GCP / AI Data Engineer - Contract

Contract GCP Data Engineer

London | Inside IR35 | Up to £600 per day | 6 Months

We're looking for a hands-on GCP Data Engineer who combines strong engineering fundamentals with a genuine interest in AI-assisted development and the data they're working with.

This isn't a role for someone who simply moves data from one system to another. The work centres on understanding whether advertising activity actually drives measurable outcomes, so curiosity, analytical thinking and a healthy instinct to question the numbers are just as important as technical capability.

You'll be working in an environment where AI coding agents, including Claude Code and similar tools, are part of the day-to-day engineering workflow. We want someone who actively embraces this way of working and is excited about how it can improve the way software and data pipelines are built.

What you'll be doing

Building, developing and improving data pipelines across Google Cloud Platform.

Working hands-on with Python, SQL and BigQuery to process, transform and analyse data.

Using AI coding agents as a core part of your development workflow, rather than treating them as an occasional productivity tool.

Picking up existing, partially built pipelines, understanding how they work and taking ownership of getting them into a reliable, production-ready state.

Investigating data quality, challenging unexpected results and ensuring the numbers genuinely stand up to scrutiny.

Working with advertising and measurement data to help establish whether campaigns have delivered meaningful outcomes.

Collaborating with colleagues to improve engineering practices, pipeline reliability and the overall effectiveness of the data platform.

What we're looking for

Strong, practical experience in data engineering, particularly building and maintaining data pipelines.

Hands-on experience with Python, SQL, BigQuery and GCP.

A genuine enthusiasm for AI-assisted engineering, including tools such as Claude Code, and a desire to make these tools central to how you work.

A curious, analytical mindset. You want to understand what the data represents, whether it is accurate and what conclusions can legitimately be drawn from it.

The confidence to take ownership of incomplete or imperfect solutions, work through ambiguity and turn them into something robust.

A pragmatic engineering approach, balancing delivery speed with data quality, reliability and maintainability.

Particularly useful experience

Experience with any of the following would be a significant advantage:

Snowflake and modern cloud data platforms.

Data clean rooms and privacy-safe data joins.

Advertising measurement, marketing analytics, attribution or incrementality testing.

Building reliable data pipelines using cloud-native GCP services.

You don't need to tick every additional box. We're particularly interested in someone who has the right engineering foundations, is excited by AI-driven development and genuinely cares about the quality and meaning of the data.

Contract details

Location: London

Rate: Up to £600 per day

Engagement: Contract

IR35 status: Inside IR35

If you're a GCP Data Engineer who enjoys getting hands-on, embracing AI-assisted development and making sure the data tells the right story, we'd be keen to hear from you
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed