About Pleo

At Pleo, we're on a mission to revolutionise the way businesses manage company spending. No more outdated processes, clunky spreadsheets, or frustrating delays - spend management should be seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike. We're creating tools that promote autonomy, foster trust, and let businesses focus on what truly matters. Our culture is built on transparency, collaboration, and a deep commitment to innovation. At Pleo, you'll join a passionate team shaping the future of work, all while having some fun along the way.

About the role

You'll join the Data team to drive innovation and deliver impactful solutions that power our business. As a Principal Data Engineer, you'll move beyond incremental improvements to lead foundational projects. You will provide hands-on leadership to shape the future of Pleo's data architecture. While embedded in the Data Platform Group, you'll work directly with the VP of Data, contributing as a key member of the data leadership team. You'll collaborate extensively with Product, Engineering and Business teams to ensure our data solutions directly drive product innovation and business outcomes. You'll help shape the future of Pleo's data landscape, supporting multiple teams, driving strategic projects, and staying hands-on with cutting-edge technology to deliver impactful solutions.

What you'll be doing

• Partner with product and business teams to develop data strategies that enable new features and improve user experience.
• Drive key strategic projects across the organisation, providing leadership and hands-on support as needed.
• Support multiple teams across Pleo in delivering impactful data and analytics solutions.
• Build data products that directly support Pleo's product roadmap and business goals.
• Collaborate with the VP of Data and other data leaders to set the vision for Pleo's data strategy and ensure alignment with company objectives.
• Enhance our data infrastructure and pipelines to improve scalability, performance, and data quality.
• Experiment with and implement innovative technologies to keep Pleo's data stack at the forefront of the industry.
• Mentor engineers, analysts, and data scientists to foster growth and build a world-class data team.

To put things in context, here are examples of projects Principal Data Engineers may work on:

• Data catalog and data literacy: Spearhead the implementation of a new data catalog to empower the organization with accessible, high-quality data.
• Data platform & warehousing strategy: Lead the revamp of our data infrastructure and dbt architecture to scale for the future.
• AI engineering strategy: Support Product & Engineering teams in structuring and building new AI platform tools for internal & external usage.
• Community of Practice: Foster and grow our internal data community, establishing best practices and mentoring peers across the company.

Technology

• Hybrid infrastructure with AWS and GCP, Kubernetes.
• Python, SQL, Airflow, Kafka for orchestration and event-driven processing.
• BigQuery data warehouse, dbt, Looker.

What you bring

We’re looking for a strategic thinker who can translate complex business challenges into scalable data solutions. You will thrive if you have:

• High proficiency in Python with a proven track record of delivering high-quality data pipelines and products at scale.
• Experience designing, building, maintaining and scaling data platforms with AWS and GCP ecosystems.
• Experience building data products for analytics with a focus on AI/ML applications.
• Expertise in designing systems and data architecture serving platform, product and analytics purposes.
• Ability to inspire and act as a trusted mentor who builds strong partnerships.
• Ability to innovate with pragmatism and contribute to a culture of continuous learning.

Why this role is a good fit

This role is for you if:

• You are a passionate technologist who balances high-level strategy with hands-on execution and enjoys coding.
• You are excited about AI advancements and data engineering best practices.
• You want to own and shape Pleo's data architecture and help deliver it.
• You excel at mentoring and empowering other data professionals.
• You have experience in data platform teams with a track record in DataOps.

This role may not be for you if

• You prefer architecture and strategy only and are not comfortable with hands-on work.
• You prefer focusing on a single project for a long period rather than multiple initiatives.
• You lack experience in building complex data pipelines or organisation-wide data models.
• You focus on big data ecosystems without large data volumes.
• Your experience is primarily in consulting rather than long-term platforms.

The package

The annual salary varies by location:

• United Kingdom: £136,595 - £142,120
• Spain / Portugal: €156,000 - €172,000

Please note visa sponsorship is not available for these locations. You will need a valid right to work. You may work remotely, hybrid, or in-office. We will share more about pay range during your first call.

Benefits

• Your own Pleo card
• Lunch provided or lunch allowance
• Comprehensive private healthcare options
• 25 days of holiday plus public holidays
• Hybrid and fully remote options
• Option to purchase 5 additional days of holiday via salary sacrifice
• Mental health and well-being support
• Paid parental leave

The Interview Process

1. Intro call: 30-minute chat with Talent Partner.
2. Hiring Manager interview: 60-minute discussion on experience and data vision.
3. Code review interview: 60-minute live session reviewing real data engineering code.
4. System design interview: 75-minute live data architecture case.
5. Leadership interview: 45-minute discussion focusing on behavioural skills and values.

Transparency: we share insights about candidates we look for to help you prepare. Last time we hired a Principal Data Engineer, we received 452 applications and selected 19 for an intro call. Common reasons for screening failure included generic CVs, lack of demonstrated impact, and misalignment with role seniority. Please read the description carefully and highlight relevant experience in your CV.

Why join us?

We are building the future of work at Pleo. Our values include championing the customer, succeeding as a team, making it happen, and building to scale. We are 850+ people from 100+ nations with offices in Copenhagen, London, Stockholm, Berlin, Madrid, Montreal, Lisbon, and remote colleagues in many countries.

About your application

• Please submit your application in English.
• Applications are reviewed by humans; apply through our system for a smooth process.
• We value diversity and encourage applications from all backgrounds.
• We process your data as a data processor; details are in the FAQs on our jobs page.