Senior Data Engineer - Up to £85k Client Opportunities · Newcastle Upon Tyne ·

Cloud Bridge; Newcastle upon Tyne; Hybrid; GBP 77,000 - 94,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced annual leave

Birthday leave

Enhanced sick pay

Enhanced maternity benefits

Personalised development plans

Structured training and development

Paid social events

Cycle to Work scheme

Job summary

Cloud Bridge is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to own the design and delivery of a scalable data platform powering analytics and AI across the business. You will lead data modelling, governance, and the implementation of AI-ready architectures, collaborating with CTO and stakeholders to align data strategy with objectives.

The role combines hands-on delivery with leadership, focusing on cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/Databricks/Snowflake), data governance, and real-time data processing to enable

Qualifications

• Proven senior Data Engineer or Lead Data role.
• Hands-on design and delivery of cloud data platforms.
• Experience with modern AI-enabled data architectures and MLOps is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable, cloud-based data platforms.
• Translate business requirements into scalable data solutions.
• Develop data models (conceptual, logical, physical).
• Implement AI-ready architectures (RAG, vector databases, embeddings, LLM integrations).
• Build data pipelines for batch and real-time processing.
• Lead data integration, transformation, and migration initiatives.
• Establish data governance, quality, metadata and security frameworks.
• Collaborate with engineering and business stakeholders to deliver solutions.
• Evaluate new technologies and drive best practices.

Skills

Senior Data Engineer

Cloud-based data platforms

Data modelling

AI-enabled architectures

RAG/vector databases/LLM integrations

Batch and streaming processing

Data governance/quality/metadata

Stakeholder engagement

Tools

AWS

Azure

Databricks

Snowflake

Job description

Senior Data Engineer - Up to £85k

Newcastle Upon Tyne - 3 days per week in office

Our client are seeking an experienced Senior Data Engineer to play a pivotal role in designing and building the data platform that will power the organisation's next generation of analytics and AI capabilities.

This is a hands-on leadership role where you will take ownership of how data is structured, governed, and leveraged across the business. You will be responsible for defining the strategic direction of the data platform while actively contributing to its design, development, and implementation.

Working closely with senior stakeholders, including the CTO, you will help shape the organisation's data and AI strategy, enabling everything from enterprise reporting and advanced analytics to cutting-edge AI and machine learning solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable, cloud-based data platforms and architectures.

• Translate business requirements into robust, scalable data solutions.

• Develop conceptual, logical, and physical data models.

• Design and implement modern AI-ready architectures, including RAG, vector databases, semantic search, and LLM integrations.

• Build and optimise data pipelines supporting both batch and real-time processing.

• Lead data integration, transformation, and migration initiatives.

• Establish and maintain data governance, data quality, metadata management, and security frameworks.

• Collaborate with engineering, architecture, and business stakeholders to deliver impactful solutions.

• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend innovative approaches to enhance data and AI capabilities.

• Provide technical leadership, best practice guidance, and mentoring across data initiatives.

• Ensure data platforms are scalable, secure, cost-effective, and aligned to business objectives.

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Proven experience in a senior Data Engineering, Data Architecture, or Lead Data role.

• Strong hands‑on experience designing and delivering cloud-based data platforms.

• Expertise with one or more of the following technologies:

  • AWS (Redshift, Glue, S3, Bedrock)

  • Microsoft Azure (Synapse, Data Factory, Azure SQL)

  • Databricks (Delta Lake, ETL pipelines, ML workloads)

  • Snowflake

• Strong data modelling experience across enterprise-scale environments.

• Experience building modern AI-enabled data architectures.

• Knowledge of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases, embeddings, and LLM integrations.

• Experience with both batch and streaming/real-time data processing.

• Strong understanding of data governance, quality management, lineage, and metadata frameworks.

• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business outcomes.

Desirable

• Experience within Financial Services, Professional Services, or Advisory environments.

• Knowledge of FinOps, cloud cost optimisation, and total cost of ownership considerations.

• Relevant cloud and data certifications.

• Exposure to MLOps and AI platform engineering.

Why Join?

• Define the organisation's data and AI strategy from the ground up.

• Work directly with senior leadership and influence business-critical decisions.

• Build solutions using the latest cloud, data, and AI technologies.

• Drive architectural decisions and implement best practices.

• Access tailored development plans, training, and certification support.

• Join a business actively investing in transformation and AI adoption.

Benefits

• Enhanced annual leave plus birthday leave

• Enhanced sick pay

• Enhanced maternity benefits

• Personalised development plans

• Structured training and development programmes

• Paid social events

• Cycle to Work scheme