Principal Data Platform Engineer

  • Aurora Energy Research Limited
  • Oxford, Oxfordshire
  • 13/06/2026
Full time Information Technology Telecommunications

Job Description

Principal Data Platform Engineer

Department: Tech - AI and Data Engineering

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Oxford, UK

Description

Aurora helps governments, investors, and utilities make billion dollar decisions on the journey to net zero. Based in Oxford, you will work in a dynamic and growing engineering organisation that builds cloud based software to track and model power grids around the world. Aurora's models produce some of the most data intensive outputs in the energy industry - half hourly, generator level simulations across 30 year horizons. As a founding Software Engineer on the Data Platforms team, you will build and own the infrastructure that makes that data fast, reliable, and useful. You will work in a small, fast paced team that releases changes multiple times a day. The successful applicant will be an excellent problem solver, a strong team player, and a proven ability to take big projects from conception to production. We're open to a range of candidates - the role and compensation will reflect your experience.

Key Responsibilities
  • Manage a team of Software Engineers
  • Build high uptime platforms that serve 100TB -1PB data fast and reliably
  • Build tools and platforms that empower engineers, modellers, and analysts across Aurora
  • Be a founding member of the Data Platforms team - shaping its culture, practices, and technical direction from the ground up
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Required attributes:

  • 10+ years developing impactful, mission critical backend systems
  • The ability to work in fast paced, high ownership environments
  • Excellence in one or more language (we mostly use Python)
  • Strong discipline in testing and automation
  • Experienced, judicious user of AI coding tools
  • Previous experience managing teams of 5+ engineers
  • An exceptional team player - low ego, high initiative
  • Genuine interest in the transformation of energy markets and infrastructure

Desirable attributes:

  • Hands on experience with large distributed systems
  • Previous experience building data platform - including scheduling, streaming, storage, compute
  • Python, Lakehouse architectures, Terraform, AWS
What we offer
  • Private Medical Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Parental Support
  • Salary Exchange Pension
  • Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
  • Local Oxford Discounts
  • Cycle to work Scheme
  • Flu Jabs

At AER, we are committed to offering flexibility in the way we work. Most of our roles are hybrid with a mix of in office/home working and potentially adjustable working hours. Let's discuss what works for you and AER during the interview process.

The Company is committed to the principle that no employee or job applicant shall receive unfavourable treatment on grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy, and maternity.