering workflows (Git, CI/CD, testing).
• Proven experience mentoring other engineers and building trust with both technical and non‑technical colleagues.
• Commercial awareness and client‑facing skills, with an ability to connect technical solutions to strategic business value. Agency or consulting experience is a strong advantage.
• Practice‑building mindset: a track record or genuine interest in developing new service offerings, establishing standards, and contributing to organizational capability development.
• Ownership and drive: comfort taking full accountability for your domain while navigating ambiguity and evolving organizational needs.
• Intellectual curiosity and learning agility: enthusiasm for exploring emerging technologies, testing new approaches, and continuously expanding your technical repertoire.
• Excellent communication skills in English.

A plus if you have:

• Experience with CRM data platforms (Salesforce Data Cloud, Adobe AEP).
• Familiarity with data governance and privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA).
• Cloud or dbt certifications.
• Experience building data pipelines for AI/LLM applications.

A leader in personalized customer experiences

VML MAP is a world‑leading Centre of Excellence that helps businesses humanize the relationship between the brand and the customer through hyper personalization at scale, marketing automation and CRM. With the brain of a consultancy, the heart of an agency and the power of technology and data, we work with some of the world's most admired brands to help them on their transformation journey to becoming truly customer‑centric. Together, we are 1000+ technology specialists, data scientists, strategic thinkers, consultants, operations experts, and creative minds from 55+ nationalities.

A global network

We are part of the global VML network that encompasses more than 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 60+ markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences.

WPP (VML MAP) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

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