Data Platform Technical Lead - AWS/Databricks/AI/Python. Outside IR35. London. Excellent role! at Ink Search, London, 12 Months, £1250-£1.5k per day

Databricks, AWS, Technical Lead, Principal Engineer. Front office trading technology and data with a heavy AI agenda. Tier 1 commodities trader.

Ink Search are representing a global, prestigious commodities trader in Central London. Group Technology is delivering a Cloud Smart, Data First strategy: a multi-year programme to consolidate fragmented data across the firm's eTRMs, risk, finance, operations and asset systems into a connected, enterprise-grade data backbone. This role is the technical delivery owner for the Intelligence Platform end-to-end, the person who turns the target architecture, design principles and capability roadmap into a working, production-grade platform. This is a hands-on, build-it role as much as a lead-it role. The successful candidate will have personally built a comparable data/AI platform before, not just directed one, and will bring that experience to bear, leading a team of internal technology leads while directing the work of multiple external vendors and delivery partners (systems integrators, Databricks/AWS partners, specialist tooling vendors).

Key responsibilities:

Platform architecture & hands-on delivery

- Execution of the technical build of the Intelligence Platform end-to-end: lakehouse (Databricks/AWS, Iceberg/Delta), semantic layer, catalogue/lineage, streaming backbone, storage & lifecycle, and AI/agent enablement

- Engineer and review the platform's foundational components

- Guide and enforce engineering standards: CI/CD, environment parity, code review, testing and observability

- Build and operate the streaming backbone (Kafka/Kinesis/Flink, CDC) as a first-class capability

- Participate in the design & delivery of the Enterprise Knowledge Graph and the semantic/context layer

- Deliver the AI & Agent Enablement band, governed retrieval, MCP gateway and tool registry

- Lead a team of internal/external technology leads, setting technical direction, unblocking delivery and building bench strength.

- Own the technical delivery plan and roadmap for the Intelligence Platform

Qualifications

- Significant hands-on experience architecting and building enterprise-scale data/AI platforms,

- Deep technical fluency across AWS and Databricks

- Direct experience building and operating streaming/CDC pipelines (Kafka, Kinesis, Flink or equivalent)

- Experience designing and building Knowledge Graphs and integrating them with AI/agentic retrieval patterns.

- Track record leading technical teams and directing third-party vendors/SIs to a shared delivery outcome.

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience in commodities trading, energy or financial services, with familiarity of trading platforms and trading data domains (trade, position, P&L, exposure, curves).

- Hands-on experience with AI/agentic frameworks and governed retrieval/RAG patterns.

- Experience with open table formats (Iceberg/Delta) and multi-engine lakehouse architectures.

- Familiarity with operating in a federated/Data Mesh delivery model, enabling domain teams to self-serve on a shared platform.

Attributes to success

- Builder first: wants to be in the architecture and the code, not just the roadmap slide

- Comfortable being the technical anchor across multiple vendors simultaneously

- Pragmatic under delivery pressure: sequences a multi-year target architecture into shippable, evidenced increments.

This is a really exciting opportunity and requires a "best in class" Technical Lead with a strong pedigree in trading orientated data platform architecture and delivery. The client are offering an exceptional day rate.