Azure / Microsoft Fabric Data Engineer at Initialize, United Kingdom, £Contract Rate

Azure / Microsoft Fabric Data Engineer - remote - 1 x contract - outside IR35 and 1 x permanent.

You will be an experienced Azure/Microsoft Fabric Data Engineer and will help design, build and maintain modern data platforms. The role will focus on Microsoft Fabric, Azure data services, Lakehouse architecture, data ingestion, transformation, modelling, governance and AI-ready analytics.

Skills/Experience

Strong experience with Microsoft Azure data services and modern cloud data engineering.

Hands-on experience with Microsoft Fabric, including Lakehouse, Warehouse, Pipelines, Dataflows, Notebooks and Power BI.

Good understanding of data lake, lakehouse and warehouse architecture.

Experience building data ingestion and transformation pipelines from multiple source systems.

Strong SQL skills and experience working with relational data models.

Experience with Python and/or PySpark for data transformation and automation.

Understanding of Power BI, semantic models, DAX and reporting requirements.

Experience working with APIs, JSON, CSV, Parquet, Delta tables and common enterprise data formats.

Knowledge of data governance, access control, data quality, metadata and lineage.

Good documentation skills and the ability to produce clear technical designs.

Key duties

• Design and build Microsoft Fabric data solutions, including Lakehouses, Warehouses, Dataflows, Pipelines, Notebooks and Power BI semantic models.
• Develop robust data ingestion pipelines from APIs, SQL databases, SharePoint, Microsoft 365 sources, SaaS platforms and flat-file sources.
• Build and maintain ETL/ELT processes to cleanse, transform, validate and structure customer data for analytics and AI use cases.
• Create Lakehouse and medallion-style data architectures, including raw, curated and reporting-ready layers.
• Design data models that support Power BI dashboards, operational reporting, customer analytics and business performance monitoring.
• Work with Azure services such as Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure SQL, Azure Functions, Azure Key Vault, Azure AI Search and Azure OpenAI where required.
• Support AI and RAG use cases by preparing structured and semi-structured data for retrieval, grounding, metadata enrichment and agent workflows.
• Implement data quality checks, validation rules, lineage, documentation and governance controls.
• Work with Microsoft Purview, Entra ID, RBAC and security best practice to ensure data is handled securely and appropriately.
• Help create reusable patterns, templates and accelerators for Fabric-based deployments.
• Troubleshoot data pipeline failures, performance issues, permissions problems and integration challenges.
• Contribute to technical documentation, solution designs, deployment notes and customer-facing architecture material.

Desirable Skills

Microsoft DP-203 and/or DP-700 certification, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience with Azure AI Search, Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry or RAG-style data preparation.

Experience integrating Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Teams, Dynamics, Salesforce, E-commerce or finance systems.

Knowledge of OneLake shortcuts, Delta Lake, medallion architecture and Fabric deployment patterns.

Experience with CI/CD, GitHub, Azure DevOps, infrastructure-as-code or automated deployment.

Understanding of enterprise security, compliance, auditability and data protection requirements.

Excellent role and company, contract and permanent role available - apply now!