Principal Data Platform Engineer

Job Purpose

As a Principal Data Platform Engineer at RWS, you will be the most senior technical authority on our data platform. You will architect and implement a scalable Google Cloud Platform (GCP) data platform, setting the engineering standards, patterns and guardrails that the wider Data Engineering team builds on. This is a hands-on role: you will write the Terraform, the pipelines and the automation that make the platform repeatable, secure and cost-effective at scale.

You'll own the platform end to end - from infrastructure as code and CI/CD through to the data pipelines running on top of it - and you'll push the boundaries of how we deliver, including leveraging AI agents to scale up pipeline delivery. Your work will directly enable our Analytics and AI teams to build the future of global language services. If you enjoy designing systems that other engineers depend on, you'll find a home here.

About Product & Technology

Product & Technology plays a pivotal role in aligning the organization with its strategic objectives and enhancing shareholder value. Product & Technology is responsible for establishing unified standards and governance practices throughout the company. Additionally, we oversee the development and maintenance of core applications essential for the seamless operation of various functions across the organization. We are committed to driving and executing future roadmaps that are in line with the overall strategic direction of RWS. 

With a global reach, Product & Technology provides support services to over 7500 end users worldwide. We take pride in managing the information security operation and safeguarding all our assets. Our core functions encompass Enterprise & Technical Architecture, Network & Voice, Infrastructure, Service Delivery, Service Operations, Data & Analytics, Security & Quality Compliance, Transformation, Application Development, Enterprise Platforms, With a dedicated team of over 500 staff, Product & Technology ensures a strong presence across all regions, enabling efficient and effective support to our global operations.

Job Overview

Key Responsibilities

• Architect the GCP Data Platform: You'll design and implement a scalable, secure GCP data platform that serves as the foundation for analytics and AI across RWS.
• Build Infrastructure as Code: You'll create a reusable, modular Terraform codebase so that provisioning new environments and data products is fast and repeatable.
• Automate Delivery: You'll implement CI/CD pipelines that give us automated, controlled and auditable deployments of both infrastructure and data code.
• Engineer Data Pipelines: You'll design and build pipelines using native GCP services including BigQuery, Dataflow, Dataform, Cloud Composer and Knowledge Catalog.
• Scale Delivery with AI: You'll leverage AI agents and automation to accelerate pipeline delivery and raise the throughput of the wider engineering team.

Skills & Experience

• Infrastructure Automation: Expert-level Terraform, with GitHub Actions or similar for automated build and deployment.
• Expert Cloud Architecture: Deep, predominantly GCP experience - BigQuery, Dataflow, Dataform, Cloud Composer and Pub/Sub.
• Cloud Security and Networking: Strong working knowledge of IAM, RBAC, VPC design and firewall configuration.
• Software Engineering: Strong programming skills in Python, and experience with Java or Scala.
• Data Engineering at Scale: Solid ELT/ETL design experience and hands-on work with Apache Spark.

Bonus points if you have:

• Multi-Cloud Exposure: Experience with Azure alongside GCP.
• Container Orchestration: Experience packaging and deploying workloads with Helm and Kubernetes.
• AI-Assisted Engineering: Practical experience using AI agents or copilots to accelerate engineering delivery.
• Data Products: Knowledge or experience of implementing data products and data mesh principles.

Life at RWS

Life at RWS - If you like the idea of working with smart people who are passionate about growing the value of ideas, data and content by making sure organizations are understood, then you’ll love life at RWS. 

Our purpose is to unlock global understanding. This means our work fundamentally recognizes the value of every language and culture. So, we celebrate difference, we are inclusive and believe that diversity makes us strong. We want every employee to grow as an individual and excel in their career. 

In return, we expect all our people to live by the values that unite us: to partner, putting clients fist and winning together, to pioneer, innovating fearlessly and leading with vision and courage, to progress, aiming high and growing through actions and to deliver, owning the outcome and building trust with our colleagues and clients.

RWS embraces DEI and promotes equal opportunity, we are an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. RWS is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at RWS are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation. RWS will not tolerate discrimination based on any of these characteristics. 

RWS Values 

Get the 3Ps right – Partner, Pioneer, Progress – and we´ll Deliver together as RWS.

Recruitment Agencies: RWS Holdings PLC does not accept agency resumes.  Please do not forward any unsolicited resumes to any RWS employees.  Any unsolicited resume received will be treated as the property of RWS and Terms & Conditions associated with the use of such resume will be considered null and void.