Principal Data Engineer

Role Description

Lead the architecture and evolution of our data platform, shaping how data is ingested, modelled, governed, and consumed across the business.

• Own data architecture and schema design — making structural decisions that serve AI products, analytics, and operational consumers over time.
• Set technical direction for the data engineering team, establishing standards for quality, reliability, and production readiness.
• Drive data governance at an engineering level — data quality, lineage, ownership, and cataloguing.
• Build data infrastructure on AWS using Terraform, ensuring consistency and reproducibility across environments.
• Partner with the AI engineering team to ensure the data platform is AI-ready: clean, structured, and consumable at scale.
• Mentor and develop data engineers, building a team capability that is durable and not person-dependent.
• Contribute to strategic technical decisions and work closely with the Head of AI on platform direction.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in data engineering or data platform roles.
• Proven experience with Apache Iceberg or equivalent modern table formats in production environments.
• Strong expertise in dbt for building and maintaining transformation layers at scale.
• Hands-on experience with AWS data services (S3, Glue, Athena, and related tooling).
• Infrastructure as Code experience with Terraform.
• Deep capability in data architecture and schema design across complex, multi-domain environments.
• Track record of leading a data engineering team or function and raising the technical bar.
• Ability to influence technical direction across teams without direct authority.

Requirements

• Experience building data platforms that serve AI or ML workloads (Nice to Have).
• Familiarity with data cataloguing and governance tooling (Nice to Have).
• Background in compliance-heavy or multi-jurisdictional data environments (payroll, HR, finance, or similar) (Nice to Have).
• Experience with event-driven or streaming data architectures (Nice to Have).

Benefits

• Autonomy and Flexibility (work in any way): Remote first, with the flexibility to include life needs like school runs and gym breaks in your schedule, all while maintaining a high standard of work.
• Generous leave: Enjoy a competitive leave package including paid bonding leaves for new additions to your family.
• Make a difference: Get 2 paid charitable days off to contribute to causes you believe in.
• Corporate bonus/SIP: All Guardians are eligible for our annual bonus scheme or sales incentive plan.
• International environment: Grow your network internationally and collaborate across the world. Interact, discover cultures, and tap into local expertise.
• Human centered culture: We emphasize the people factor in everything we do. Our nurturing culture ensures your ideas reach our leaders and your contributions get the recognition they deserve.
• Learning: We support your continuous growth by providing access to 2 learning platforms, where you can learn at your own pace.

Company Description

Safeguard Global is a global company with offices worldwide and a workforce in 50+ countries, enabling global expansion without risk by helping 1,500+ customers to hire, manage, and pay their employees in nearly 190 countries. It's all about people! Join us to meet diverse folks, explore new cultures, and connect with amazing talent from around the globe.