Data Engineer (Forward Deployed) in Reading

This role is based in Reading, UK.

About Nscale

Nscale is the GPU cloud engineered for AI. We provide cost‑effective, high‑performance infrastructure for AI start‑ups and large enterprise customers. Nscale enables AI‑focused companies to achieve superior results by reducing the complexity of AI development. Our GPU cloud bolsters technical capabilities and directly supports strategic business outcomes, including cost management, rapid innovation, and environmental responsibility. We thrive on a culture of relentless innovation, ownership, and accountability, where every team member takes pride in their work and drives it with excellence and urgency. As an Nscaler, you’ll build trust through openness and transparency, where everyone is inspired to do their best work. If you join our team, you’ll be contributing to building the technology that powers the future.

About The Role

We’re looking for a Data Engineer (Forward Deployed) to help design, build, and operate the data foundations that underpin Nscale’s platform, internal operations, and customer‑facing capabilities. This is a high‑impact, early‑stage role. You’ll work closely with Operations, Infrastructure, Platform Engineering, Product, and Commercial teams to turn raw operational signals — from GPUs, clusters, customers, and internal systems — into reliable, scalable data products that ensure delivery at a previously unseen pace. You’ll help define how data is collected, modelled, served, and trusted across the company, and have the opportunity to build on Palantir Foundry, as well as other products. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys building data systems from first principles, thrives in ambiguous environments, and wants to see their work directly influence product decisions, platform reliability, and customer outcomes.

What You'll Be Doing

• Data Platform & Architecture: Design and build scalable, reliable data pipelines that ingest data from infrastructure, platform services, and business systems. Define data models and schemas that support operational workflows and use cases across the business, monitoring, and analytics. Clean, transform and structure the data to create a digital twin of Nscale. Implement permissioning and manage access and security of the Foundry implementation.
• Data Products & Enablement: Create trusted datasets and metrics that power workflows and processes, internal tools, and customer‑facing insights. Enable self‑serve analytics by establishing clear data contracts, documentation, and semantic layers. Build use cases including but not limited to capacity planning, cost optimisation, reliability analysis, and customer reporting to drive our business forward. Collaborate with Product and Commercial teams to translate real‑world questions into robust data solutions.
• Reliability, Quality & Governance: Implement data quality checks, monitoring, and alerting to ensure data correctness and availability. Codify data lineage, freshness, and consistency across systems. Establish best practices around data versioning, access control, and governance appropriate for a fast‑scaling company. Continuously improve system resilience and observability.
• Early‑Stage Ownership & Growth: Take end‑to‑end ownership of projects, from design through to production and iteration. Help define standards, tooling, and ways of working for data at Nscale. Contribute to technical decision‑making as the company scales its platform and customer base. Act as a thought partner to engineers and operators, not just a service function.

About You

• Deep, hands‑on experience building in Palantir Foundry, including ontology modelling, pipeline development, API integration, and large‑scale data platform design.
• Strong proficiency in Python, with experience applying data engineering libraries and frameworks (e.g. Spark, PySpark, Dask, pandas) to work with large, complex datasets.
• Familiarity with API‑driven data integration, including REST, GraphQL, and Foundry Action APIs.
• Practical experience working in Git‑based development workflows, including code reviews, version control, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Comfort working in ambiguous, early‑stage environments where requirements evolve quickly.
• Strong communication skills — able to explain data concepts clearly to technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• A bias toward ownership, pragmatism, and shipping useful solutions.

Nice to Have

• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and infrastructure telemetry.
• Familiarity with distributed systems, monitoring data, or usage‑based billing data.
• Experience supporting customer‑facing data products or platforms.

What We Can Offer You

Highly competitive package (base + equity) with reviews every 12 months. Join the fastest‑growing tech startup, your chance to push boundaries, collaborate with brilliant minds, and make your mark on cutting‑edge AI. Expect a dynamic progression plan tailored to your ambitions. Grow by trying new things, leading, challenging the status quo, and owning your impact, always with our full support. Human‑First Flexibility: We treat you as humans first. Our flexible workplace trusts Nscalers to deliver, giving you the autonomy to shape your day around life's moments.

Equal Opportunities Statement

We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio‑economic backgrounds. If there’s anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.

The responsibilities outlined in this job description are not exhaustive and are intended to provide a general overview of the position. The employee may be required to perform additional duties, tasks, and responsibilities as assigned by management, consistent with the skills and qualifications required for the role.