Staff Engineer (Data)

TL;DR

Staff Engineer (Data Architecture): Driving architecture and technical strategy for the Data domain, bridging transactional, analytical, and AI systems with an accent on OLAP/OLTP foundations and AI-first engineering. Focus on architecting infrastructure for LLM orchestration, RAG, and real-time model inference at scale.

Location: Remote (Must be based in the United Kingdom)

Salary: £100,000 - £120,000

Company

hirify.global provides MIS and school management tools to transform how schools work, focusing on reducing staff burnout and leveraging data for actionable insights.

What you will do

• Define and evangelise target architectures that bridge transactional, analytical, and AI systems.
• Lead the end-to-end data lifecycle, including OLTP schema design, migrations, and OLAP governance.
• Architect infrastructure for LLM orchestration, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and real-time model inference.
• Mentor and coach Technical Leads and Senior Engineers on architectural and engineering excellence.
• Collaborate with Product Directors to translate product vision into technical deliverables.
• Lead the transition to an AI-First way of working to drive productivity and product capabilities.

Requirements

• Extensive experience overseeing data architecture with a track record in OLAP domains.
• Strong expertise in data modelling (Star, Medallion) and cloud-native distributed systems (e.g., Snowflake).
• Experience building and leveraging unstructured data across disparate systems.
• Practical knowledge of DataOps, CI/CD for data, and orchestration tools (AWS, Debezium, Git, IaC).
• Ability to influence both technical and non-technical audiences to achieve strategic outcomes.
• Must have existing right to work in the UK; visa sponsorship is not provided.

Nice to have

• Experience in AI/ML Engineering, MLOps, and model deployment/monitoring.
• Knowledge of federated learning or privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs).
• Practical experience with LLM Ops, prompt engineering at scale, and token cost optimisation.

Culture & Benefits

• 32 days holiday plus Bank Holidays (includes company-wide days over Easter, Summer, and Christmas).
• Comprehensive wellness package including AIG Smart Health (virtual GP, mental health support) and Bupa Dental Insurance.
• Financial security via Life Assurance (3x annual salary) and Salary sacrifice Pension.
• Enhanced parental leave (20 weeks full pay for maternity/adoption, 6 weeks for paternity).
• Dedicated professional development training budget for upskilling and certifications.
• Flexible working arrangements and dog-friendly offices.

Hiring process

• Phone screen
• First stage interview
• Second stage interview