Senior Data Engineer in Bordeaux

Below is a ready‑to‑use hiring package for a Senior Data Engineer (5+ years experience) in Bordeaux. Feel free to copy‑paste, tweak, or expand any section to match your company’s tone and specific needs.

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1️⃣ Sample Job Description (JD)

Title: Senior Data Engineer
Location: Bordeaux, France (Hybrid – 3 days on‑site, 2 days remote)
Employment type: Full‑time, Permanent
Reports to: Head of Data & Analytics

About Us

[Insert a brief 2‑3 sentence overview of your company – industry, mission, size, culture, and why Bordeaux is a great place to work.]

What You’ll Do

• Design & Build scalable data pipelines (batch & real‑time) on cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) using tools such as Apache Airflow, Kafka, Spark, Flink, or dbt.
• Model & Store data in data lakes, warehouses, and marts (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, Azure Synapse) ensuring high performance and reliability.
• Implement robust data quality, monitoring, and alerting frameworks (Great Expectations, Monte Carlo, Datafold, etc.).
• Collaborate with data scientists, analysts, product managers, and engineering teams to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Mentor junior engineers, conduct code reviews, and champion best practices (CI/CD, testing, documentation, security).
• Optimize cost, performance, and security of data infrastructure; enforce GDPR and other compliance standards.
• Stay current with emerging data technologies and propose innovative solutions that add business value.

Who You Are

Requirement	Details
Experience	5+ years building end‑to‑end data platforms (ETL/ELT, streaming, warehousing).
Technical Skills	• Proficient in Python/Scala/Java (or at least one). • Strong SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Presto, etc.). • Cloud expertise (AWS, GCP, or Azure). • Experience with orchestration (Airflow, Prefect, Dagster). • Familiarity with containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes).
Data Modeling	Ability to design star/snowflake schemas, data vault, and dimensional models.
Big Data	Hands‑on with Spark, Flink, Beam, or similar frameworks.
Streaming	Kafka, Pulsar, Kinesis, or similar.
CI/CD & IaC	Git, GitHub/GitLab, Terraform, CloudFormation, Helm.
Soft Skills	Excellent communication (French + English), problem‑solving mindset, team player, mentorship experience.
Education	BSc/MSc in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field (or equivalent experience).

Nice‑to‑Have

• Experience with dbt, Dataform, or other ELT frameworks.
• Knowledge of data catalog / governance tools (Amundsen, DataHub, Collibra).
• Exposure to machine‑learning pipelines (MLflow, Kubeflow).
• Certifications (AWS Certified Data Analytics, Google Professional Data Engineer, etc.).

What We Offer

• Competitive salary (benchmark: €55k‑€75k + performance bonus).
• Equity / stock‑options (if applicable).
• 30 days paid vacation + French public holidays.
• Flexible hybrid work model + modern office in Bordeaux’s tech hub.
• Professional development budget (conferences, courses, certifications).
• Health & wellness benefits (mutuelle, gym membership, mental‑health support).
• Relocation assistance for candidates moving to Bordeaux.

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2️⃣ Recruitment Timeline (Suggested)

Phase	Duration	Key Activities
1️⃣ Define & Approve	1 week	Finalize JD, salary band, interview panel, and hiring budget.
2️⃣ Sourcing	2‑3 weeks	Post on job boards, engage recruiters, tap into local talent pools.
3️⃣ Screening	1‑2 weeks	HR phone screen → technical questionnaire (e.g., take‑home mini‑project).
4️⃣ Technical Interviews	1‑2 weeks	2‑3 rounds: (a) System design (data pipelines), (b) Coding/SQL, (c) Architecture & culture fit.
5️⃣ Final Interview	1 week	Meet with senior leadership & team; discuss vision, compensation, and next steps.
6️⃣ Offer & Acceptance	3‑5 days	Send formal offer, negotiate, and obtain signed contract.
7️⃣ Onboarding	1‑2 weeks (pre‑start)	Prepare equipment, access, and welcome package; schedule first‑day agenda.

Total time from posting to offer: ~6‑8 weeks (adjust based on urgency).

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3️⃣ Where to Source Candidates in Bordeaux

Channel	Why It Works	Tips
LinkedIn Recruiter	Largest professional network; easy to filter by location, experience, and tech stack.	Use Boolean search: ("Data Engineer" OR "Data Platform Engineer") AND ("Bordeaux" OR "Aquitaine") AND ("Python" OR "Spark").
Welcome to the Jungle	French‑focused job board; high visibility among tech talent.	Highlight Bordeaux lifestyle & remote‑flexibility.
Indeed France	Broad reach; many passive candidates browse.	Sponsor the posting for top placement.
Stack Overflow Jobs (now integrated with Stack Overflow Talent)	Engineers actively looking for challenging roles.	Emphasize technical depth and modern stack.
Local Meetups & Communities	Bordeaux has active data & AI meetups (e.g., Bordeaux Data Science, PyData Bordeaux).	Sponsor a meetup or give a lightning talk to attract talent.
University Partnerships	ENS de Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux, INP Bordeaux – strong CS & data programs.	Offer internship pipelines that can convert to senior hires.
Recruitment Agencies	Specialized tech agencies (e.g., Michael Page Technology, Hays Tech, Altran).	Provide them with the JD and salary range for targeted outreach.
GitHub & Open‑Source	Search for contributors to relevant projects (Airflow, dbt, Spark).	Reach out with a personalized message referencing their work.
Employee Referral Program	Your current team may know senior engineers in their network.	Offer a referral bonus (e.g., €2k‑€5k) for successful hires.

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4️⃣ Sample Screening Questionnaire (Technical)

1. SQL Challenge – Write a query to find the top 5 customers by revenue in the last 30 days, handling possible duplicate orders.
2. Python/Scala – Implement a function that reads a CSV from S3, transforms a column (e.g., timestamp to UTC), and writes the result to a Parquet file in a data lake.
3. Data Modeling – Sketch a star schema for an e‑commerce analytics platform (facts: orders, events; dimensions: product, customer, time). Explain why you chose this design.
4. Pipeline Design – Describe how you would build a near‑real‑time pipeline that ingests clickstream data, enriches it with user profiles, and stores it in a Snowflake table. Include tools, latency expectations, and failure handling.
5. Ops/Monitoring – Which metrics would you monitor for a production Airflow DAG, and how would you set up alerts?

Optional: Provide a short take‑home project (e.g., build a mini ETL pipeline on a public dataset and push it to a cloud warehouse).

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5️⃣ Interview Guide – Sample Questions

Technical Deep‑Dive

• Walk us through the most complex data pipeline you built. What were the biggest challenges and how did you solve them?
• How do you decide between batch vs. streaming for a given use case?
• Explain the trade‑offs between using a data lake (e.g., S3) vs. a data warehouse (e.g., Snowflake).
• How do you ensure data quality and lineage in your pipelines?
• Describe your CI/CD workflow for data infrastructure (e.g., testing, deployment).

System Design (Live)

Scenario: Design a platform that ingests 10 GB of sensor data per hour, normalizes it, and makes it queryable for analytics within 5 minutes.

• Ask them to draw components, choose technologies, discuss scaling, cost, and monitoring.

Behavioral / Culture Fit

• Tell us about a time you mentored a junior engineer. What approach did you take?
• How do you stay up‑to‑date with emerging data technologies?
• Describe a situation where a production pipeline failed. How did you handle it and what did you learn?

French‑Language / Localization (if required)

• Are you comfortable communicating technical concepts in both French and English?
• How would you adapt documentation for a bilingual team?

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6️⃣ Offer Letter Checklist (France)

• Base salary (gross) + bonus structure.
• Benefits: health insurance (mutuelle), pension, meal vouchers (tickets restaurant), transportation pass (if applicable).
• Equity (if you have a stock‑option plan).
• Relocation assistance (travel, temporary housing).
• Notice period (typically 1‑3 months in France).
• Working hours (35 h/week legal limit, plus any flex‑time policy).
• Remote‑work policy (days per week, equipment provision).
• Confidentiality & IP clauses (standard French labor law).

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7️⃣ Onboarding Plan (First 30 Days)

Day	Activity
Day 1	Welcome breakfast, office tour, meet‑and‑greet with team, set up laptop, VPN, cloud accounts.
Day 2‑3	Intro to data architecture, review existing pipelines, read documentation, assign a “buddy”.
Week 1	Small starter task (e.g., fix a bug in an Airflow DAG) to get hands‑on with codebase.
Week 2	Deep‑dive into data models, attend data‑platform architecture meeting, start a larger feature (e.g., new source ingestion).
Week 3	Pair‑programming session with a senior engineer; review CI/CD pipeline and add tests.
Week 4	Present a short “30‑day review” – what they’ve learned, quick wins, and next steps.
Ongoing	Enroll in internal training (e.g., cloud certification), schedule regular 1:1s with manager.

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8️⃣ Quick “Copy‑Paste” Job Posting (for LinkedIn / Welcome to the Jungle)

🚀 Senior Data Engineer – Bordeaux (Hybrid)

We’re looking for a seasoned Data Engineer (5+ years) to own and evolve our data platform in the heart of Bordeaux. You’ll design end‑to‑end pipelines, build robust data warehouses, and mentor a growing team of analysts and engineers.

What you’ll do:
- Architect & implement scalable batch & streaming pipelines (Airflow, Kafka, Spark)
- Model data for analytics (Snowflake/Redshift/BigQuery)
- Ensure data quality, monitoring, and GDPR compliance
- Collaborate cross‑functionally & champion best practices

What you bring:
- 5+ years building production data platforms
- Strong Python/SQL + cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure) expertise
- Experience with Spark, Kafka, dbt, Docker/K8s
- Excellent communication in French & English
- Passion for mentoring and continuous learning

Why join us?
- Competitive salary €55‑75k + bonus & equity
- Hybrid work (3 days on‑site, 2 remote) in vibrant Bordeaux
- 30 days vacation, health & wellness benefits, relocation support
- Professional development budget & conference tickets

📍 Bordeaux, France | Full‑time | Hybrid

Apply now or tag someone who’d be perfect! 👉 [Insert application link]

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TL;DR

1. Use the JD above (or adapt it) to post the role.
2. Source via LinkedIn, French job boards, local meetups, and university partnerships.
3. Screen with the questionnaire and a short take‑home project.
4. Interview with a mix of technical deep‑dives, system design, and cultural fit questions.
5. Make a competitive offer (salary, benefits, relocation, equity).
6. Onboard with a structured 30‑day plan to get the new engineer productive fast.

Good luck with the hunt! If you need help tailoring any part of this (e.g., a specific tech stack, salary benchmarking for Bordeaux, or interview evaluation rubrics), just let me know. 🚀