Senior Data Engineer

Firstup; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Firstup is seeking an Senior Data Engineer to design and build reliable data solutions that translate complex product and business logic into scalable data models and pipelines. You will collaborate with engineering, analytics, and business teams to improve data quality and observability, while building scalable data pipelines and analytics solutions.

You will apply GenAI/LLM techniques to data interfaces, use GenAI coding tools to raise quality and speed, and continuously evaluate new

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building and operating distributed data platforms on AWS or GCP.
• Experience building natural language interfaces over data warehouses, including applying GenAI/LLM techniques to data and analytics.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• Hands-on experience with streaming platforms such as Kafka and Spark.
• Experience working with and maintaining multi-tenant SaaS experiences.
• Enterprise-level experience with at least one large-scale analytical data warehouse or query engine: StarRocks, Redshift, Snowflake, Databricks, or Trino.
• 8+ years building reliable, high-performance, large-scale distributed systems, with an emphasis on streaming and data pipelines.
• Proficiency in python
• Expertise writing, optimizing, and analyzing SQL
• Experience scaling data modeling and warehousing
• Experience with Cube or other semantic layers
• Experience with scheduling tools such as Airflow
• Familiarity with the BI tool Metabase
• Proficiency in Ruby on Rails, React, or other adjacent languages

Responsibilities

• Design and build reliable data solutions translating business logic into scalable data models and pipelines.
• Partner across engineering, analytics, and business teams to improve data quality and observability.
• Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines, warehouse models, and analytics solutions balancing quality and speed.
• Build and maintain natural language interfaces to data and analytics using GenAI techniques.
• Use GenAI coding tools to improve code quality, testing, and delivery speed.
• Continuously evaluate new technologies to scale the team’s data platform and stack.
• Establish and follow standards for SQL development, data modeling, testing, documentation, code reviews, and production support.
• Support production data pipelines through on-call rotation and incident response.

Skills

Distributed data platforms

GenAI/LLM integration

SQL proficiency

Python

Streaming (Kafka/Spark)

Multi-tenant SaaS experience

Team collaboration

Data modeling

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kafka

Spark

Airflow

Metabase

StarRocks

Redshift

Snowflake

Databricks

Trino

Ruby on Rails

React

Job description

• The Senior Data Engineer will design and build reliable data solutions that translate complex product and business logic into scalable, well-tested data models and pipelines
• This role requires deep expertise in SQL, query acceleration, and applying GenAI to both engineering workflows and data/analytics interfaces
• They will partner across engineering, analytics, and business teams, contribute to shared codebases, improve data quality and observability, and help evolve the data architecture
• Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines, warehouse models, and analytics solutions, balancing data quality, business value, and speed
• Build and maintain natural language interfaces to data and analytics, applying GenAI/LLM techniques to make data more accessible across the business
• Use GenAI coding tools and practices in daily development to improve code quality, testing, and delivery speed
• Continuously evaluate new technologies that could improve and scale the team’s data platform and technology stack
• Establish and follow standards for SQL development, data modeling, testing, documentation, code reviews, and production support
• Support production data pipelines through on-call rotation and incident response, partnering with engineering, analytics, and business teams
• Document and maintain expertise in the technology stack and product domain, translating business needs into technical solutions with product management

Benefits

• Health Coverage: Doing your best starts with feeling your best. We provide fully paid medical, dental, and vision for employees, plus 70% for dependents
• Flexible Time Off: You can’t mobilize if you don’t rest and recharge—so take as much paid time off as you need
• Fruity Umbrella Drink Bonus: When we say we want you to take time off, we mean it. To encourage you, we offer extra compensation when you take time off in full-week increments
• Retirement Plan: There’s life beyond work, and someday there will be a lot of it. We’ll help you save for that time
• Professional Development: We invest in our people and build their skills for the future of work—no matter where that future takes them
• Family Leave: We support making big changes, and nothing will change your life more than bringing a child into your family. That’s why we offer 12 weeks of fully paid family leave for all parents
• Volunteer PTO: We give you paid days off to give back because we want our workforce to be a force for good
• Commuter Benefits: Although much of our workforce is remote, when we do head into the office, we subsidize eco-friendly ways to get there

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building and operating distributed data platforms on AWS or GCP
• Experience building natural language interfaces over data warehouses, including applying GenAI/LLM techniques to data and analytics
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent professional experience
• Hands-on experience with streaming platforms such as Kafka and Spark
• Experience working with and maintaining multi-tenant SaaS experiences
• Enterprise-level experience with at least one large-scale analytical data warehouse or query engine: StarRocks, Amazon Redshift, Snowflake, Databricks, or Trino
• 8+ years building reliable, high-performance, large-scale distributed systems, with an emphasis on streaming and data pipelines
• Proficiency in python
• Expertise writing, optimizing, and analyzing SQL
• Experience scaling data modeling and warehousing
• Experience with Cube or other semantic layers
• Experience with scheduling tools such as Airflow
• Familiarity with the BI tool Metabase
• Proficiency in Ruby on Rails, React, or other adjacent languages