Principal Data Engineer (SC) – Lead Cloud Data Platforms

Synergize Consulting Ltd; England; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Synergize Consulting Ltd is seeking a Principal Data Engineer (SC clearance) to join a leading defence client on a contract basis in Berkshire. The role focuses on designing scalable, secure, and resilient data platforms and mentoring engineering teams.

You will drive DataOps/DevOps, govern data assets, and collaborate with architects and analysts to deliver high-value data solutions across the enterprise. Experience with Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud is essential.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in data engineering, software engineering, or enterprise data platform development.
• Proven experience designing and delivering enterprise-scale data architectures.
• Strong expertise with cloud data platforms (Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud).
• Excellent knowledge of SQL, Python, Spark, and modern data processing technologies.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement scalable, secure, cloud-native data platforms and architectures.
• Lead the development of enterprise data pipelines, integration frameworks, and reusable data products.
• Establish engineering standards, best practices, and technical governance across the data engineering function.
• Drive adoption of DataOps and DevOps practices, including CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, automation, and platform monitoring.
• Champion data quality, governance, security, lineage, and compliance across enterprise data assets.
• Partner with architects, software engineers, analysts, and business stakeholders to deliver high-value data solutions.
• Support cloud migration and modernisation initiatives, helping transform Legacy data platforms.
• Optimise performance, scalability, reliability, and cost across the data ecosystem.
• Provide technical leadership, coaching, and mentoring to data engineers.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and influence the future direction of the organisation's data capabilities.

Skills

Data engineering

Cloud data platforms

Python

SQL

Spark

ETL/ELT

Data governance

CI/CD

Security clearance (SC)

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / Software Engineering / Data Engineering

Tools

Azure

Databricks

Snowflake

Microsoft Fabric

Airflow

Job description

Synergize Consulting Ltd is seeking a Principal Data Engineer (SC clearance) to join a leading defence client on a contract basis in Berkshire. The role focuses on designing scalable, secure, and resilient data platforms and mentoring engineering teams.

You will drive DataOps/DevOps, govern data assets, and collaborate with architects and analysts to deliver high-value data solutions across the enterprise. Experience with Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud is essential.