Senior Data Engineer

Senior Data Engineer - AI Platforms & Data Lakehouse (6 month initial contract)Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE - onsiteIndustry: Confidential AI & Defence Technology Organisation(6 month initial contract)A leading AI and advanced technology organisation is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to design and build the data foundations powering next-generation AI solutions.You will play a key role in developing secure, scalable data platforms that transform complex enterprise data into trusted sources for AI agents, machine learning models, and advanced analytics.Working within a highly secure environment, you will architect data lakehouse solutions, build enterprise-grade pipelines, and enable AI-driven capabilities across intelligent supply chain, engineering, and operational platforms.Key ResponsibilitiesDesign and implement enterprise-scale Data Lakehouse architectures.Build high-performance ingestion pipelines integrating complex enterprise systems, ERP platforms, and external data sources.Develop unified data models across procurement, supply chain, and engineering datasets.Create pipelines for structured and unstructured data, including technical documents, PDFs, and engineering information.Support Generative AI and RAG-based applications through embedding pipelines and vector database technologies.Implement data governance, lineage, quality controls, and security frameworks.Optimise data infrastructure for secure, restricted, and high-performance environments.Collaborate with Data Scientists, AI Engineers, and Software Engineers to deliver AI-ready data platforms.Required Experience5+ years of experience in Data Engineering.Strong Python and SQL development skills.Experience building production-grade ETL/ELT pipelines.Hands-on experience with Apache Spark, Kafka, Airflow, Databricks, or similar technologies.Experience designing Data Lakehouse architectures.Experience working with enterprise ERP environments (SAP S/4HANA, SAP Ariba, or similar).Experience supporting AI/ML workloads, Generative AI, LLM applications, or RAG pipelines.Familiarity with vector databases such as Weaviate, Milvus, or similar.Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines.Desirable ExperienceBackground within Defence, Aerospace, Manufacturing, or Supply Chain environments.Experience working with procurement data, Bill of Materials (BOM), or engineering datasets.Experience operating within secure or regulated environments.