Data Engineer Offline

We are looking for a Senior Data Engineer to join on a freelance basis to drive R&D initiatives, PoCs, and architecture validations for our enterprise and startup clients. You’ll work at the edge of innovation—validating modern data technologies, designing scalable prototypes, and enabling real-world applications in complex, regulated environments.This role is ideal for an experienced engineer with strong system thinking, deep knowledge of modern data architectures, and the ability to move fast in R&D cycles that could mature into production environments.


What You’ll Do

• Design and build proof-of-concept pipelines on cloud-native environments (AWS/GCP) to validate performance, scalability, and architecture.
• Work across OLAP systems like ClickHouse, Redshift, BigQuery, and support data persistence strategies for batch and real-time use cases.
• Contribute to the design of data-agnostic platforms capable of working across structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data sources.
• Evaluate and experiment with modern approaches such as Data Mesh, Lakehouse, and unified metadata/catalog strategies.
• Prototype graph-based analytics components where applicable (e.g., Neo4j, Amazon Neptune).
• Collaborate with architects, AI/ML engineers, and domain experts to deliver validated data foundations for further automation and intelligence.

• Work with enterprise teams, adapting solutions to their compliance, security, and governance requirements.

   

Required Skills & Experience

• 7+ years in data engineering, with a strong record of delivering backend and infrastructure for large-scale data systems.
• Hands-on experience with AWS and/or GCP (IAM, VPCs, storage, compute, cost control).
• Proven use of ClickHouse, Redshift, BigQuery, or similar for high-performance analytical workloads.
• Practical knowledge of Lakehouse, Data Mesh, Data Lake + Warehouse hybrid models.
• Experience building data ingestion frameworks (batch & streaming), including CDC, schema evolution, and orchestration.
• Strong Python or Go; advanced SQL; CI/CD familiarity.
• Comfort interacting with enterprise stakeholders; clear, concise documentation and proposal skills.
• Product-oriented, research-driven, and able to handle ambiguity while delivering value fast.
  
  Bonus Points
• Experience with graph technologies (e.g., Neo4j, Neptune, TigerGraph).
• Familiarity with dbt, Airflow, Dagster, or similar orchestrators.
• Knowledge of open metadata/catalog tools (OpenMetadata, DataHub, Amundsen).
• Experience in highly regulated or enterprise environments.
• Involvement in cloud cost optimization, FinOps, or scalable query engine evaluation.

Engagement Details

• Type: Freelance / B2B contract
• Extension: High potential to convert into a core team role or longer-term engagement
• Location: Remote (preference for overlap with European time zones)