Staff Data Engineer | Contract | Up to £1,300/day | Inside IR35 Location: Hybrid – London (3 days per week on-site) Rate: Up to £1,300/day Contract: Initial 6 months IR35: Inside IR35 We’re supporting a major UK financial services organisation through a significant programme of data engineering modernisation and transformation. We’re looking for a genuinely Staff-level Data Engineer who combines deep hands-on engineering capability with the technical leadership to challenge existing approaches, shape solutions and raise engineering standards across multiple teams. This is not a hands-off architecture role. You’ll be expected to shape the thinking, design the solution and get into the code to prove and deliver it. The role You’ll work across a major modernisation of the organisation’s data estate, including the transformation and migration of large-scale data pipelines, development of new data products and adoption of modern, AI-assisted engineering practices. Responsibilities will include: Providing Staff-level technical leadership across complex data engineering initiatives Remaining deeply hands-on with Python, PySpark and Spark Modernising and migrating large-scale data pipelines across AWS Designing and challenging approaches across AWS Glue, Airflow and associated technologies Shaping scalable data architectures, frameworks and engineering patterns Supporting the development of new data products and reusable capabilities Championing AI-assisted development to improve engineering quality and delivery speed Raising engineering standards and capability across multiple teamsWhat we're looking for Deep hands-on Python/PySpark and Apache Spark expertise Strong AWS data engineering, particularly AWS Glue Strong Apache Airflow experience Experience delivering complex data transformation or modernisation programmes Strong software engineering fundamentals Experience operating at Staff, Principal or Senior Lead Engineer level Ability to independently challenge thinking and shape technical solutions Genuine desire to remain hands-on with code Experience incorporating AI-assisted development tools into engineering workflows Snowflake experience would be beneficialThe sweet spot is someone who can operate across both technical strategy and hands-on delivery — setting the engineering direction while still being capable of building and proving the solution