Principal Data Engineer

Principal Data Engineer

Department: IT Support, Infrastructure & Security

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Office, Avonmouth/Filton

Description

ELEMIS is a leading British skincare brand, globally recognized for its fusion of nature and science in skincare innovation. Founded in London in 1989, we have built a reputation for high performance skincare solutions, delivering exceptional results through cutting edge formulations. With a presence in over 45 countries, ELEMIS partners with luxury spas, cruise ships and retail stores worldwide, serving millions of customers each year. Our commitment to excellence extends beyond skincare to innovation in technology, ensuring that data and insights drive business success.

We are looking to recruit a Principal Data Engineer who reports to our Data Engineering Manager and works alongside a team of Engineers.

This is a full time (37.5 hour per week) permanent role. This role is based in our Avonmouth (near Bristol) offices. We offer hybrid working, meaning we are in the office three days per week and work from home two days per week. We also offer flexible working, with core hours between 10am - 4pm.

Our Fabric Data Modernization Project

ELEMIS is on a transformative journey to modernize our data architecture, aligning with the three core pillars of our data strategy: Robust, Timely and Trusted data. Our mission is to empower data driven decision making across the organization by building a scalable and resilient data platform.

The initial phase of this modernization effort focuses on our D365 Finance & Operations (F&O) ERP data sources, which underpin 70% of our current reporting suite. To achieve our vision, we are developing a metadata driven Medallion architecture, leveraging Microsoft Fabric and best in class data engineering practices. This approach ensures structured and scalable data management, enabling efficient data processing and governance.

A key focus of this initiative is the continuous development of Star Schema Lakehouse tables within the Gold Layer, ensuring that business critical data is structured to support advanced analytics and reporting. This involves deep collaboration with stakeholders to understand business reporting needs and define how data will be served through the semantic layer for BI and self service analytics.

Through this ambitious project, we are laying the foundation for a future proofed data ecosystem that enhances agility, transparency and insight driven innovation at ELEMIS.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborates with the Data Engineering Manager and the wider team to design and implement scalable data solutions that meet business needs.
• Comfortable leading grooming sessions, ensuring alignment between technical teams and business stakeholders.
• An expert in Microsoft Fabric, PySpark, SparkSQL and T SQL, with a strong understanding of data architecture and modern data engineering principles.
• Works closely with business users to document information requirements and translate them into robust data models.
• Leads the development of data streaming and real time analytics systems.
• Optimizes code and queries for high performance and efficient resource utilisation.
• Balances big picture architecture decisions with deep technical expertise in data modelling and business logic to deliver robust solutions.
• Pragmatic approach to delivering Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) while ensuring long term scalability and maintainability.
• Strong ability to prioritise and manage a busy workload, making strategic decisions about technical debt and feature development.
• Exposure to machine learning (ML) and AI technologies is beneficial.
• Champions attention to detail, clear communication, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn.
• Lead the design and maintenance of data pipelines and workflows, ensuring efficiency, scalability and adherence to best practices.
• Actively collaborate with the Data Engineering Manager to define and evolve long term data strategies.
• Comfortable leading backlog grooming sessions, facilitating discussions with data engineers and business stakeholders.
• Work closely with stakeholders across BI Reporting, ERP, Marketing and Data Protection to ensure business needs are met through data solutions.
• Identify and onboard new data sources to expand the analytics capabilities of the business.
• Support BAU operations, including scheduled data transfers, service desk requests and incident resolution.
• Take an MVP driven approach to designing and iterating on data solutions while ensuring data integrity and accuracy.
• Produce comprehensive documentation to support design, operations, system architecture and compliance requirements.
• Mentor Junior and Senior Data Engineers, sharing expertise and fostering professional development.
• Provide leadership in the absence of the Data Engineering Manager, acting as Scrum Master when required.
• Maintain data integrity, GDPR compliance, source control, backup processes and deployment/testing of new data pipelines.
• Promote a collaborative and supportive team environment, encouraging knowledge sharing and professional growth.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Degree level education in a numerate subject (e.g. Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering or related).
• Microsoft Fabric, Azure or BI certifications are advantageous.

Technical Skills

• Data Engineering & Development: Strong proficiency in Microsoft Fabric, PySpark, SparkSQL and T SQL.
• Cloud Data Architecture: Experience designing scalable solutions in Azure Data Lake, Synapse, Delta Lake and Lakehouse architectures.
• Data Pipelines & Orchestration: Expertise in Azure Data Factory, Microsoft Fabric Pipelines and Delta Live Tables.
• Programming & Automation: Proficiency in Python and SQL for automation, ETL processes and analytics.
• Data Governance & Security: Knowledge of GDPR, access control, metadata management and audit logging.
• ML & AI Exposure: Familiarity with machine learning models, AI driven data analytics and predictive modelling is a plus.

Soft Skills

• Strong attention to detail, ensuring data quality, accuracy and consistency.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of explaining technical concepts to non technical stakeholders.
• Ability to prioritise and manage a busy workload, balancing long term goals with immediate business needs.
• Problem solving mindset, able to diagnose and resolve complex data issues efficiently.
• Pragmatic and results driven, capable of delivering MVP solutions while considering long term scalability.
• Enthusiastic and proactive, eager to learn and explore new technologies.
• Collaboration and mentorship, fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and innovation.

Benefits

• Generous staff discount on all ELEMIS products and spa treatments, plus discounts on L'OCCITANE Group products.
• Excellent well being policies including enhanced maternity and paternity policies, income protection, life assurance and more.
• Generous holiday allowance, increasing with length of service.
• Company pension scheme.
• Health care cash plan (with dental).
• Employee assistance programme for all associates and their families.
• Cycle to work scheme, season ticket loan, length of service awards.
• Much, much more!

Some benefit eligibility is based on length of service or contract type