Principal Data Engineer
| Posting date: | 16 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £54,550.00 to £61,412.00 per year |
| Additional salary information: | £54550.00 - £61412.00 a year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 03 August 2025 |
| Location: | Cardiff, CF10 4BZ |
| Company: | NHS Jobs |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | C9028-25-0228 |
Summary
Accountabilities Your accountabilities will include but not limited to: Define and implement enterprise data models, pipelines, and metadata management Develop and maintain data platform components (e.g. data catalogue, data lake, warehouse, ETL frameworks) Ensure data security, compliance, and the ethical use of data in accordance with standards and requirements such as GDPR and Cyber Essentials Plus Oversee robust data ingestion and integration frameworks that ensure data consistency, accuracy, and timeliness across our systems. Collaborate with business, product, and engineering teams to understand data needs and translate them into scalable technical designs and roadmaps. Continuously evolve our data infrastructure to improve performance, reduce latency, and enhance data accessibility across the organisation. Provide technical guidance to data engineers and analysts, fostering a culture of engineering excellence and continuous learning and setting engineering standards Support the delivery of strategic projects Please refer to the attached job profile for more details. Key Skills, Knowledge and Experience: Advanced SQL and scripting skills (e.g., Python, TSQL, PowerShell) for data engineering, automation and orchestration tasks. Strong ability to define and implement modern enterprise data architectures, including data lakes, data warehouses, and data mesh/data fabric concepts Experience designing logical and physical data models (e.g., star schema, snowflake, third normal form), with strong understanding of master and reference data management. Strong understanding of modern enterprise data architecture principles, including data warehousing, data lakes, and relational databases. Experience working with Azure/GCP and related cloud tools such as Big Query, Knowledge of data integration patterns and technologies (e.g., ETL, ELT, API-first), including near real-time and event-driven approaches. Experience collaborating with business stakeholders, analysts, and developers to translate business needs into technical solutions. What you'll bring to the team: Proven experience as a Principal Data Engineer in a hands-on role, with leadership and management skills to match your technical expertise. Deep expertise in cloud platforms such Azure and GCP Strong proficiency in data modelling, data warehousing, and ETL/ELT architecture at scale. Advanced programming skills in SQL and Python and a collaborative, CI/CD approach to pushing code; experience with orchestration and data pipeline tools. Experience with implementing data governance frameworks and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Familiarity with ML/LLM data needs and setup Effective communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence at all levels of the organization. A collaborative mindset, coupled with a passion for mentoring and leading by example in a high-performing team environment. You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click "Apply now" to view on Trac. The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; Welsh and/or English speakers are equally welcome to apply.