Senior Data Engineering Lead - Google Cloud Platform - (remote Europe)- Contract Role

J&T Business Consulting; Netherlands; Remote; EUR 70,000 - 100,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully Remote

Flexible schedule

Commitment to professional development

Supportive team culture

Job summary

A leading business consulting firm is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to oversee the migration of data platforms to Google Cloud. This fully remote position requires 8+ years in Data Engineering and experience in leading migrations. You will manage a cross-functional team, ensuring data integrity and mentoring junior engineers. The role values exceptional communication and negotiation skills, offering a flexible work schedule and a culture of innovation and growth.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in Data Engineering or Architecture with at least 3 years facing customers.
• Proven experience leading large-scale data platform migrations.
• Deep architectural knowledge of the GCP Data Stack.

Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end migration strategy and define the technical roadmap.
• Mentor Senior and Medior Data Engineers, assisting with blockers.
• Ensure new GCP systems maintain data parity with legacy systems.

Skills

Data Engineering

Cloud Migration

SQL

GCP Data Stack

Communication

Negotiation

Tools

dbt

Terraform

BigQuery

Job description

We are looking for a Senior Data Engineer to lead high‑visibility migration initiatives. You will oversee the transition of a large‑scale enterprise data platform from AWS/Databricks to Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

In this role, you will be the bridge between the business stakeholders and the technical engineering team. You are not just building pipelines; you are designing the roadmap, managing the client relationship, and ensuring the technical delivery meets the highest standards of data integrity and governance.

Location: Remote – open to candidates in Europe.

Contract Type: Business‑to‑Business (B2B) contract position in countries in Europe.

What Will You Do?

Strategic Leadership & Migration Design

• Define the end‑to‑end migration strategy (lift‑and‑shift vs. re‑platforming), selecting the right GCP services (BigQuery, Dataflow, Composer) to replace legacy Spark/Databricks logic.
• Lead the technical roadmap, ensuring milestones are realistic and delivered on time.
• Identify technical risks early (e.g., feature parity gaps, cost spikes) and design mitigation plans.
• Act as the primary technical point of contact for business stakeholders and clients, translating complex technical challenges into clear business impacts.
• Convert high‑level business goals into detailed technical specifications for the engineering team.
• Manage expectations and navigate scope changes with senior management when challenges arise.

Technical Governance & Mentorship

• Approve the data models and transformation logic (dbt) designed by the engineering team.
• Define the strategy for “Data Parity” testing to ensure the new GCP system matches the legacy source system 100 %.
• Mentor Senior and Medior Data Engineers, helping them solve blockers related to Terraform, CI/CD, or SQL optimization.

What You Bring 🎯

Experience

• 8+ years in Data Engineering or Architecture, with at least 3 years in a Lead/Architect role facing customers and internal stakeholders.
• Proven experience leading large‑scale data platform migrations (e.g., on‑prem to Cloud, or Cloud‑to‑Cloud).

Technical Competence

• Deep architectural knowledge of the GCP Data Stack with BigQuery as a must – design for cost, performance, and security.
• Ability to read and understand legacy PySpark or Databricks architectures to guide refactoring (hands‑on coding is a plus, but conceptual mastery is required).
• Familiarity with modern transformation tools like dbt and infrastructure‑as‑code (Terraform).
• Advanced SQL – write complex queries to validate data parity, audit data models, and debug performance bottlenecks in BigQuery.
• Python literacy – read and interpret legacy PySpark or Python ETL scripts to extract business logic.

Soft Skills

• Exceptional communication – present technical strategies to non‑technical audiences.
• Negotiation – push back on unrealistic deadlines or requirements while maintaining strong relationships.

What We Offer 🙌

• Fully Remote – 100 % remote position with the flexibility to manage your own schedule.
• Impactful Culture – supportive team driven by values like teamwork and innovation; your proactivity is always celebrated.
• Commitment to Growth – invest in your professional development through a continuous‑learning mindset, supporting both hands‑on experience and certifications (e.g., GCP Professional Cloud Architect).
• Innovation in Action – AI and automation are essential tools to amplify your impact.
• Autonomy & Accountability – influence your work with full accountability for delivering results.

Seniority level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment type

Contract

Job function

Information Technology

Industries

Business Consulting and Services