Principal Data Engineer - Kings Cross

VIQU IT Recruitment; Kings Cross; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

VIQU IT Recruitment is assisting a Northwest-based social enterprise to recruit a Principal Data Engineer for a 100% cloud-based data platform. You will provide technical leadership, define project governance, and partner with architects to evolve the platform while ensuring robust, scalable pipelines.

The role is hybrid in the UK with a competitive salary up to £100,000 per year. Strong GCP/AWS/Azure experience, Terraform, Docker, dbt, SQL and Python are essential.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in Data Engineering in a Lead or Principal role.
• Strong background with a cloud-native data platform and hands-on GCP experience.
• Experience with Terraform, Docker, and dbt.
• Advanced SQL and Python skills, with ability to optimize complex queries.
• Strong Data Governance understanding including lineage and data legislation.
• Experience with Agile / Scrum and SDLC.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership, coaching, and mentoring to data engineers.
• Define how data engineering projects are approached, delivered, and governed.
• Work with architects to design and evolve the cloud data platform.
• Ensure robust, scalable, and compliant data pipelines across the platform.
• Lead best practices around data ingestion, transformation, quality, security, and monitoring.
• Drive automation, CI/CD adoption, and continuous improvement.
• Challenge technical decisions and raise engineering standards.

Skills

Data engineering

Lead/Principal

Cloud platforms (GCP/AWS/Azure)

GCP

Terraform

Docker

dbt

SQL

Python

Data governance

Agile/Scrum

Team leadership

DBS check readiness

Tools

AWS

Azure

CI/CD

Cloud

Data Warehouse

GCP

Security

Job description

Salary: £100,000 - 100,000 per year

Requirements

• Extensive experience in Data Engineering, with time spent in a Lead or Principal role
• Strong background working in a cloud-native data platform
• Hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform, with consideration for AWS or Azure alongside some GCP
• Experience with Terraform, Docker, and dbt
• Strong expertise in Data Lake / Data Warehouse solutions
• Advanced SQL and Python skills
• Proven experience optimizing complex queries
• Strong understanding of Data Governance, including lineage, data legislation, and PII
• Experience working within Agile / Scrum and the SDLC
• Willingness to undergo a DBS check

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership, coaching, and mentoring to data engineers
• Define how data engineering projects are approached, delivered, and governed
• Work closely with architects to design and evolve the cloud data platform
• Ensure robust, scalable, and compliant data pipelines across the platform
• Lead best practices around data ingestion, transformation, quality, security, and monitoring
• Drive automation, CI/CD adoption, and continuous improvement
• Challenge technical decisions and raise engineering standards across the team

Technologies

• AWS
• Azure
• CI/CD
• Cloud
• Data Warehouse
• Docker
• GCP
• Python
• SQL
• Security
• Terraform
• dbt

More

We are a leading social enterprise that reinvests profits to create thriving, sustainable communities. We are currently seeking a Principal Data Engineer to join our team in the Northwest on a hybrid basis. This role will play a key part in shaping and leading our organisations data engineering capability within a 100% cloud-based data platform. We offer a competitive salary of up to £100,000.

last updated 33 week of 2026