Senior Data Engineer
1 day ago
Bristol
Senior Data Engineer (Contract) Location: UK (Remote / Hybrid) Contract Type: Contract (Outside IR35) Role Overview We are seeking a Senior Data Engineer (Contract) to support the delivery of secure, business-critical data platforms within high-assurance, regulated environments. The role focuses on designing and implementing resilient data pipelines and integration services that enable controlled data sharing across complex, multi-domain systems, while maintaining strong standards of security, governance, and compliance. The successful contractor will operate at a senior technical level, contributing to platform design, assuring engineering quality, and supporting delivery in environments where data integrity, availability, and access control are essential. Key Responsibilities • Design, build, and maintain secure, scalable data pipelines and integration services, • Engineer data solutions that support controlled data access across complex domains, • Develop production-grade code aligned with secure-by-design principles, • Model complex datasets to support interoperability and governed access, • Integrate data from diverse sources, including legacy and operational systems, • Implement fine-grained access controls, data classification, and governance mechanisms, • Support deployment and operation of data services across cloud, on-premise, and hybrid environments, • Collaborate with architects, security specialists, and delivery teams, • Contribute to design reviews and technical decision-making, • Ensure performance, resilience, and observability of data platforms, • Produce and maintain clear technical documentation Required Skills & Experience • Extensive experience operating as a Senior Data Engineer on complex, enterprise-scale platforms, • Strong programming capability in Python, • Commercial experience with Java and/or Scala, • Advanced SQL and strong data modelling skills, • Proven experience designing and operating ETL / ELT pipelines at scale, • Solid understanding of distributed systems and data platform architecture, • Experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP), • Experience with containerisation and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes), • Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps practices Experience in Regulated Environments • Experience delivering data solutions in regulated or high-assurance settings, • Understanding of security-focused architectures such as least-privilege access, • Experience implementing data governance, classification, and policy-driven access controls, • Comfortable operating in environments with formal assurance, audit, and compliance requirements, • Able to handle sensitive information in line with contractual and organisational standards Desirable Experience • Knowledge of semantic data, knowledge graphs, or graph databases, • Experience with RDF, SPARQL, or ontology-based data models, • Familiarity with controlled or cross-domain data sharing patterns, • Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g. Terraform, CloudFormation), • Exposure to open-source data platforms or frameworks Contractor Profile • Able to deliver independently with minimal supervision, • Comfortable working within structured delivery frameworks, • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, • Clear communicator with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, • Pragmatic, delivery-focused, and quality-driven Additional Information Due to the nature of the work, candidates must be eligible to pass background and suitability checks as part of the engagement.