Principal Data Engineer

Staff Data Engineer - Belfast/Hybrid

We're looking for an exceptional Staff Data Engineer to join our data engineering organisation and operate at Principal-level impact .

This is a senior technical leadership role for someone who can operate beyond the boundaries of an individual team. You'll shape our data engineering strategy, influence architecture and technical direction across the organisation, and lead complex, high-impact initiatives from concept through to delivery.

You'll combine deep technical expertise with strong organisational influence, working with engineers, architects, product leaders, data professionals, and senior stakeholders to solve some of our most important data challenges.

What you'll do

• Define and influence the technical strategy and direction for data engineering across the organisation.
• Lead the architecture and delivery of complex, high-impact data platforms and products built on AWS .
• Operate across team and organisational boundaries, identifying opportunities and solving problems that span multiple areas of the business.
• Establish strong engineering principles and standards across data engineering, including scalability, reliability, security, observability, data quality, and governance.
• Make and influence significant architectural and technology decisions across our AWS data estate.
• Partner with senior engineering, product, and business stakeholders to translate strategic objectives into technical outcomes.
• Act as a technical authority and trusted advisor on data engineering, data platforms, and AWS architecture.
• Identify and address systemic technical challenges, helping evolve our architecture, engineering practices, and ways of working.
• Lead through influence rather than hierarchy, bringing teams together around a clear technical vision.
• Stay hands-on where it adds value, particularly around architecture, technical design, complex problem solving, and critical delivery.

What we're looking for

• Extensive experience in data engineering, with a track record of delivering complex, large-scale data platforms and systems.
• Demonstrable experience operating at Staff, Principal, or equivalent technical leadership level .
• Deep expertise in data engineering, distributed systems, data platforms, and modern data architecture.
• Strong commercial experience with AWS , including designing and operating production data platforms and services.
• Strong programming skills in Python, Java, Scala, or a similar language , alongside excellent SQL skills.
• Experience with AWS data and analytics services.
• Strong understanding of data modelling, distributed processing, streaming, data lakes/lakehouses, and data platform design.
• A track record of making high-quality architectural decisions and influencing technical direction across multiple teams.
• Experience tackling ambiguous, organisation-wide technical problems and turning them into clear, actionable strategies.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to influence senior technical and non-technical audiences.
• A strong coaching and mentoring mindset, with a passion for developing engineers and raising engineering standards.
• The ability to balance strategic thinking with pragmatic execution .

What principal-level means here

At this level, success isn't measured solely by the code you write or the projects you personally deliver.

You'll be expected to have broad technical and organisational impact . You'll identify problems before they become blockers, connect teams and initiatives, shape architectural direction, and create clarity where there is ambiguity.

You'll influence decisions well beyond your immediate team and help establish the technical foundations and engineering practices that enable the wider organisation to scale.

You'll have significant autonomy and will be trusted to determine what needs to change, why it matters, and how we should get there .

What you'll get

• The opportunity to shape the direction of data engineering across the organisation.
• Significant technical autonomy and influence over our AWS data platform.
• Complex, high-impact engineering challenges.
• The opportunity to work closely with senior technical and business leaders.
• A collaborative engineering culture focused on quality, learning, and continuous improvement.
• Support for continued technical and leadership development.
• A competitive salary and benefits package.

If you're a deep technical data engineer who wants to operate at organisational level, shape strategy, influence architecture, and raise the bar for engineering as a whole , we'd love to hear from you.

To speak in absolute confidence about this opportunity please contact Rachael Walker, Principal IT Recruitment Consultant at MCS Group or click the apply button below.

If this position is not right for you, we have others that are.

Please visit MCS Group to view a wide selection of our current jobs or give us a call .

All conversations will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

Skills:
data engineer principal data engineer staff data engineer aws data

Benefits:
Work From Home Benefits

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