Principal Data Engineer

The creative mind behind every project. Put your skills to the test to build solutions that continue to shape the world we live in.

About Us

We are Ascent! and we help our customers solve problems, elevate, and do existing things better. We are on a mission to help our customers connect data, software, and purpose to create extraordinary outcomes. You could say we are a digital transformation business.

We specialize in software product development, analytics, data science, IoT solutions, machine learning, DevOps optimization, and modernization of applications, data, and platforms.

We work with incredible clients in all types of industries such as smart home devices, space exploration, beer manufacturing, finance, ecology, and logistics. We work with some of the sharpest minds in the brightest businesses and we employ the sharpest minds too!

At Ascent, we also believe in fostering a vibrant office community where collaboration thrives and connections flourish. With our hybrid approach, we prioritize hiring individuals who reside in close proximity to our offices. Our aim is to cultivate a positive atmosphere and sense of belonging by facilitating easy access to the office.

About the Role

We are looking for a Principal Data Engineer to lead our UK Data Engineering team reporting into our UK Managing Director. We are looking for someone who is an excellent practitioner, but someone who will also lead and grow our UK Data Engineering team and play an instrumental role in developing our company wide Data Engineering Community of Practice (CoP).

As an experienced Data Engineer, you’ll play a key role in crafting the data platforms, models and pipelines that inform strategic decision-making for our customers and prepare data for a plethora of use cases from simple analytics to Generative AI and Data Science. Specifically:

1. Work with customer stakeholders and teams to understand business needs and produce high quality data products and assets.
2. Analyse current business practices and identify future opportunities.
3. Support data design services and perform needs assessments.
4. Deliver architectures for data transformations and modernisations.
5. Design and build data pipelines, streams, and service APIs.
6. Develop and maintain data warehouse schematics and databases.
7. Implement effective metrics and monitoring processes.

As a team leader, you will grow and nurture our Data Engineering capability. Building a world class team alongside our other core capabilities, Data Science, Software Engineering, AI, Cloud and Product and Service Design.

Your responsibilities

1. Pre-sales Support: work with our pre-sales teams, including product consultants and solution architects to shape solutions and proposals and take part in client pitches.
2. Manage Customers: Build trusted customer relationships, and lay the foundations for successful, best practice, high-quality delivery.
3. Manage a Team: Manage and mentor team members, including project allocations, recruitment, career development and performance management.
4. Grow our Capability and Community: Lead the maturation of our UK team and play a leading role within our company-wide CoP to create a world class Data Engineering function.
5. Contribute to Accelerators: Help evolve Ascent’s Data accelerators, patterns and metadata frameworks, enabling customers to rapidly implement effective solutions from both a technology and business perspective.

Skills and qualifications

1. Azure Data Engineering: Proven success as an Azure Data Engineer, with the ability to consult, advise, engineer and optimise our customers data products and assets.
2. Azure Data Products: Expertise in one or more of the following platforms: Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse Analytics and Azure Databricks, and experience in some of the supporting data technologies like Power BI, Microsoft Purview, Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Data Lake, etc.
3. Azure: Understand core Azure infrastructure concepts and tools (Networks, Identity/Entra, ARM, BICEP, Terraform, etc). You don’t need to be an expert in these but need to understand where they fit into the picture.
4. DevOps: Experience with CI/CD promotion from Dev to Prod, through tools like Fabric, Azure DevOps and/or GitHub.
5. Exceptional Communication: Strong verbal, written, and presentation skills to both internal and external audiences.
6. Versatile Experience: Working with varying organisations, from SMC to Enterprise.
7. Agile Methodologies: Commercial Agile experience is desirable.
8. Certification Preferred: Microsoft certifications are advantageous.
9. AI Aware: An understanding of Data Science and knowledge of Generative AI would be beneficial but not a firm requirement.

Working at Ascent

At Ascent we promote a healthy work-life balance by offering flexibility in where you work. We also promote well-being and provide access to Well Being Coaches.

Your development and learning will be taken seriously, and we'll support your professional development with training and certification, with regular feedback and review. It is a fun, supportive and modern workplace where we really live by our company values of Empathy, Energy and Audacity! Ascent also offers a variety of benefits in each of our countries.

Ascent is an equal opportunities employer. We take intentional steps to ensure inclusion and belonging are something real here, not just something we talk about. No person will be treated less favourably because of their gender, pregnancy, and maternity status, marital or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, race, nationality, ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, or disability status. If you require any reasonable accommodation, please let us know when you apply.