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- Tasks: Design and build data pipelines for AI-driven personalisation and reporting.
- Company: Join Holiday Extras, a Sunday Times Best Place to Work 2025.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working options, and a world of lifestyle benefits.
- Why this job: Be at the forefront of innovation in data engineering and AI.
- Qualifications: Advanced SQL, dbt experience, and strong data pipeline design skills.
- Other info: Inclusive culture with opportunities for career growth and learning.
The predicted salary is between 58490 - 73112 £ per year.
12 month fixed term contract
Salary £58,490 - £73,112 DOE + Benefits + Bonus
Location: Office based Newingreen, Kent
We care deeply about inclusive working practices and diverse teams. If you’d prefer to work part-time or as a job-share, we’ll facilitate this wherever we can – whether to help you meet other commitments or to help you strike a great work-life balance.
About
At Holiday Extras, we’re creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, build their careers and reach their limitless potential. As a Sunday Times Best Place to Work 2025, we’re proud to offer a world of benefits designed to enhance your lifestyle and well-being. By joining our team, you’ll feel supported and rewarded every day.
We’re looking for a Senior Data Engineer to strengthen the backbone of our data platform and ensure our data is trusted, scalable, and ready for innovation. This is a hands-on role where you’ll design pipelines, model data, and act as a subject-matter expert in a growing and highly motivated team.
The Role
- Build robust, reusable dbt models and pipelines that power reporting, experimentation and AI-driven personalisation for millions of travellers.
- Improve observability and reliability across the platform (GCP Monitoring/Logging, alerting, SLOs).
- Strengthen governance and quality standards, ensuring our data assets are trusted and production-ready.
- Collaborate with BI, Finance, Marketing and Engineering to align modelling and semantics to real business decisions.
- Share knowledge and mentor peers, setting high standards for production readiness and documentation.
- Orchestrate workflows with Airflow to build custom ingestion pipelines.
- Provision and manage infrastructure with Terraform, ensuring consistency, reproducibility, and scalability.
- Automate CI/CD pipelines, enabling flexible, reliable, and repeatable deployments.
Requirements
What you can bring to our team:
- Advanced SQL and hands-on dbt experience; modular, well-documented models with consistent business logic.
- Deep experience with BigQuery, including performance optimisation, cost management, and secure, performant dataset design.
- Strong experience designing and maintaining scalable data pipelines (batch and/or near real-time), including ingestion, transformation, and production support.
- Experience orchestrating workflows with Airflow/Cloud Composer, including DAG design and observability.
- Proven track record designing layered/medallion architectures and implementing data quality frameworks (e.g. dbt tests, Great Expectations).
- Strong technical judgement, balancing innovation with pragmatism. Raises the bar for quality and reliability, mentors others through clear feedback and example, and contributes to a culture of shared ownership and continuous improvement.
- An eagerness to learn and share, whether that’s pursuing Google certifications, engaging in industry meetups, sharing the latest AI blogs, or simply bringing an innovative mindset to the team.
We know there’s no one-size-fits-all. You may bring strengths in:
- Infrastructure & Platform Resilience: Airflow/Cloud Composer, Pub/Sub; Terraform (IaC); CI/CD; recovery patterns.
- AI & Data Readiness: versioned, trustworthy datasets and pipelines that enable AI/personalisation (batch or near-real-time).
- Security & Compliance: Data security best practices, including access controls, encryption, and compliance with GDPR/CCPA.
Everyone’s career path is individual and different, so this is just a guide. If your experience doesn’t precisely match this, you’re encouraged to apply so that we can discover your unique talents!
How we hire for this role
We know your time is precious, so we keep our recruitment process as quick and easy as possible. If we believe you might be a match for a job you’ve applied for, you’ll enter our hiring process as follows:
- Initial conversation to learn more about the role.
- On-site interview with our Head of Data and Principal Data Engineer with technical discussion.
- Meet-the-team session with our Lead Data Engineer and Solutions Architect.
Cultivating a diverse and inclusive culture is paramount for us.
Locations
Senior Data Engineer (12 month FTC) (Hiring Immediately) in Hythe, Kent employer: Holiday Extras
Contact Detail:
Holiday Extras Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Data Engineer (12 month FTC) (Hiring Immediately) in Hythe, Kent
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to current employees at Holiday Extras on LinkedIn or other platforms. A friendly chat can give you insider info and maybe even a referral, which can really boost your chances.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for the interview by brushing up on your technical skills. Since this role is all about data engineering, make sure you can confidently discuss your experience with SQL, dbt, and BigQuery. Practice explaining your past projects and how they relate to the job.
✨Tip Number 3
Show your passion for innovation! During interviews, share your thoughts on the latest trends in AI and data engineering. This will demonstrate that you're not just looking for a job, but that you're genuinely excited about contributing to the team’s goals.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re serious about joining the Holiday Extras family.
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Data Engineer (12 month FTC) (Hiring Immediately) in Hythe, Kent
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV reflects the skills and experiences that match the Senior Data Engineer role. Highlight your advanced SQL, dbt experience, and any relevant projects that showcase your ability to design scalable data pipelines.
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Use your cover letter to tell us why you're passionate about data engineering and how you can contribute to our innovative culture. Share specific examples of your work with BigQuery or Airflow that demonstrate your expertise.
Showcase Your Learning Mindset: We love candidates who are eager to learn! Mention any recent certifications, industry meetups, or personal projects related to AI and data readiness. This shows us you're committed to staying at the forefront of technology.
Apply Through Our Website: To make sure your application gets the attention it deserves, apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to see your application and get you into our quick and easy recruitment process!
How to prepare for a job interview at Holiday Extras
✨Know Your Data Tools
Make sure you’re well-versed in the tools mentioned in the job description, like SQL, dbt, and BigQuery. Brush up on your experience with data pipelines and be ready to discuss specific projects where you’ve used these technologies.
✨Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills
Prepare to share examples of how you've tackled challenges in data engineering. Think about times when you improved data quality or optimised performance, and be ready to explain your thought process and the impact of your solutions.
✨Understand the Business Context
Familiarise yourself with how data impacts business decisions at Holiday Extras. Be prepared to discuss how your work as a Senior Data Engineer can contribute to AI-driven personalisation and enhance customer experiences.
✨Be Ready to Collaborate
Since the role involves working with various teams, think of examples that demonstrate your ability to collaborate effectively. Highlight any mentoring experiences or instances where you’ve shared knowledge to uplift your peers.