Principal Data Engineer

Location: Israel

Type: Permanent - Full time

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced and forward-thinking Principal Data Engineer to lead the design and evolution of our next-generation data platform. This is a strategic, hands-on role for a technical leader who is passionate about building scalable, reliable, and high-performing data solutions that enable analytics, operational decision-making, and data-driven products across the organisation.

As a Principal Data Engineer, you will define the technical vision for our data ecosystem, establish engineering standards and best practices, and provide architectural leadership across the data platform. You will work closely with engineering, product, analytics, and business stakeholders to ensure our data capabilities continue to support current and future business needs.

What You'll Be Doing

Architecture & Strategy

• Lead the architecture and long-term evolution of our enterprise data platform.

• Define best practices for data modelling, transformation, orchestration, governance, and lifecycle management.

• Evaluate and implement modern data technologies, tools, and frameworks that support our strategic objectives.

• Partner with engineering and product leaders to shape the technical roadmap and data platform strategy.

• Ensure data solutions are scalable, secure, reliable, and cost-effective.

Engineering & Delivery

• Design, build, and oversee scalable data pipelines supporting batch, streaming, and event-driven workloads.

• Develop high-quality data models and schemas for analytics, business intelligence, operational systems, and machine learning applications.

• Implement robust frameworks for data quality, testing, observability, and lineage.

• Build and optimise ingestion frameworks for APIs, event streams, file-based imports, and third-party data sources.

• Drive continuous improvements in platform performance, scalability, resilience, and operational efficiency.

Technical Leadership

• Act as a senior technical authority within the Data Engineering function.

• Mentor and guide Data Engineers, promoting technical excellence and best practices.

• Lead architecture reviews, design discussions, and cross-functional engineering initiatives.

• Influence technical decision-making across multiple teams and projects.

• Clearly communicate complex architectural concepts and technical trade-offs to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Collaboration

• Partner with Data Scientists, Analysts, Software Engineers, Product Managers, and business stakeholders to deliver impactful data solutions.

• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

• Champion modern DataOps and engineering practices across the organisation.

What We're Looking For

Essential Skills & Experience

• 10+ years of experience in Data Engineering, including significant experience defining architecture and technical strategy.

• Expert-level experience with a modern cloud data warehouse platform, such as Snowflake or a similar technology.

• Advanced SQL expertise and strong Python programming skills.

• Experience with data orchestration tools such as Airflow, Dagster, Prefect, or equivalent.

• Deep understanding of ETL/ELT architectures, distributed data processing, and data lifecycle management.

• Experience with streaming and event-driven technologies such as Kafka, Kinesis, or Pub/Sub.

• Strong knowledge of data quality, observability, lineage, and governance practices.

• Experience working within cloud environments including AWS, Azure, or GCP.

• Proven expertise implementing DataOps practices, including CI/CD, testing, automation, and version control.

• Demonstrated ability to lead technical direction, influence stakeholders, and mentor engineering teams.

Desirable Experience

• Experience with data governance, metadata management, or data cataloguing tools.

• Hands-on experience with dbt, including modelling, testing, documentation, and advanced framework capabilities.

• Exposure to machine learning pipelines, feature stores, or MLOps environments.

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar).

• Experience designing and operating data platforms within highly regulated, secure, or large-scale environments.

Why Join Us?

This is an opportunity to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our data platform and influencing the technical direction of the organisation. You'll work with modern cloud technologies, solve complex engineering challenges, and help drive data-driven innovation at scale.

If you are a strategic thinker, a hands-on technical expert, and a passionate advocate for engineering excellence, we'd love to hear from you.