Data Engineer

• Work on Meaningful, High-Impact Data Initiatives
• Help Shape the Future of Our Cloud Data Ecosystem and Data-Driven Culture
• Full-Time, Permanent Role | Based at Jetstar HQ, Melbourne

We're looking for a Data Engineer to join our growing Engineering Team and play a key role in delivering high-impact data initiatives. You'll be embedded in an agile squad within our evolving DataOps/DevOps practice, collaborating with a multidisciplinary team of engineers that span the entire Data & Analytics value chain.

As the central data hub of the organisation, our team operates across a broad and dynamic aviation landscape. We have the advantage of exposure to the full spectrum of business domains — providing a unique opportunity to think systemically, solve problems holistically, and deliver work that has tangible, organisation-wide impact.

This role marks an exciting next chapter in the evolution of our data ecosystem. You'll be directly contributing to foundational initiatives within the operations domain, shaping the future of how data powers key business functions.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with engineers, product managers, and designers to build scalable data-driven products leveraging mathematical optimization and machine learning.
• Design, develop, and maintain production-grade Python applications, with a focus on performance, modularity, and testing.
• Debug, enhance, and refactor existing codebases to improve reliability and maintainability.
• Translate customer feedback into technical requirements and deliver new features that align with business goals.
• Write clean, reusable, well-tested, and scalable code following software engineering best practices.
• Design and implement robust data pipelines, including data ingestion, transformation, staging, and curation — with a focus on efficiency and automation.
• Support and optimize our Snowflake Data Cloud implementation, ensuring alignment with best practices for performance, cost-efficiency, and security.
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex data pipeline and infrastructure issues, proactively and reactively.
• Contribute to the automation and codification of infrastructure and deployment processes (Infrastructure as Code), enabling reliable, repeatable environments.
• Monitor and maintain the health of data systems, including performance tuning, telemetry, data quality, protection, and availability.
• Prepare data models and curated datasets for consumption by business intelligence and analytics teams.
• Produce comprehensive documentation for solutions, including system design, configuration, and operational guides.
• Act as a key problem-solver and collaborator across domains, driving continuous improvement of our data platform and engineering practices.

Requirements:

• 2+ years of experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, or software development, with strong proficiency in Python (or Java).
• Solid understanding of software engineering principles, including version control, testing, modular design, and clean code practices.
• Experience designing and deploying cloud-native applications using platforms such as AWS (preferred), Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Hands-on experience with containerisation, ideally using Docker (and optionally Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with DevOps and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) practices - experience with tools like Terraform (preferred) or CloudFormation.
• Experience working with modern data platforms such as Snowflake (preferred) or Databricks.
• Proficiency in SQL and experience working with relational databases and large-scale datasets (structured and semi-structured).
• Strong experience in building and maintaining robust data pipelines, with an understanding of end-to-end data lifecycle — from ingestion and transformation to delivery.
• Working knowledge of data transformation tools like dbt (Data Build Tool) is advantageous.
• Experience with workflow orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow is a plus.
• Comfortable working with data formats such as Parquet, Avro, JSON, and XML.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a pragmatic, detail-oriented approach to engineering challenges.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of delivery outcomes and work independently when needed.
• Ability to balance confidence in decisions with openness to feedback and a willingness to pivot with new information.
• Effective communication skills — able to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Tertiary qualifications in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related discipline are advantageous but not essential.

Our Culture  

Jetstar is alive with a sense of adventure. Day in and day out, our teams search for new places to fly, new ways to add value and new ideas to improve performance. If you love the road less travelled, you’ll love working here because ours is a team who innovate every day, thrive on delivery, support each other and celebrate our successes. You’ll be supported to challenge, anticipate and explore while you work will connect people and enrich lives. We encourage diversity and aim to create an environment where our employees feel valued, respected and enabled.  

Our Benefits  

Team members have access to heavily discounted fares to destinations all over the world – not only for team members, but for their favourite travel companions too. Our staff travel benefit includes discounts on airfares, accommodation, car hire and travel insurance for both domestic and international travel. Discounts can be used within the Jetstar Group airlines, Qantas and other partner airlines.  

Inclusion and Diversity   

Jetstar is an equal opportunity employer, so by coming to work for us, you’ll be part of an organisation that encourages diversity, supports charities and environmental initiatives. We encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and people of all backgrounds to apply. If you have any support or accessibility requirements, we encourage you to advise us at time of application.   

Applications will close on the 29th of April