Principal Data Engineer (AI/ML)

TL;DR

Principal Data Engineer (AI/ML): Building and optimizing robust, scalable data platforms for AI and ML initiatives with an accent on architectural design, pipeline optimization, and integrating best practices. Focus on designing data pipelines for model training, inference, and experimentation, and driving improvements across the data ecosystem for ML-driven products.

Location: Hybrid in London, UK (minimum 60% in office over a 12-week period)

Salary: £100,000 – £120,000

Company

hirify.global is Europe's number 1 downloaded rail app and a FTSE 250 company, enabling millions of travellers to book the best value tickets across 40+ countries.

What you will do

• Act as a technical authority across multiple teams, setting standards and patterns for data and ML-adjacent infrastructure.
• Embed with ML teams to design, build, and evolve data platforms supporting AI and ML workloads.
• Influence technical direction without direct line management responsibility and partner with Data Engineering teams.
• Identify systemic issues and proactively drive improvements across the data ecosystem.
• Enhance core platforms with new self-serve enablement features for ML and DE.
• Design and optimize data pipelines using SQL, Spark, Ray, and Python, and support API-driven/event-based data access patterns.

Requirements

• Extensive experience as a Senior, Staff, or Principal Data Engineer operating across teams.
• Deep expertise in SQL and Python, with strong experience in Spark or similar tooling.
• Strong understanding of orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow.
• Experience designing data platforms for ML and AI workloads.
• Hands-on experience with AWS infrastructure (e.g., ECS, IAM, data storage, compute).
• Familiarity with vector databases and modern AI/ML APIs (e.g., Bedrock).
• Experience working closely with Machine Learning Engineers in production environments.
• Strong system design skills and the ability to influence through technical leadership.

Culture & Benefits

• Private healthcare & dental insurance and a generous 28-day Work from Abroad policy.
• 2-for-1 share purchase plans and an EV Scheme.
• Extra festive time off and excellent family-friendly benefits.
• Prioritised career growth with clear career paths, transparent pay bands, and personal learning budgets.
• Regular learning days to support continuous professional development.
• Inclusive work environment with a diverse team of over 1,000 hirify.globalrs from 50+ nationalities.