Senior GCP Data Engineer/Data Architect Consultant

Job Description This is a remote position. Key Responsibilities * Assess the existing data pipeline, GCP architecture, data sources, and current limitations. * Design a BigQuery-based medallion architecture: Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Serving layers. * Design and/or implement data ingestion pipelines from Cloud Storage and Cloud SQL / MySQL into BigQuery. * Define BigQuery datasets, tables, partitioning, clustering, and cost-control strategies. * Support batch, incremental, and on-demand processing patterns. * Design curated and BI-ready datasets for analytics and reporting. * Support data quality checks, validation, logging, monitoring, and reprocessing patterns. * Define integration patterns for Elasticsearch or other search / serving layers. * Support architecture for AI enrichment, embeddings, semantic search, and media metadata where required. * Prepare technical documentation, architecture diagrams, implementation roadmap, and handover materials. * Work closely with client engineering, data, DevOps, and product teams. Requirements Required Skills * Strong hands-on experience with Google Cloud data services. * Strong BigQuery experience, including modeling, optimization, partitioning, clustering, and cost control. * Experience with Cloud Storage ingestion patterns. * Experience with Cloud SQL / MySQL to BigQuery integration. * Experience building batch and incremental data pipelines. * Experience with Dataform, dbt, Cloud Composer / Airflow, Dataflow, Cloud Run, or similar tools. * Strong SQL and data modeling skills. * Good understanding of lakehouse / medallion architecture. * Experience with data quality, metadata, lineage, logging, and monitoring. * Ability to work in an ambiguous consulting environment and translate high-level requirements into practical implementation plans. * Strong communication skills and client-facing experience. Preferred Skills * Experience with Elasticsearch or search index publishing. * Experience with Power BI-ready datasets or analytical serving layers. * Experience with Vertex AI, Gemini, embeddings, vector search, or semantic search. * Experience with media, social media, marketing, campaign, influencer, or audience data. * Experience with Dataplex, Data Catalog, IAM, policy tags, row-level security, or column-level security. * Experience with CI/CD for data pipelines. Benefits WFH or Hybrid and competitive salary