Principal Data Engineer (14 Month FTC)

Reference 12096 Closing date 3/8/2026 Brand British Airways Career area Head Office Business area Digital, Technology & Data Contract type Fixed Term Full Time Location Waterside, British Airways Head Office, London

Job Description

A career without limits

As the nation’s flag carrier, we take great pride in connecting Britain with the world and the world with Britain.

It’s something we’ve been doing for over 100 years, ever since we launched the world’s first international scheduled air service between London and Paris.

This originality has been in our blood since day one. It’s the spirit we share with the people that fly with us, our partners, and our colleagues.

So, whether you are a reassuring voice on the end of a phone, a smile at the door, under a wing keeping the turbines spinning or landing us gently in far‑flung places, a job at British Airways is yours to make.

We know great things can happen when you’re inspired to think big and bring your ambition to work every day, which is why, at British Airways the sky is never the limit.

The role:

Principal Data Engineer (14 Month FTC)

You’ll be part of the Operations Delivery Intelligence (ODI) directorate, acting as a technical leader for data engineering across the organisation. This area plays a critical role in enabling secure, scalable and high‑performing data platforms that underpin data products and decision‑making across British Airways.

What you’ll do:

Act as a technical leader for data engineering best practice across delivery teams

Lead the design, build, test and deployment of secure and scalable data pipelines

Maintain and operate data products, ensuring availability, performance and resilience through monitoring and incident management

Provide assurance on code quality and automation used to manage data flows

Lead service reviews, health checks and root cause analysis to improve reliability and reduce operational overhead

Set and embed standards for data processing documentation and version control

Support and coach engineers on engineering patterns, coding standards and automated testing

Lead agile ceremonies, delivery planning and retrospectives to support continuous improvement

Define and improve developer experience by working with data product teams to resolve data processing issues

Line manage Senior Data Engineers and support their development

Participate in an on‑call rota to support live data products

What you’ll bring to British Airways:

Strong hands‑on technical leadership in data engineering

Deep understanding of cloud‑based data ingestion, processing and storage techniques

Expert knowledge of data processing, testing and monitoring practices

Strong understanding of enterprise data management, optimisation and security at scale

Confidence influencing technical direction and engineering standards

Strong stakeholder engagement skills across business and technical teams

Ability to break down complex problems and work effectively in ambiguous environments

Delivery‑focused, accountable and pragmatic mindset

Collaborative approach with a focus on capability building and knowledge sharing

Your experience:

Excellent SQL development experience.

Highly experienced in data ingestion, processing and storage techniques on cloud native

tooling.

Experience cloud data management i.e. Snowflake, AWS, DBT, or similar Paas and SaaS

offerings.

Experience of enterprise data management and security at scale.

Knowledge of data modelling and optimisation.

Expert in data processing, testing, and monitoring practices and frameworks.

Experience supporting production data systems and resolving operational issues in CI/CD

processes and agile development workflows.

Expert in information security principles and access control within data environments.

Degree or equivalent training in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline is

desirable.

What we offer:

We believe that all the people who work with us should feel valued for the part they play. It’s one of the reasons our rewards go far beyond a competitive salary.

From the day you join us, you’ll get access to brilliant staff travel benefits including unlimited basic and premium standby tickets on British Airways flights. You’ll also receive up to 30 discounted ‘Hotline’ airfares per year for yourself, friends, and family.

At British Airways you’ll have the chance to take on new challenges and move forward in a way that feels right for you. We encourage all those who work for us to consider opportunities right across our business to help you develop and progress.

We never stand still, and we don’t expect our people to either.

Inclusion & Diversity

At British Airways we all have a part to play in creating an inclusive place to work. Diverse representation among our people is really important to us and we recognise that all our colleagues are uniquely different and bring their own originality, creativity and identity to work.

Inclusion and diversity is a key driver of innovation and we’re committed to creating a culture where everyone feels that they can be themselves. We’re looking for people from all backgrounds and cultures to join us and be a part of our journey to become a Better BA as we continue to connect Britain with the world and the world with Britain.