Logo for Smart Working

Lead Data Engineer (Contract, Full-Time) [HR208]

Smart Working

Role overview

Qualifications

  • 7+ years of professional experience in data engineering roles
  • Strong experience designing and building data pipelines and distributed data systems
  • Experience with relational and NoSQL databases
  • Strong programming experience in Python

Responsibilities

  • Architect and build scalable data pipelines and infrastructure to support AI and product systems
  • Design and maintain data ingestion, transformation and storage architectures for operational and AI workloads
  • Develop and manage batch and real-time data pipelines
  • Ensure data reliability, security and governance across the platform

About the company

Smart Working logo

Smart Working

Staffing & Recruiting

Smart Working are specialists in sourcing, vetting and providing best-in-class permanent remote Software Developers. We achieve three main things for our clients: 1 - We attract the very best candidates in the market and find developers with the precise skills our clients require. 2 - For each hire we save our clients 40-50% on an annual basis. 3 - Once onboarded, we set up the remote developer to work as a fully integrated member of our client’s team (working the same hours and in permanent communication). We put vetted candidates in front of our clients at no cost within one week. We are able to attract the best talent at Smart Working because here we put our people first. We are proud to have the highest Glassdoor rating of any business in India with 50+ reviews.

Company details

IndustryStaffing & Recruiting
Company size51 - 200

Links

LinkedIn See all jobs

Your match analysis

See how your profile stacks up against this role.

We compared the job requirements to your profile to show where you're strong and where you fall short.

Job description

About Smart Working

At Smart Working, we believe your job should not only look right on paper but also feel right every day. This isn’t just another remote opportunity - it’s about finding where you truly belong, no matter where you are. From day one, you’re welcomed into a genuine community that values your growth and well-being. Our mission is simple: to break down geographic barriers and connect skilled professionals with outstanding global teams and products for full-time, long-term roles. We help you discover meaningful work with teams that invest in your success, where you’re empowered to grow personally and professionally.

Join one of the highest-rated workplaces on Glassdoor and experience what it means to thrive in a truly remote-first world.

About the Role

As a Lead Data Engineer, you will build and lead the data infrastructure powering an intelligent AI assistant that automates operational workloads for property managers, letting agents and build-to-rent teams. The platform manages communications, compliance, maintenance coordination and scheduling, helping property businesses operate with the efficiency of modern digital platforms.

You will architect and scale the systems behind the AI products, spanning real-time data pipelines, analytics infrastructure, vector databases and machine learning data workflows. Working closely with AI engineers, backend engineers, product teams, founders and product leadership, you will ensure the platform can process large volumes of operational data reliably and intelligently.

As the first senior data hire, you will define the data architecture, tooling, engineering standards, culture and hiring bar, building the foundations of the future data team.


Responsibilities
  • Architect and build scalable data pipelines and infrastructure to support AI and product systems.
  • Design and maintain data ingestion, transformation and storage architectures for operational and AI workloads.
  • Develop and manage batch and real-time data pipelines.
  • Build and optimise systems for vector search, retrieval and machine learning data pipelines.
  • Ensure data reliability, security and governance across the platform.
  • Collaborate with AI and backend engineering teams to support training, inference and product features.
  • Implement monitoring, observability and data quality frameworks.
  • Optimise the performance of large-scale datasets and query systems.
  • Contribute to technical architecture decisions and long-term data strategy.
  • Act as the founding data hire, defining culture, standards and the hiring bar for the data function as it scales.
  • Partner directly with founders and product leadership to translate data capabilities into product decisions.

    • Requirements
  • 7+ years of professional experience, with the majority of that experience in dedicated data engineering roles.
  • Strong experience designing and building data pipelines and distributed data systems.
  • Experience working with relational databases, with PostgreSQL preferred, although MySQL or similar is acceptable.
  • Experience working with NoSQL databases.
  • Experience with vector databases used in modern AI systems.
  • Strong programming experience in Python.
  • Demonstrated ability to make and justify architectural decisions, rather than only implementing them.
  • Experience building scalable backend systems.
  • Experience designing data models and storage architectures.
  • Strong understanding of data processing performance and optimisation.
  • Experience with some of the following data frameworks and infrastructure technologies is highly desirable: Apache Spark, Apache Airflow, Kafka, and Elasticsearch or OpenSearch.
  • Experience with relevant database technologies is highly desirable, including PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and vector databases such as Qdrant, Milvus or pgvector.
  • Experience with Python data-processing libraries such as Pandas or Polars is highly desirable.

    • Nice to Have
  • Experience working on AI or machine learning platforms.
  • Familiarity with stream processing and event-driven architectures.
  • Experience with cloud infrastructure such as GCP, AWS or Azure.
  • Experience working in high-growth startups or early-stage companies.
    •

    Apply once. Then go straight to the hiring manager.

    After you apply, unlock the direct contact details of the people who actually make the call. A quick follow-up makes you 5x more likely to land an interview.

    MR

    Marcus Rivera

    Chief Revenue Officer

    m.rivera@company.com
    linkedin.com/in/marcusrivera
    Unlocked after you apply
    ·

    Data Engineer Related jobs

    IndiaData Engineer

    Other jobs at Smart Working

    Premium

    Reach out to the hiring manager directly.

    Gain access to the contact details of the hiring managers who actually decide, and reach out to network with them directly. That, plus more when you upgrade:

    • Full match report with fit score and gaps
    • Career diagnostics on how recruiters read you
    • Curated company matches and warm intros
    • 48h early access to new roles

    Cancel anytime.