Senior Data Engineer

Senior Data Engineer Rate: £500-£600 IR35: Outside IR35 Contract: 12 months Location: Remote UK, with one engineering day per month near Tottenham Court Road, London Engagement: Ltd company contractors only. The client will not engage contractors through umbrella companies. We are recruiting a Senior Data Engineer to join a newly formed Data Exchange squad within a well-known consumer technology business. The organisation works with a wide range of external partners, all operating with different systems, data structures and technical constraints. The new squad will build a more standardised and scalable platform for onboarding those partners and exchanging data securely. This is a strong contract for a Python-focused data engineer who enjoys greenfield delivery, platform-level challenges and working in an environment where the team is still defining the right solution. The contract Working alongside an experienced Lead Data Engineer, you will help design and deliver the services that underpin the organisation’s partner data ecosystem. The work will include: • Building Python-based data ingestion and exchange services • Developing repeatable integration patterns for external partners • Supporting the onboarding of partners with very different technical capabilities • Improving the speed and consistency of new data integrations • Contributing to secure data-sharing capabilities • Exploring data clean rooms and cross-organisation data collaboration • Working closely with product and engineering leadership • Contributing to technical design and architecture decisions • Helping establish the engineering standards of a new squad The team is being created from the ground up, so the initial scope will contain some ambiguity. You will need to be comfortable asking the right questions, testing ideas and helping the squad move from broad objectives into working software. What we are looking for • Strong commercial Python experience • Strong commercial data engineering experience • Experience building data ingestion, integration or exchange services • Good understanding of modern cloud data platforms • Comfortable working with external systems and inconsistent data structures • Strong software engineering and systems-design fundamentals • Able to contribute within a small, hands-on engineering team • Comfortable operating in an evolving or greenfield environment • Experience working with product managers and technical leadership • Databricks exposure would be beneficial, but is not mandatory • A genuine interest in AI-assisted and agentic engineering practices The organisation is particularly interested in engineers who have experimented with OpenSpec, specification-driven development or similar agentic engineering loops. Established expertise is not essential, but candidates should be able to demonstrate practical curiosity and hands-on experimentation. The role is predominantly remote, with one engineering day per month near Tottenham Court Road. The interview process will be a focused technical discussion lasting approximately one hour. Please note that the client will only engage contractors operating through their own Ltd company. Applications from contractors requiring an umbrella company cannot be considered.