Principal Data Engineer

Permanent, Full-Time | Remote (UK) | Frequent UK Travel

Are you a technically brilliant engineer with a passion for shaping enterprise-scale data solutions? We’re looking for a Principal Engineer to join our growing team. In this senior role, you’ll set the standard for technical excellence, lead complex data engineering projects across multiple domains, and act as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders. If you thrive on technical challenges, enjoy mentoring and leading engineering teams, and want to shape the future of a fast-growing consultancy, we want to hear from you.

Who we are

Arreoblue is a Data Analytics Consultancy, specialising in fast execution of data projects from concept to delivery. Focusing on Retail, Manufacturing & Financial Services, we help our clients become data driven and make more effective decisions through data. We focus and measure ourselves on delivering fast Time to Value. We work with our clients to ensure that value is clear, and everything is understood leaving our clients with a platform for success that they can continue to build on.

At Arreoblue we value humility, collaboration, excellence, innovation and trust. We seek individuals who want to grow and share their knowledge with our teams and customers.

What you will do

The Principal Engineer is the senior technical authority for solution design, architecture, and engineering delivery within the engineering practice. You will be accountable for the technical quality, architectural integrity, and delivery excellence across all projects and domains.

This role blends:

• Deep, hands-on technical expertise
• Strong consultancy and client advisory capability, including pre-sales, discovery, and solution shaping
• Leadership of engineering standards, practice improvement, quality, and ways of working
• Delivery and commercial accountability

Our Principal Engineers set the technical benchmark for what “excellent” looks like. You will:

• Design and govern solutions, ensuring quality, scalability, security, and maintainability
• Shape the engineering practice by defining standards, reusable patterns, and accelerators
• Act as a trusted technical partner to senior client stakeholders, advising on strategy and technical direction
• Mentor and develop the next generation of Leads and Senior Engineers
• Principal Engineers should be capable of covering responsibilities typically held by multiple technology-specific Leads through breadth, depth, and authority across all domains

Key responsibilities:

• Own and govern solution architectures across all engineering domains, ensuring quality, scalability, security, and alignment with best practice.
• Lead the design and delivery of enterprise-scale data platforms (Azure Databricks, Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric, Synapse, Dedicated SQL Pools).
• Define and validate architectural approaches, migration strategies, and optimisation roadmaps.
• Drive practice improvement by setting coding standards, architecture patterns, CI/CD pipelines, delivery frameworks, and reusable accelerators.
• Lead proof-of-concept initiatives, evaluate emerging technologies, and champion innovation.
• Mentor and coach Lead, Senior, and Engineer-level team members, embedding technical standards and knowledge across the practice.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior client stakeholders, influencing technical strategy, guiding solution design, and shaping delivery decisions.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, within quality standards, and commercially viable.

How you will do it

To be successful in this role you will be required to have the following:

Technical Expertise

• Deep, hands-on experience designing and delivering modern Lakehouse and SQL/MPP architectures.
• Expert knowledge of Azure Data Platform technologies, including:
• Azure Databricks
• Azure Data Factory
• Microsoft Fabric
• Azure Data Lake
• Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and Infrastructure as Code
• Strong proficiency in Spark, Python, and SQL.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, performance tuning, cost optimisation, and cloud best practices.
• Strong architectural grounding in security, governance, and networking.

Leadership & Consultancy Skills

• Proven experience operating in a senior consultancy or client-facing environment.
• Ability to set technical direction rather than simply implement.
• Strong stakeholder management and executive-level communication skills.
• Comfortable owning ambiguity and making high-impact technical decisions.
• Mentor and coach engineers at all levels, promoting a culture of technical excellence and ownership.

Certifications

Ideally the Principal Engineer will be certified across all core domains or be prepared to work towards:

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Databricks Certified: Databricks Data Engineer Professional
• Microsoft Certified: Fabric Data Engineer Associate

Experience & Background

• Extensive experience delivering enterprise-scale data solutions across multiple industries.
• Track record of mentoring and leading technical teams.
• Degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or related discipline (or equivalent experience).
• Experience shaping engineering practice standards and reusable delivery frameworks.

Why choose Arreoblue?

As partners with Microsoft and Databricks, we offer an expansive range of training, knowledge, and opportunities within the data and delivery industry. We are committed to investing in our people, and this is reflected in our team’s culture and approach to work.

We love data and are deeply engaged with the fast-evolving technologies and communities around it. We encourage our employees to blog, attend, contribute, and present at delivery and / or data events - no matter how big or small. We are fully committed to supporting your professional development.

What you will get in return

• Competitive salary up to £110,000 depending on experience (excluding bonus & benefits)
• 25 days holidays + bank holidays
• Company Discretionary Performance-Based Bonus up to 15%
• Stock Options
• Pension Contributions
• Private Healthcare (following successful probation)
• Training & Development Packages
• Flexible Working
• Paid Events & Company Days

Location(s)

We are a fully remote company but love spending time with our customers so we like to be present and on site with them when we can – at least once a week.

All candidates must reside and be eligible to work in the UK to be considered for this role. We encourage flexible working in terms of both hours and location, with the expectation that employees may get together from time to time. Any required travel to clients will be covered by us.

Arreoblue is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.