Lead Data Engineer
Summary
Lead a team building enterprise-scale data pipelines and lakehouse architectures on Databricks or Microsoft Fabric to power analytics and AI for a federal government department.
Lead Data Engineer — Databricks / Microsoft Fabric
Federal Government | Multiple Positions | 12 Months + 2 x 12-Month Extensions
ACT | NSW | VIC | QLD — Hybrid
Multiple lead-level data engineering contracts on a federal government data platform program — 12 months to start, with two 12-month extension options taking the engagement out to three years. Base yourself in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and work hybrid.
Baseline clearance is required
Australian citizenship required.
Location & working arrangements
This role can be based in any of the following:
• Australian Capital Territory — hybrid, with around three days per week in the Canberra office.
• New South Wales, Victoria or Queensland — hybrid, working from a state office or regional hub, with occasional travel to Canberra as required.
Working arrangements are flexible and can be negotiated individually with the manager. Maximum work hours:- 40 hours per week.
About the work
A large federal government organisation is building out modern cloud data capability — lakehouse architecture, enterprise-scale pipelines, and curated datasets feeding reporting, analytics, AI and machine learning across the department.
There are two streams, and you can put yourself forward for either:
• Databricks stream — pipelines and ELT/ETL on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform, Delta Lake and Medallion architecture, Unity Catalog, Databricks Workflows and Databricks SQL.
• Microsoft Fabric stream — pipelines, lakehouse solutions and data products across Fabric Data Factory, Data Engineering, Warehouse and Real-Time Analytics workloads.
This is a lead role. You'll own technical design end to end, mentor across project and operational teams, and work directly with stakeholders to turn business requirements into data solutions that actually get used.
What you'll be doing
• Designing, building and supporting enterprise-scale data pipelines and ELT/ETL solutions
• Building and optimising lakehouse architectures using Delta Lake and Medallion design patterns
• Developing ingestion frameworks for structured, semi-structured and unstructured sources
• Writing scalable transformation processes in PySpark, Spark SQL, Python and SQL
• Implementing data quality, lineage, monitoring and observability capability
• Designing dimensional and analytical data models for reporting and advanced analytics
• Curating trusted datasets that support AI and machine learning workloads
• Applying CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code and automated testing across data engineering solutions
• Providing technical leadership, mentoring and knowledge sharing
What you'll bring
Strong depth across several of the following:
Significant hands-on experience with Databricks and/or Microsoft Fabric
• Advanced PySpark, Spark SQL, Python and SQL
• Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Databricks Workflows, Databricks SQL
• Lakehouse and Medallion architecture, and modern data engineering patterns
• Azure — ADLS Gen2, Azure Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric
• Integrating data from APIs, databases, SaaS platforms and enterprise systems
• DevOps practice — Git, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, Azure DevOps
• Data governance, metadata management, data quality frameworks and security controls
• Supporting analytics, AI and ML workloads in an enterprise environment
Experience in an APS or other government environment is well regarded, particularly an understanding of information security, privacy, governance and recordkeeping obligations — but it is not a mandatory requirement, if you're coming from the private sector.
What's in it for you
• 12-month initial contract with 2 x 12-month extension
• Multiple positions available
• Choose your base — ACT, NSW, VIC or QLD, all hybrid with negotiable arrangements
• 40 hours per week maximum
• Estimated start late September 2026
• Baseline clearance minimum
What we'll need from you
This role is filled through a government procurement process. So if you're shortlisted we'll work with you on:
• Your updated resume
• A one-page pitch (5,000 characters) addressing the selection criteria — we'll give you the criteria and help you shape it
• Your available start date and hourly rate
• Citizenship and security clearance status
Applications close with us shortly
About ContractRoll
Canberra-based boutique labour hire, trading since 2019. We've placed multiple talented contractors large federal government departments and private agencies.