Principal Data Engineer

Overview Principal Data Engineer (Hybrid, Cluj, Romania) We’re Kingfisher, a team made up of over 74,000 passionate people who bring Kingfisher - and all our other brands: Castorama, B&Q, Screwfix, Brico Dépôt and Koçtaş - to life. That’s right, we’re big, but we have ambitions to become even bigger and even better. We want to become the leading home improvement company and grow the largest community of home improvers in the world. And that’s where you come in. At Kingfisher, our customers come from all walks of life, and so do we. We want to ensure that all colleagues, future colleagues, and applicants to Kingfisher are treated equally regardless of age, gender, marital or civil partnership status, colour, ethnic or national origin, culture, religious belief, philosophical belief, political opinion, disability, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation. We are open to flexible and agile working. Therefore, we offer colleagues a blend of working from home and our office, located in Cluj. Talk to us about how we can best support you! At Kingfisher, we value the perspectives that any new team members bring, and we want to hear from you. We encourage you to apply for one of our roles, even if you do not feel you meet 100% of the requirements. In return, we offer an inclusive environment, where what you can achieve is limited only by your imagination! We encourage new ideas, actively support experimentation, and strive to build an environment where everyone can be their best self. We offer a competitive benefit package and plenty of opportunities to stretch and grow your career: Annual performance bonus Employee referral bonus Private medical coverage (Regina Maria – Priority Plan) Option to extend coverage to your spouse or children at no extra cost Life insurance (Metropolitan Life) Eyeglasses vouchers Wellhub fitness membership (co-funded) Access to LinkedIn Learning, LEO Learning, and Bookster Fresh fruit bar and premium coffee Modern, collaborative workspace Hybrid work model Flexible working schedule 21 days of annual leave + extra days based on tenure (up to 25 days) Additional days off when public holidays fall on weekends Paid leave for special life events Meal vouchers Gift vouchers (up to 4 per year), offered for occasions like Christmas, Easter, March 8th, and June 1st What's the job? Role Overview ​ A Principal Data Engineer is a senior individual contributor and technical leader who shapes the design, direction and evolution of Kingfisher’s data platforms and products.​ Operating at a Leading capability level, this role is recognised as a specialist and advisor across Group Technology, influencing strategy, standards, and ways of working across multiple squads and domains.​ You will drive enterprise-scale data solutions, enable high-performing engineering teams, and ensure that data platforms deliver measurable business value. Key Responsibilities: ​ Technical Strategy & Architecture ​ Define and lead the data platform and data engineering strategy, aligned to Group Technology objectives​ Own architecture decisions, patterns, and standards across data pipelines, storage, and processing​ Establish and evolve data engineering principles, frameworks and best practices​ Partner with Architecture and Product to shape long-term roadmaps and platform capabilities​ Ensure solutions support scalability, resilience, performance, and cost optimisation​ Data Platform & Engineering Excellence ​ Drive the design and implementation of robust, production-grade data pipelines and platforms​ Ensure adoption of modern data engineering practices (CI/CD, testing, observability, DevOps)​ Define and champion data quality, governance, and security standards​ Promote reuse through data products, shared services, and platform capabilities​ Continuously improve engineering effectiveness through standards, automation and tooling Leadership & Influence (Multi-Squad Impact) ​ Act as a technical leader across multiple squads and domains​ Influence senior stakeholders (Engineering, Product, Architecture, Tech Board)​ Provide clear direction, technical authority, and decision-making guidance​ Lead complex initiatives spanning multiple systems, teams, and geographies​ Talent Development & Community Leadership ​ Mentor and coach engineers across the Data Engineering Chapter​ Build capability through knowledge sharing, standards, and community engagement​ Contribute to hiring, onboarding, and capability planning​ Drive a culture of learning, experimentation, and technical excellence​ Innovation & Industry Leadership ​ Stay ahead of industry trends and emerging data technologies​ Drive adoption of new tools, patterns, and approaches where they deliver value​ Challenge existing approaches and lead step-change improvements​ Act as a thought leader within Kingfisher Engineering​ Delivery & Business Impact ​ Lead delivery of large-scale, business-critical data initiatives​ Align technical initiatives to customer and commercial outcomes​ Ensure effective execution across multiple squads and programmes​ Balance speed, quality, cost, and risk in decision-making What you'll bring Core Competencies (Principal Level Expectations) ​ At Principal level you operate consistently at Leading capability across:​ Stakeholder influence & communication – influencing at exec level and across domains​ Problem solving & decision-making – solving complex, ambiguous, cross-system challenges​ Driving continuous improvement – setting standards across teams​ Managing ambiguity – leading through uncertainty and transformation​ Building high-performing teams – coaching and uplifting capability across the chapter​ Data Engineering & Platform Expertise ​ Strong experience in distributed data processing systems and architectures​ Expertise in data modelling, storage, access, and processing patterns​ Proven track record delivering large-scale data platforms and pipelines​ Core Technology Stack (Kingfisher-aligned) ​ Programming: Python, SQL​ Data processing: Spark / PySpark / Scala​ Data modelling & transformation: DBT​ Cloud platforms: GCP, Azure, AWS​ Data platforms: Databricks, BigQuery, Azure Data Factory​ DevOps/DataOps: CI/CD, Git, Terraform, Docker/Kubernetes​ Data quality: Great Expectations / testing frameworks Engineering & Architecture ​ Deep understanding of: ​ Data architecture patterns (batch, streaming, event-driven)​ Cloud-native and distributed systems design​ Performance optimisation and cost efficiency​ Experience designing systems with resilience, scalability, and observability What Success Looks Like ​ A successful Principal Data Engineer will:​ Be the go-to technical authority for data engineering at scale​ Drive consistent standards and practices across squads​ Influence strategic direction and investment decisions​ Build a highly capable, aligned engineering community​ Deliver measurable business outcomes through data platforms​