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J&T Business Consulting

Data Engineering Lead - Google Cloud Platform - (remote Europe)- Contract Role

Remote

Brussels, Belgium

Senior

Freelance

09-12-2025

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Skills

Communication Teamwork Leadership Python SQL Data Engineering Risk Management CI/CD Quality Assurance Stakeholder Management Negotiation Crisis Management Architecture Autonomy AWS Google Cloud Platform Proactivity GCP Spark Databricks PySpark Terraform Client Relationship

Job Specifications

We are looking for a Senior Data Engineer to lead high-visibility migration initiatives. You will oversee the transition of a large-scale enterprise data platform from AWS/Databricks to Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

In this role, you will be the bridge between the business stakeholders and the technical engineering team. You are not just building pipelines; you are designing the roadmap, managing the client relationship, and ensuring the technical delivery meets the highest standards of data integrity and governance.

Location Remote position open to candidates in the Europe.

Contract Type This position is open for candidates interested in Business-to-Business (B2B) contract position in countries in Europe.

What Will You Do?

1. Strategic Leadership & Migration Design

Define the Path: Design the end-to-end migration strategy (e.g., lift-and-shift vs. re-platforming), selecting the right GCP services (BigQuery, Dataflow, Composer) to replace legacy Spark/Databricks logic.
Project Ownership: Lead the technical roadmap, ensuring milestones are realistic and delivered on time.
Risk Management: Identify technical risks early (e.g., feature parity gaps, cost spikes) and design mitigation plans.

2. Customer & Stakeholder Management

Trusted Advisor: Act as the primary technical point of contact for business stakeholders and clients. Translate complex technical challenges into clear business impacts.
Requirement Translation: Convert high-level business goals into detailed technical specifications for the engineering team.
Crisis Management: Manage expectations and navigate scope changes with senior management when challenges arise.

3. Technical Governance & Mentorship

Architecture Review: Approve the data models and transformation logic (dbt) designed by the engineering team.
Quality Assurance: Define the strategy for "Data Parity" testing to ensure the new GCP system matches the legacy source system 100%.
Team Guidance: Mentor Senior and Medior Data Engineers, helping them solve blockers related to Terraform, CI/CD, or SQL optimization.

What You Bring

Experience:

8+ years in Data Engineering or Architecture, with at least 3 years in a Lead/Architect role facing customers and internal stakeholders.
Migration Pro: Proven experience leading large-scale data platform migrations (e.g., On-prem to Cloud, or Cloud-to-Cloud). You know where the bodies are buried in a migration project.

Technical Competence:

Target Expertise (GCP): Deep architectural knowledge of the GCP Data Stack (BigQuery is a must). You know how to design for cost, performance, and security.
Source Awareness (Spark/Databricks): Ability to read and understand legacy PySpark or Databricks architectures to guide the refactoring process (Hands-on coding is a plus, but conceptual mastery is required).
Modern Stack: Familiarity with modern transformation tools like dbt and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform).
Advanced SQL (Required): You must be comfortable writing complex queries to validate data parity, audit data models, and debug performance bottlenecks in BigQuery.
Python Literacy: Ability to read and interpret legacy PySpark or Python ETL scripts to extract business logic.

Soft Skills:

Communication: Exceptional ability to present technical strategies to non-technical audiences.
Negotiation: Ability to push back on unrealistic deadlines or requirements while maintaining strong relationships.

What We Offer

Fully Remote: A 100% remote position with the flexibility to manage your own schedule.
Impactful Culture: Join a supportive team driven by values like teamwork and innovation, where your proactivity is always celebrated.
Commitment to Growth: We invest in your professional development through our "Continuous Learning" mindset, supporting both hands-on experience and certifications (like GCP Professional Cloud Architect).
Innovation in Action: AI and automation aren't just buzzwords here. They are essential tools we expect everyone to use to amplify their impact.
Autonomy & Accountability: Enjoy the flexibility and trust to influence your work, with full accountability for delivering results.

About the Company

We recruit the finest C Suite executives to lead your team and scale your business. If you are a budding start up, building a strong team can be the foundation of growth for your business and we have mastered the art of building exceptional teams. What are you waiting for? GET IN TOUCH! Let's Build Your Dream Team Together. Know more