Data Engineer (Contract)

We’re looking for a hands-on Lead Data Engineer to own and build the data architecture for an AI-driven product platform deployed across customer cloud environments. This is an architect-who-still-ships role — you’ll design scalable data platforms, set engineering standards, review code, mentor engineers, and work hands-on with complex data and AI workloads. What We’re Looking For • 10+ years of experience in production data engineering • 3+ years in Lead/Staff/Principal-level ownership • Expert in Databricks, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog & Medallion Architecture • Strong PySpark, Spark SQL, Python & SQL • Expertise in Kimball dimensional modelling & dbt • Working experience with Snowflake & Data Vault 2.0 • Experience across Azure & AWS • Hands-on experience with LLM/RAG pipelines, embeddings & vector search • Strong understanding of data governance, security, observability & cost optimization • Experience with Kubernetes, Terraform/Bicep & CI/CD Experience in regulated/compliance-heavy environments is a plus