Principal Data Engineer

Who We Are

At Torrens University Australia making a difference is in our DNA. As a Certified B Corporation we belong to a global community of future-focused companies using business as a force for good. We believe in the transformative power of education to change lives families communities and the world.

As Australias fastest-growing university we are building modern scalable digital capabilities that support student success operationalexcellenceand responsible AI adoption. Our Data Platform is central to this ambition andwerenow looking for a Principal Data Engineer to help shape its future.

Whatsthe Job

This is a senior technical leadership role with deep hands-on engineering accountability.

Reporting to the Head of Data Platform & Governance you will be the technical authority responsible for designingbuildingand uplifting Torrens cloud-native data platform on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

The role will begin with a technical assessment of the current data platform toidentifyresilience gaps engineering standards pipeline reliabilityimprovementsand opportunities to introduce scalable platform patterns.

Youllstep into an environment where foundational standardsDataOpsmaturity observability and governance uplift are key priorities. This role will:

• Conduct a technical audit of current pipelinesstandardsand platform resilience

• Define and implement data engineering design standards reusablepatternsand reference architectures

• Build and optimise modern batch and streaming pipelines

• Establishplatform-levelCI/CDIaCand observability frameworks

• Lead technical design reviews for internal and vendor-built pipelines

• Ensure solutions align with enterprise architecture and platform standards

• Define platform SLAs and support model with Operations teams

• Implement monitoring alerting and incident responseframeworks

• Uplift engineering capability whileremaininghands-on

This is not a pure architecture role.We are looking for an engineer-first leader someone who can design at scale review code build pipelines and drive technical quality.

Key Points About This Role

• Cloud-Native Platform Ownership
  Lead architecture and engineering of scalable GCP data pipelines across batch and streaming environments.

• DataOps& Automation Uplift
  Implement CI/CDIaC(Terraform) testing and observability to reduce incidents and increase resilience.

• Governance-by-Design Engineering
  Embed metadata lineage dataqualityand privacy controls directly into ingestion and pipeline frameworks.

• Technical Authority & Vendor Oversight
  Provide engineering standards review vendoroutputsand guide cross-functional delivery quality.

• Hands-On Leadership
  Mentor engineers lead technical reviews and build high-quality reusable data assets.

Who You Are

• GCP Engineering Expert
  8 years in data/cloud engineering with strong hands-on experience acrossBigQuery Dataflow Pub/Sub Composer/Airflowand Cloud Storage.

• Advanced Programming Capability
  Expert in Python and SQL with experience building scalable distributed data pipelines.

• Data Platform Observability
  Experience implementing monitoring and observability frameworks for data pipelines including logging metricsalertingand pipeline health tracking.

• DataOps& Automation Leader
  Proven delivery of CI/CD pipelines Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform)observabilityand automated testing frameworks.

• Data Modelling
  Experience designing analytical data models and optimising schema design for scalable analytical workloads.

• Architecture-Aligned Engineer
  Strong understanding of cloud-native data platform design streamingarchitecturesand cost optimisation (FinOps).

• Technical Influencer & Mentor
  Confident communicator who can lead code reviews challenge vendors uplift standards andoperateindependently.

This is a Full-Time Permanent position based at our Surry Hills Campus in Sydney offering Hybridworking.

To review the full job description pleaseClick here.

Why Join Us

Boldmodernand agilewevegrown from 164 students in 2014 to 40000 alumni across 115 countries. We are building enterprise data capabilities from the ground up giving you the opportunity to shape standards define patterns and create a true centre of excellence.

This role offers architectural influence hands-on engineeringdepthand the autonomy to build something meaningful.

What We Offer

At Torrens University Australiayoullbenefitfrom:

• Study free in a course/degree related to your position

• Flexible hybrid working arrangements

• B Corp certified university values driven and purpose led

• Access to internal opportunities to grow and move across the organisation

• A culture that encourages innovationaccountabilityand impact

Hiring Process

We aim to provide you with the information you need at each stage of this process to help you present your best self. If you have any accessibility requirements please contact your recruiter at for confidential support.

We are committed to ensuringan equitable barrier-free application process and have a Reasonable Adjustment Procedure in place to support you throughout the recruitment process.

We are a 2026 Circle Back Initiative Employer and commit to respond to every applicant.

To learn more about what makes Torrens University Australiaa great placeto work visit to hear from you.

Job reference:R29620

To ensure a fair and thorough review process applications for this role will close onFriday 27thMarch.You can expect to hear from our Talent Acquisition team after this date with any updates about your application.