4 weeks
Technical Lead – Data GCP & Databricks
About this role
About Gapstars At Gapstars, we partner with some of Europe’s most ambitious companies, from disruptive tech startups to established Benelux accounting firms, helping them build high-performing teams in engineering and finance. Headquartered in the Netherlands, with talent hubs in Sri Lanka and Portugal, we are home to 300+ professionals who thrive on solving real-world challenges with modern
Role information
At Gapstars, we partner with some of Europe’s most ambitious companies, from disruptive tech startups to established Benelux accounting firms, helping them build high-performing teams in engineering and finance.
Headquartered in the Netherlands, with talent hubs in Sri Lanka and Portugal, we are home to 300+ professionals who thrive on solving real-world challenges with modern solutions. Our teams work across domains, from networking, marketplaces, SaaS, and AI to embedded finance and accounting, delivering scalable solutions that drive meaningful outcomes.
As a Senior Data Engineer, you will work across Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Databricks, building and evolving scalable data pipelines, data products, and analytics-ready datasets.
The current environment is approximately 60–70% GCP-focused, so strong hands-on GCP experience is mandatory. Initially, your work will primarily focus on the existing GCP platform, with increasing ownership of Databricks pipelines, integrations, and lakehouse capabilities as the platform evolves.
You will also work closely with Data Scientists and Analytics teams to deliver trusted, governed, AI-ready and reporting-ready datasets.
1) GCP Data Engineering
2) Databricks Engineering
3) Data Transformation & Semantic Layer
4) Data Quality, Governance & Reliability
5) AI / ML Enablement
6) Platform Ownership & Engineering Standards
7) Collaboration & Stakeholder Management
What you'll do
Design and maintain scalable data architectures and pipelines on GCP.
Build and optimize solutions using BigQuery, Dataflow, Cloud Run, Composer, and GCS.
Develop reliable pipelines supporting analytics, reporting, and machine learning workloads.
What you'll bring
Maintain high standards around performance, reliability, security, and cost.
Own and develop Databricks pipelines and integrations.
Work with Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Workflows, MLflow, and Spark.
Support the gradual expansion of Databricks within the wider data platform.
Ensure GCP and Databricks workloads follow consistent engineering, governance, and security standards.
Help shape future lakehouse architecture and integration patterns.
Develop transformation workflows using SQL, Python, and dbt.
Build and maintain reusable semantic layers and data models.
Deliver datasets that are ready for analytics, reporting, AI, and ML use cases.
Establish standards for testing, documentation, versioning, and deployment.
Implement data quality controls and automated testing.
Ensure data accuracy, governance, security, and accessibility.
Monitor pipeline health, freshness, performance, and operational stability.
Troubleshoot incidents and drive continuous improvement.
Support data lineage, access controls, and lifecycle management.
Work closely with Data Scientists and Analytics teams.
Build trusted and reusable datasets for ML and AI use cases.
Support ML pipelines and integrations, including the use of MLflow where applicable.
Help create AI-ready datasets through the semantic layer.
Contribute to infrastructure and deployment standards using Terraform, Docker, CI/CD, and Git.
Promote engineering best practices around testing, documentation, code reviews, and operational ownership.
Provide technical guidance and mentor other engineers.
Document architectures, data flows, integrations, and operational processes.
Work with Product Owners, Data Scientists, Analysts, Engineers, and business stakeholders.
Translate business needs into scalable technical solutions.
Communicate technical decisions, trade-offs, risks, and progress clearly.
Take ownership of solutions from design through production.
Strong hands-on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) experience is mandatory.
Strong experience with BigQuery and GCP-based data pipelines.
Nice to have
Experience with:
Delta Lake
Unity Catalog
Databricks Workflows
MLflow
Apache Spark
GCP services such as:
Dataflow
Cloud Run
Composer / Airflow
Google Cloud Storage
Terraform and Docker experience.
Experience with SAP integrations.
Semantic modeling experience.
AI-enabled analytics experience.
Retail or e-commerce experience.
Hands-on experience with Databricks in production environments.
Strong SQL and Python skills.
Experience building and operating modern data platforms or lakehouse environments.
Experience with dbt or similar transformation frameworks.
Strong understanding of data modeling and semantic layers.
Experience supporting ML workflows and Data Science teams.
Experience with data quality, governance, security, and monitoring.
Experience with CI/CD and Git.
Strong ownership and stakeholder communication.
What you get here
Work-life essentials: 24h continuous internet and power facility, shuttle service, and a gym membership to keep you moving
Everyday comforts: Unlimited tea & coffee facilities along with snacks & drinks.
Growth, always: Personal Development Plans through Gapstars Academy, cross-functional learning via StarTalks, and opportunities for overseas travel and training
Life’s milestones, celebrated: Birthday vouchers, wedding and childbirth gifts, anniversary treats, and more, because we celebrate our Stars at every stage
Community & culture: Sports clubs, company events, tournaments, and parties that make Gapstars feel like home
About Gapstars
Gapstars was founded in 2015 on a simple belief: great companies shouldn't be limited by access to talent. By connecting ambitious European scale-ups with the exceptional engineering talent emerging from Sri Lanka, Gapstars set out to build dedicated teams that operate as true extensions of their partners' organisations.
What began as a small, ambitious team has grown into a global organisation of more than 300 experts across Amsterdam, Lisbon, Dubai, and Colombo, supporting over 75 companies worldwide. Today, Gapstars Group continues that journey - connecting visionary companies with the people, processes, and platforms that help them grow across tech, finance, and beyond.