Principal Data Engineer – Lead Data Mesh & GCP Platform

Places for People; Usk; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Pension matched up to 7%

35 days annual leave

Cashback for healthcare costs

2% bonus scheme

Training and development

Extra perks and discounts

Job summary

Places for People is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to guide the data platform design and delivery on Google Cloud. You will lead architecture, governance, and collaboration across squads, while mentoring engineers and promoting best practices across the team.

You will drive innovation, optimise data pipelines, and contribute to a scalable Data Mesh strategy in a complex, inclusive, and security-conscious environment.

Qualifications

• A proven track record within Data Engineering
• Experience in a Lead / Principal Engineer role
• Experience in a cloud data platform experience
• GCP experience and associated tech stack
• Strong understanding of Data Mesh principles (direct experience beneficial)
• Technical mentoring / coaching skills
• Extensive experience with Data Lake / Warehouse solutions
• Strong proficiencyin multiple languages with SQL andPython as must haves
• In-depth knowledge of query optimisation techniques and experience in fine-tuning complex queries.
• Strong understanding of Data Governance including Data Dictionaries, MDM, Lineage, Data Legislation, and the handling of PII
• Exceptional communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively with cross functional teams
• Experience of Agile / Scrum / SDLC

Responsibilities

• Technical leadership across product domains
• Architecture and design
• Mentorship and capability building
• Cross domain interoperability
• Governance and compliance enablement
• Innovation and strategic influence
• Lead data processing and design the Data Mesh
• Coach data engineers and set coding standards

Skills

Data Engineering

Lead / Principal Engineer

Cloud data platform

GCP

Data Mesh

Mentoring

Data governance

SQL

Python

Query optimisation

Agile / Scrum

Tools

BigQuery

DataFlow

Data Fusion

Data Stream

Cloud Functions

DataProc

Airflow / Composer

Job description

Places for People is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to guide the data platform design and delivery on Google Cloud. You will lead architecture, governance, and collaboration across squads, while mentoring engineers and promoting best practices across the team.

You will drive innovation, optimise data pipelines, and contribute to a scalable Data Mesh strategy in a complex, inclusive, and security-conscious environment.