Principal Data Engineer

Location: Hybrid, Cluj, Romania, with a blend of working from home and the Cluj office.

Company

hirify.global is a large home improvement company operating brands including Castorama, B&Q, Screwfix, Brico Dépôt, and Koçtaş.

What you will do

• Define and lead data platform and data engineering strategy, architecture decisions, standards, frameworks, and long-term platform roadmaps.
• Drive the design and implementation of robust, production-grade data pipelines and platforms across multiple systems, squads, domains, and geographies.
• Champion CI/CD, testing, observability, DevOps, data quality, governance, security, automation, and reusable data products and shared services.
• Provide technical leadership and decision-making guidance to Engineering, Product, Architecture, and senior stakeholders.
• Mentor and coach engineers, contribute to hiring and capability planning, and build the Data Engineering Chapter through knowledge sharing and community engagement.
• Lead large-scale, business-critical initiatives while balancing speed, quality, cost, risk, and customer and commercial outcomes.

Requirements

• Principal-level capability in stakeholder influence, executive communication, complex problem solving, decision-making, continuous improvement, ambiguity management, and building high-performing teams.
• Strong experience with distributed data processing systems and architectures.
• Expertise in data modelling, storage, access, and processing patterns, with a proven track record delivering large-scale data platforms and pipelines.
• Strong knowledge of data architecture patterns including batch, streaming, and event-driven architectures.
• Deep understanding of cloud-native and distributed systems design, performance optimisation, cost efficiency, resilience, scalability, and observability.
• Programming experience with Python and SQL; data processing experience with Spark, PySpark, or Scala.
• Experience with DBT, cloud platforms such as GCP, Azure, or AWS, and data platforms including Databricks, BigQuery, or Azure Data Factory.
• Experience with CI/CD, Git, Terraform, Docker or Kubernetes, and data quality tools such as Great Expectations or testing frameworks.

Culture & Benefits

• Flexible and agile hybrid working with a blend of home and office work and a flexible schedule.
• Inclusive environment supporting experimentation, learning, technical excellence, and equal treatment of colleagues and applicants.
• Annual performance bonus, employee referral bonus, meal vouchers, gift vouchers, and private medical coverage with optional family extension.
• Life insurance, eyeglasses vouchers, co-funded Wellhub fitness membership, and paid leave for special life events.
• Access to LinkedIn Learning, LEO Learning, and Bookster, plus a modern collaborative workspace.
• 21 days of annual leave, increasing with tenure up to 25 days, plus additional days when public holidays fall on weekends.