Principal Data Engineer
Summary
Principal Data Engineer responsible for designing and implementing a cloud-native AWS data platform for a major UK organization, building scalable serverless data pipelines and infrastructure as code while applying AWS Well-Architected principles.
Principal Data Engineer (AWS) - Contract, Outside IR35
£650 per day | Outside IR35 | 3-Month Contract (13 weeks) | Remote UK - very occasional travel to Leeds
Brio Digital is working with a major UK organisation embarking on a strategic data transformation programme to modernise a business-critical operational platform.
The project replaces manual, spreadsheet-driven processes with a scalable, cloud-native AWS solution that automates high-volume invoicing and operational workflows used across the business. This is a greenfield MVP with a clear roadmap to expand into a significantly larger programme.
What you'll be doing
Owning the Low Level Design, data models, data flows, AWS services, security controls, IAM model, encryption and secrets management, observability, DR, integration patterns and CI/CD approach
Leading technical delivery of the MVP and setting the engineering standards the build follows
Building scalable serverless data pipelines, APIs and event-driven integrations
Implementing Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or CloudFormation), CI/CD pipelines and CloudWatch monitoring, logging and alerting
Applying AWS Well-Architected principles, cost optimisation and FinOps thinking into the design
Defining and driving the end-to-end test strategy, unit, integration, system, non-functional and deployment validation
Delivering reporting datasets, data quality controls, reconciliation testing and documented data lineage
Working with Solution Architecture, Data Architecture, Cyber Security and Platform Engineering through formal design review and governance
Producing runbooks, knowledge transfer and handover to production support ahead of service transition
Liaising with other teams is a core part of this role, so strong communication and stakeholder skills are essential.
What you'll need
Proven enterprise AWS data platform experience at Principal / Lead level
Strong Python
Serverless AWS and event-driven architecture design
Terraform or CloudFormation (IaC as standard)
CI/CD, automated testing, static code analysis and enterprise security practice
Experience producing and defending LLDs in a governed enterprise environment
Confidence operating independently in a greenfield MVP with senior stakeholders
AWS toolset: Lambda, Step Functions, DynamoDB, S3, EventBridge, SNS, SQS, API Gateway, IAM, Glue, Redshift, Lake Formation, CloudWatch
Apply with an up-to-date CV, or contact Brio Digital directly for a confidential discussion. Interviews are moving quickly