Staff Engineer (Data) | Fully remote (UK)

Oliver Bernard; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Oliver Bernard is partnering with a product-led EdTech scale-up to hire a Staff Engineer (Data) who will own the data architecture across the platform, from OLTP through OLAP to analytics and AI foundations. The role involves guiding multiple teams, shaping LLM orchestration and RAG infrastructure, and mentoring senior engineers to drive an AI-first culture.

Remote within the UK with some in-person catch-ups.

Qualifications

• Experience leading architectural direction across multiple data domains.
• Strong data modelling (Star, Medallion) in cloud-native environments.
• Experience with AI-first engineering, RAG and real-time model inference.
• Comfort translating business goals into technical strategy.

Responsibilities

• Own data-domain architecture from OLTP to OLAP and analytics.
• Set direction across several teams with Product Directors and Tech Leads.
• Architect infrastructure for LLM orchestration and real-time inference.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence stakeholders to drive AI-first work.

Skills

Data architecture

Cloud data platforms

Stakeholder mgmt

AI/ML exposure

Tools

Snowflake

LLM tooling

Job description

Staff Engineer (Data) | Fully remote (UK)

We're partnered with a product-led scale-up in EdTech, with software used by thousands of schools across the UK. Underneath the product suite sits a large data platform, and on top of it a fast-growing set of AI and agentic features. They need a Staff Engineer to set the technical direction across all three.

The role

• Own architecture for the data domain, from transactional databases (OLTP) through to analytics and reporting (OLAP) and the foundations their AI products run on
• Set direction across multiple teams you don’t manage, working closely with Product Directors and Technical Leads
• Architect the infrastructure behind LLM orchestration, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and real-time model inference
• Mentor senior engineers and technical leads, and help lead a genuine shift to AI-first ways of working
• Influence as much as you design: expect to spend as much time getting stakeholders bought in as you do on the architecture itself

Why it’s worth a look

• Real scope and real ownership. This is a data architect role in practice, with a Staff Engineer title and the influence to match
• An AI-first culture where the team already uses AI tools daily, and you’ll help embed that into how they build
• Fully remote within the UK, with occasional in-person catch-ups
• A company where your decisions are visible and your impact is felt throughout

What they’re looking for

• A current Staff, Principal or Architect title, with architectural direction set across three or more teams
• Strong data architecture and modelling experience (Star, Medallion) in cloud-native environments such as Snowflake
• Depth in more than one data discipline (platform, analytics, data science or AI), and honesty about where you’re lighter
• Comfortable being the person in the room with product and commercial leaders, translating business goals into technical strategy
• A view on how AI-first engineering will change the data ecosystem, ideally backed by worked examples

This probably isn’t for you if you want to ship code day to day, have spent your career in one layer of the stack, or prefer the technical side to the stakeholder side.