Staff Data Engineer

RVU; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working: 2 days in-office

Private medical cover

Learning & training budget

Pension contributions

Gym & wellness

Job summary

RVU is seeking a Staff Data Engineer to build and scale a cloud-based data platform on GCP. You will design ELT pipelines in BigQuery, implement data contracts and observability, and collaborate with analysts across MI and product teams to deliver reliable data products.

You will lead architectural decisions, raise the technical bar, and help shape an AI-first analytics platform while maintaining the Azure legacy as we migrate. Hybrid work with in-office days in London.

Qualifications

• Advanced SQL with complex queries, partitioning and cost-aware optimisation.
• Experience with modern orchestration/ELT tooling (Dagster+ and dbt).
• Strong Python for data engineering.
• Solid data warehousing, ETL/ELT and dimensional modelling knowledge.
• Experience designing data models/docs usable by AI/LLM analytics tools.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain ELT pipelines on BigQuery using dbt and Dagster+.
• Create accurate data models to support analytics capabilities.
• Implement data contracts, observability and lineage for data quality.

Skills

Advanced SQL

Dagster+ & dbt

Python for data engineering

Data warehousing & ETL/ELT

Cloud data infrastructure (GCP)

Data modeling & documentation

CI/CD & IaC

Git & DevOps

Education

Bachelor's or higher in CS/Math/Stats

Tools

BigQuery

Dagster+

dbt

Job description

Hybrid: 2 days per week in our Tower Bridge office. Role can also be based in Fleet office.

Tempcover is at the forefront of the fast-growing world of short-term insurance. Our mission is to make car insurance flexible, quick, and easy for drivers. We’ve sold millions of policies that have helped drivers get where they need to go, but we’re not finished there. We’re growing our team to help us continue in that mission. If you are extraordinary at what you do and want to be a part of a rapidly growing business at the cutting edge of the InsureTech industry, we would love to hear from you!

The team

The Data and Analytics team within Tempcover provide a vital role in bringing data, MI and Insight to life for internal & external stakeholders and partners.

The Staff Data Engineer will be responsible in partnership with the Data Engineering team for the development of the Tempcover cloud based data platform, supporting the wider business in making data-driven decisions. Drive the development and optimisation of data pipelines, data models and data quality controls. This role will require collaboration with data analysts and business stakeholders to translate data needs into scalable and reliable solutions.

Tempcover has chosen Google BigQuery, Dagster+ and dbt as the foundation of its new data platform, and you’ll help build it. We’re delivering the first "pizza slice" now: a thin, end-to-end piece of the platform that proves the architecture and gives stakeholders value early. You’ll spend most of your time building new capability on our GCP platform. You’ll also help support and maintain the existing Azure platform, keeping it dependable and helping us decommission it over the next twelve months.

This is a deliberate redesign, not a lift-and-shift. The platform has grown over five years through new data models, integrations and technologies. We’re now using that experience to define what "great" looks like. Several significant upcoming projects will create more data for our analysts to use in marketing, pricing, product and commercial decisions. In particular, we want an AI first data platform that analysts and stakeholders can use directly.

What you'll be doing

As a Staff Data Engineer, you will:

• Raise the technical bar. Work with our Staff and Lead Data Engineers to set the architecture and engineering standards for the new platform, and bring a fresh view of what "great" looks like.
• Deliver in slices. Deliver high-value features on BigQuery quickly to win stakeholder buy-in, on foundations that can support future AI and advanced analytics.
• Keep Azure running. Help support the existing platform and keep it dependable while we move away from it over the next 12 months.
• Challenge and influence. Question the status quo, steer technical direction, and help the wider team do the same.
• Own the outcome. Stay with the platform from the first slice to a fully scaled ecosystem that grows with Tempcover's ambition to be the outright leader in the temp market.

Key Duties & Responsibilities:

• Design, build and maintain ELT pipelines on BigQuery using dbt and Dagster+, with reliability, testing and idempotency built in from the start
• Create and manage accurate and performant data models to support Tempcover’s analytical capability.
• Propose and implement internal improvement initiatives to the data platform.
• Lead proactive approach to performance monitoring/tuning.
• Implement data contracts, observability and lineage so that data quality issues are caught early and downstream consumers can trust and trace what they use.
• Define and champion engineering standards, including CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code and testing practices, across the data platform.
• Provide continued support to ensure high availability of data to the wider business
• Work closely with analysts across MI, Marketing, Product, Underwriting and Pricing to understand data requirements and translate them into effective solutions.
• Work with rigour to ensure data quality/accuracy.
• Mentor and guide junior data engineers, providing technical expertise and project oversight.

What we're looking for

• Advanced SQL, including writing complex queries, partitioning, clustering and cost-aware query optimisation .
• Experience of modern orchestration/ELT tooling, ideally Dagster and dbt.
• Strong Python for data engineering
• Solid understanding of data warehousing techniques; ETL/ELT processes and dimensional modelling.
• Experience designing data models and documentation that are usable by AI/LLM-based analytics tools (semantic layers, metadata, access controls).
• In-depth knowledge of cloud data infrastructure, ideally GCP (Azure or AWS also considered).
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
• Hands‑on experience building CI/CD pipelines to test and deploy data code reliably across environments.
• Proficiency with Git/DevOps for version control and collaboration.

Beneficial

• API integration.
• Ability to work within an agile development environment working directly with analysts and business stakeholders to shape requirements, agree priorities and deliver incremental value.
• Experience controlling BigQuery cost and performance, for example through slot management, partitioning strategy and usage monitoring.
• Experience of Azure orchestration/ELT tooling
• Understanding of visualisation and dashboard products (e.g. Power BI, Tableau, Qlik)

You don’t need to tick off everything on this list - so don’t let that hold you back from applying. We want to make sure you’re learning plenty during your time with us!

Our commitment to you

We are dedicated to developing valuable, inclusive, and user-friendly products and services that deliver positive outcomes for all of our customers. To achieve this, it’s essential that our teams reflect the diverse range of people in our community. We believe in being the change we wish to see in the world, by embracing our differences and holding ourselves accountable to being open and inclusive teammates and wider community members.

What we offer

We want to give you a great work environment, support your growth both personally and professionally, and provide benefits that make your time at RVU even more enjoyable. Here are some of the benefits you can look forward to:

• 10% discretionary yearly bonus and yearly pay reviews (based on RVU and personal performance)
• A hybrid working approach with 2 in-office days per week and up to 22 working days per year to “work from anywhere”
• Employer-matching pension contributions up to 7.5%
• A one-off £300 “work from home” budget to help contribute towards a great work environment at home
• Excellent maternity, paternity, shared parental, and adoption leave policy, for those key moments in your life
• 25 days holiday (increasing with years of employment to 30 days) + 2 days “my time” per year
• Private medical cover, critical illness cover, and employee assistance programme
• A healthy learning and training budget
• Electric vehicle and cycle to work schemes
• Free in-office gym, accessible 7 days a week
• Free breakfast in the office daily
• You’ll be equipped with great technology (choice of Mac or Windows)
• Free access to the Calm and Peppy app for physical and mental health
• Regular events - from team socials to company-wide events with insightful external speakers, we want to make sure our colleagues continue to feel connected.