Principal Data Platform Engineer

Aker Systems was founded in 2017 by a team of experienced technology professionals who recognised an opportunity to provide highly secure enterprise data platforms to large organisations. We build and operate ground-breaking, ultra-secure, high performance, cloud-based data infrastructure for the enterprise. Our proprietary technology solutions drive performance and reduce costs while helping our clients to improve the management and sharing of data across their organisations. In 2024, Aker Systems won the Breakthrough Culture Awards highlighting growth companies putting culture first. In 2020 Aker Systems was recognised as a ‘One to Watch’ on the Sunday Times Tech Track. The Company was also recognised at the Thames Valley Tech Awards 2020; winning the Thames Valley Tech Company of the year, the Emerging Tech Company and High Growth Tech Business categories. We encourage people of all different backgrounds and identities to apply. We are committed to maintaining an inclusive, and supportive place for you to do your very best work. Principal Engineer – Data Platform Location: Remote (UK-based; Security Clearance Required) A UK Government Security Check (SC) clearance is required for this role. If you don’t currently hold SC clearance, we can support you in applying, provided you have lived and worked in the UK for a minimum of 5 years. As a Principal Data Platform Engineer, you will define and drive the technical vision, architecture, and evolution of data platforms for a government client. You will operate at a systems and organisational level, shaping how data is ingested, processed, governed, and consumed across multiple teams and services. This role goes beyond hands-on engineering — it requires deep technical authority, cross-team influence, and strategic decision-making to ensure platforms are secure, scalable, resilient, and aligned to long-term business outcomes. Key Responsibilities Define and own the technical strategy for data platform architecture, balancing short-term delivery with long-term scalability and maintainability. Lead the design of complex, distributed data systems, including batch and real-time processing at scale. Establish platform-wide standards, patterns, and best practices for data engineering, reliability, and security. Act as a technical authority and mentor, guiding senior and lead engineers across teams. Drive architecture decisions across multiple squads, ensuring alignment with enterprise and government standards. Partner with architects, product leaders, and stakeholders to translate ambiguous requirements into scalable technical solutions. Ensure high availability, fault tolerance, and low-latency performance across critical data services. Champion engineering excellence, including TDD, BDD, observability, and continuous delivery practices. Oversee data modelling standards and governance, ensuring consistency, lineage, and integrity across systems. Lead cross-team incident analysis and root cause resolution, driving systemic improvements. Evaluate and introduce new technologies, tools, and frameworks to evolve platform capabilities. Provide technical leadership in client engagements, influencing decisions and managing senior stakeholder expectations. Ensure operational excellence, including resilience planning, cost optimisation, and platform sustainability. Required Experience & Competencies Non-Technical Competencies Operating effectively in high ambiguity and incomplete problem spaces Influencing senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams Navigating complex client environments and competing priorities Leading through technical authority rather than hierarchy Driving alignment across multiple teams and domains Continuously evaluating and adopting emerging technologies strategically Technical Competencies Extensive experience designing and building large-scale, distributed data platforms Deep expertise in Java-based systems and modern backend architectures Strong experience with streaming and event-driven architectures (e.g., Kafka, Kinesis) Experience with large-scale data processing frameworks (e.g., Spark, Flink, Kafka Streams) Expertise in cloud-native architectures, ideally on AWS (including Lambda, S3, managed services) Strong understanding of data pipeline design, orchestration, and optimisation Experience with data modelling at scale, including schema design and evolution Expertise in relational and NoSQL database design and performance tuning Proven track record of implementing CI/CD, observability, and platform reliability practices Strong experience with DevOps and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Ability to define and enforce engineering standards across teams Desirable Skills Advanced expertise in data modelling strategies and trade-offs across systems Experience with search and indexing platforms (Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, Solr) Strong knowledge of CI/CD ecosystems (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI, Drone) Experience with infrastructure automation tools (Terraform, Ansible, Packer) Exposure to data governance, security, and compliance frameworks in regulated environments Qualifications Degree in Computer Science or a related field (or equivalent experience) Typically 10+ years of experience in software/data engineering, with significant time spent in architecture or principal-level roles Aker Systems Attributes At Aker we work as a team; we are collaborative, hardworking, open, and delivery obsessed. There is no blame culture here: try things, and take responsibility for the outcomes. You are always part of the wider Aker. We help our colleagues and take pride in successfully achieving difficult tasks. We run towards problems and help to solve them. Communicate always, do so accurately and in a timely fashion. In return, we offer a competitive salary, 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, company paid medical insurance and life assurance, pension scheme, annual training allowance, wellbeing allowance, virtual GP, Employee Assistance plan and more. Equal Opportunities Aker Systems fosters a diverse environment that encourages openness in its communications and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, age, marital status, national origin, citizenship status, disability, veteran status or other personal characteristics. We embrace differences of opinion and diversity because they help challenge us and find new groundbreaking technical solutions.