Lead Data Engineer, Contract, Full-Time

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United Kingdom.

📋 Description

• Design and construct scalable data pipelines and infrastructure that support AI and product systems.

• Create and oversee data ingestion, transformation, and storage architectures tailored for operational and AI workloads.

• Develop and maintain both batch and real-time data pipelines.

• Construct and enhance vector search, retrieval, and machine learning data pipeline systems.

• Ensure the reliability, security, and governance of data across the platform.

• Collaborate with AI and backend engineering teams on training, inference, and product features.

• Implement frameworks for monitoring, observability, and data quality.

• Optimize performance for large-scale datasets and query systems.

• Contribute to decisions regarding technical architecture and long-term data strategy.

• Establish culture, standards, and hiring benchmarks as the inaugural data hire.

• Work alongside founders and product leadership to translate data capabilities into product strategies.

• Build and lead data infrastructure for an AI assistant that automates operational tasks for property managers, letting agents, and build-to-rent teams.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 7 years of professional experience, primarily in specialized data engineering roles.

• Extensive experience in designing and constructing data pipelines and distributed data systems.

• Proficiency with relational databases, preferably PostgreSQL; MySQL or similar systems are also acceptable.

• Familiarity with NoSQL databases.

• Experience with vector databases utilized in contemporary AI systems.

• Strong programming skills in Python.

• Ability to make and rationalize architectural choices.

• Background in building scalable backend systems.

• Experience in designing data models and storage architectures.

• Strong grasp of data processing performance and optimization techniques.

• Experience with Apache Spark, Apache Airflow, Kafka, and Elasticsearch or OpenSearch is highly desirable.

• Familiarity with PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and vector databases like Qdrant, Milvus, or pgvector is highly desirable.

• Experience with Python data-processing libraries such as Pandas or Polars is highly desirable.

• Background in working with AI or machine learning platforms.

• Understanding of stream processing and event-driven architectures.

• Experience with cloud platforms such as GCP, AWS, or Azure.

• Experience in high-growth startups or early-stage companies.

🏝️ Benefits

• Remote-first work culture.

• A supportive community focused on personal growth and well-being.

• Opportunity for a full-time, long-term role.

• Support for professional growth and development.

• Exposure to a global team and product.