Data engineer; FTC)

Location: This role can be based at our London, Sheffield or Edinburgh office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Use your data engineering skills to help Hachette UK migrate from legacy systems to modern cloud technology.

Hachette UK is a creative powerhouse and the UK's second largest book publishing group. Our mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity. We're made up of 10 autonomous publishing divisions and over 60 imprints with a rich and diverse history and an incredible range of authors. We're also the market leader in e-books and publish a range of bestsellers in audio format, the fastest growing part of our business.

Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Little, Brown, which won Publisher of the Year at the 2026 British Book Awards;
Orion (2021 Publisher of the Year Award Winner);
John Murray Press;
Hodder & Stoughton;
Headline;
Octopus, and Bookouture. They publish fiction and non-fiction in digital, audio and print format, from the world's best and most diverse authors, including Brit Bennett, Candice Carty-Williams, Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Maggie O'Farrell, Delia Owens, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling, Colson Whitehead, and Malala Yousafzai.

Hachette Children's Group publishes a wide and vibrant range of books for children across all age ranges, while Hachette Learning is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools.

Hachette UK is part of Hachette Livre, the world's third largest trade and educational publisher. As well as our headquarters in Carmelite House, London, and our state-of-the-art book distribution centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, we have recently opened five new offices in Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. The UK region also includes offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Caribbean, and Ireland.

It's an exciting time to join our business because the publishing market continues to grow and thrive. The UK remains the largest exporter of physical books in the world and book adaptations for film and TV are the foundation of the UK's creative industries.

• Cloud Development & Migration (Microsoft Fabric / Azure)
  • Build and maintain multi-tier data pipelines (Bronze/Silver/Gold architectures) in Microsoft Fabric using PySpark, Data Factory, Lake houses, and Data Warehouses.
  • Execute the migration of legacy stored procedures, SSIS packages, and database tables into cloud-native, Medallion-architecture solutions.
  • Monitor cloud workloads for performance, reliability, and data quality across modern platform environments.
• Legacy Optimization & Support
  • Help analyse, tune, and streamline existing on-premise relational databases (SQL Server) and ETL packages (SSIS).
  • Identify bottlenecks, optimize T-SQL queries/indexes, and refactor inefficient pipelines to minimize system load and maintenance overhead.
  • Support routine operations and troubleshooting to ensure the legacy platform remains stable and self-sustaining during the migration phase.
• Problem Solving & Communication
  • Active Problem Solving:
    Methodically investigate pipeline issues, data discrepancies, and job failures to fix root causes rather than temporary patches.
  • Clear Communication:
    Document technical workflows clearly and communicate project updates, timelines, and technical requirements effectively across the data team and business partners.
  • Team
    
    Collaboration:
    
    Work closely with senior engineering leads, database admins, and BI developers to support cross-functional data delivery.

Technical Expertise:

• Cloud & Modern Data Stack:
  Hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure data services and familiarity with Microsoft Fabric (Lakehouse, PySpark, Data Factory).
• SQL & Scripting:
  Strong proficiency in T-SQL (query writing, optimisation, stored procedures) and PySpark or Python for data processing.
• Legacy ETL:
  Solid experience working with on-premise relational databases (SQL Server) and legacy ETL tools (SSIS or similar).
• Data Fundamentals:
  Solid understanding of data modelling principles (dimensional modelling, star schemas) and ETL/ELT best practices.

Core Competencies:

• Strong Problem Solver:
  Curious and proactive when digging into unfamiliar legacy code or debugging pipeline errors.
• Solid Communicator:
  Able to explain technical details clearly in team discussions and keep technical…