Principal Data Engineer — Client-Facing Data Architect

Visa Hunt; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first work

Private health insurance

Global client exposure

Databricks/AWS certifications

Continuous learning culture

Delivery standards leadership

Competitive compensation and growth

Job summary

Visa Hunt is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to bridge complex technical architecture with strategic business value. You will be the primary technical authority for clients, ensuring scalable, resilient data platforms aligned with long-term goals.

Key responsibilities include leading multi-year data roadmaps, optimizing delivery performance, managing incidents, and driving governance. This is a client-facing, high-impact leadership role requiring strong stakeholder skills and deep cloud data

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a principal engineering role.
• Extensive experience with cloud data platforms (Azure or AWS) and Databricks.
• Strong Python data processing using PySpark and SparkSQL.
• Deep understanding of relational and non-relational data modelling.
• Proficient SQL and data integration/ETL tooling.
• Knowledge of big data tech stacks and governance.

Responsibilities

• Act as primary strategic partner to client business owners, aligning data solutions with goals.
• Drive development of large-scale data architectures and multi-year roadmaps.
• Oversee delivery performance and ensure high-quality data pipelines and resilience.
• Lead incident management, root cause analysis and client communications.
• Implement governance frameworks and compliance controls for risk management.
• Foster knowledge sharing and standards across practice communities.
• Influence platform efficiency, engineering budgets and strategic hiring.

Skills

Azure/AWS cloud

PySpark

SparkSQL

SQL

ETL tools

Data governance

Data security

Big data

Stakeholder management

Communication

Tools

Databricks

Job description

Visa Hunt is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to bridge complex technical architecture with strategic business value. You will be the primary technical authority for clients, ensuring scalable, resilient data platforms aligned with long-term goals.

Key responsibilities include leading multi-year data roadmaps, optimizing delivery performance, managing incidents, and driving governance. This is a client-facing, high-impact leadership role requiring strong stakeholder skills and deep cloud data