Senior Data Engineer

About the Role

Whānau Āwhina Plunket is seeking a seasoned Senior Data Engineer to become a key member of its Data and Insights team. This role requires you to take full responsibility for maintaining, enhancing, and expanding data warehouses, reporting tools, dashboards, and various data products within our technology environment featuring Azure Databricks, Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, and Power BI Service. You will ensure that data is highly reliable, well-managed, and ready for accurate reporting and organizational decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

• Construct and sustain data pipelines across multiple data layers including raw, structured, and semantic layers using Azure Databricks, Delta Lake, PySpark, and Spark SQL.
• Design medallion architecture models, dimensional schemas, and semantic datasets to support AI analytics and reporting through Power BI.
• Create, maintain, and improve ETL processes, tools, and codebases.
• Monitor performance of pipelines, troubleshoot data anomalies, and validate results against established business rules.
• Implement and uphold data quality standards including reconciliation, testing, lineage tracking, and access control.
• Develop reports and dashboards while automating recurring data requests and workflows.
• Engage in CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code practices relevant to Databricks and Azure technologies.
• Offer technical leadership by guiding, mentoring, conducting peer reviews, and ensuring quality across the team.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will be an experienced data engineer with more than five years of expertise in roles such as Data Engineer, Data Warehouse Developer, or Database Developer. You will exhibit strong technical skills along with sound judgement, curiosity, and a collaborative mindset. Comfort in managing complicated data workflows, handling legacy systems, and resolving data quality issues is essential. You will also be able to communicate complex technical information clearly and build effective working relationships with stakeholders, challenging ideas constructively when necessary to achieve optimal outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications and Skills

• Minimum five years' professional experience in data engineering or related senior roles.
• Relevant academic background in computer science, mathematics, statistics, or a related field.
• Strong hands-on knowledge with Azure Databricks, Delta Lake, and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2.
• Proficient in advanced SQL and experienced in production usage of PySpark and Spark SQL.
• Expertise in designing medallion architecture and dimensional models for BI and analytics applications.
• Deep understanding of data warehousing methodologies, including dimensional/Kimball modeling, star schemas, and semantic layer design.
• Experience building and maintaining ETL pipelines, data warehouses, analytics products, reports, and dashboards.
• Skilled in data quality assurance techniques like testing, reconciliation, schema evolution, MERGE/upsert operations, and pipeline optimization including partitioning.
• Familiarity with Power BI Service and supporting curated datasets for robust reporting.
• Knowledgeable in Azure Data Factory, Databricks Workflows, Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines, Databricks Asset Bundles, Terraform or comparable infrastructure management tools.
• Additional experience or understanding of health, social care, or client data environments is advantageous. Programming proficiency in Python, R, JavaScript, or Bash is a plus.

What We Offer

Whānau Āwhina Plunket is New Zealand's largest organization devoted to supporting the health and development of children under five and their families. The data solutions you develop will assist diverse teams across the organization to better analyze service delivery, performance, and community needs.

You will be part of a collaborative Data and Insights team with opportunities to influence the technical direction, enhance engineering standards, and contribute to impactful social initiatives.

We prioritize employee wellbeing and continuous learning, offering benefits such as two designated Well Health Days annually, Employee Assistance Programs, and access to Fitness Passport memberships.

Additional Information

This position is full-time and permanent, with flexibility for part-time arrangements. The role is location independent, allowing you to work from anywhere in the country.

Applications are open until 10th September 2026, though early closure of the vacancy is possible once a suitable candidate is identified. Queries can be directed to the organization's human resources department.