{"id":999815,"url":"https://alion.io/job/nasstar-contract-principal-data-engineer","title":"Contract Principal Data Engineer","company":{"id":172343,"name":"Nasstar","domain":"nasstar.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/nasstar","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Pinpoint","truth_index":null},"role":"Data Science","role_family":"Data Science","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"contractor","work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"posting_text","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["London, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries_total":1,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":{"min_usd":94000,"max_usd":170000,"period":"year","method":"role_seniority_country_cell","sample_n":38},"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"Azure","optional":false},{"name":"Databricks","optional":false},{"name":"ETL/ELT","optional":false},{"name":"pySpark","optional":false},{"name":"SQL","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":true},{"name":"Spark","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-16T10:39:49Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-21","last_verified_at":"2026-11-05T13:55:17Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":50,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":50},"description":"We are looking for an experienced Principal Data Engineer to join us on a contract\nbasis, supporting complex client engagements across Data & AI transformation\nprogrammes.\nThis is a highly client-facing consultancy role, suited to someone who is comfortable\noperating at both strategic and hands-on technical levels. You will work directly with\nsenior client stakeholders, delivery teams and architects to design and deliver\nscalable modern data platforms.\nWe are specifically looking for someone with deep expertise in Databricks, either\noperating at Architect level or leading high-performing engineering teams within\nenterprise environments.\nThe successful candidate will bring strong consulting capability, commercial\nawareness and stakeholder management skills alongside exceptional technical depth.\nKey Responsibilities\nClient Engagement & Stakeholder Management\nAct as a trusted technical advisor across client engagements.\nBuild strong relationships with senior stakeholders, delivery leads andengineering teams.\n\nTranslate complex technical concepts into clear business value and deliveryoutcomes.\n\nSupport clients through technical decision-making, platform strategy androadmap planning.\n\nDatabricks Leadership & Solution Architecture\nLead the design and implementation of enterprise-scale Databricks solutions and modern data platforms.\nProvide architectural leadership across cloud-native data engineeringinitiatives.\n\nDefine engineering standards, best practices and scalable delivery approaches.\nDrive platform optimisation, resilience and performance improvements.\nDelivery & Consultancy\nLead technical delivery across multiple client engagements within a consultancy environment.\nWork closely with cross-functional teams including Data Engineers, Architects, Product Owners and client stakeholders.\nSupport project planning, technical governance and delivery execution.\nEnsure high-quality, scalable and maintainable engineering solutions.\n Technical Leadership\nMentor and guide engineering teams across modern data engineering practices.\nLead technical problem-solving and incident resolution where required.\nDrive adoption of engineering best practices, automation and DevOpsprinciples.\n\nSkills, Knowledge and Expertise\nProven experience operating as a Principal Data Engineer, Lead Data Engineer or Data Architect within enterprise environments.\nStrong consultancy and client-facing experience, ideally across multiple customer engagements.\nDeep expertise in Databricks, including architecture, optimisation and leading delivery teams.\nStrong experience designing and delivering cloud-native data platforms withinAzure and/or AWS environments.\n\nAdvanced experience with PySpark, SparkSQL and large-scale distributed data processing.\nStrong understanding of modern data architecture, ETL/ELT frameworks anddata modelling. \n\nExcellent SQL skills and experience working with large-scale datasets.\nStrong understanding of data governance, security and platform reliabilityprinciples.\n\nExcellent communication, stakeholder management and consulting skills.\nAbility to operate confidently in fast-paced, delivery-focused environments\nBenefits\nOpportunity to work on complex, high-impact client programmes.\nExposure to enterprise-scale Data & AI transformation initiatives.\nFlexible remote-first working model aligned to client requirements.\nAccess to AWS & Databricks partner training and certifications.\n Collaborative culture focused on technical excellence and innovation.\nOpportunity to influence engineering standards, delivery capability and client success across Colibri Digital.","description_format":"text","description_chars":3599,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United Kingdom","iso":"GB","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["IT Consulting & Digital Transformation","Managed IT Services (MSP)","Cloud Consulting & Migration"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-17T10:39:49Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":15,"band":"cold","label":"Long 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