Hands-on senior engineering capacity embedded in your team. Not architecture strategy - actual pipeline work.
Who This Is For
Teams with junior or mid-level data engineers who need senior support for complex work, code quality, and technical guidance.
Common situations:
- Complex pipeline work keeps getting stuck or delayed
- Code quality varies and technical debt is accumulating
- Junior engineers need mentorship but seniors are stretched
- You need senior capacity but not a full architecture overhaul
- Critical project needs experienced hands without long hiring process
This isn’t architecture leadership. It’s hands-on senior data engineering capacity embedded in your team.
What I Do
Build Pipelines
I work alongside your engineers on production data pipelines.
- Complex transformations
- Performance optimization
- Reliability improvements
- New data source integrations
Not just advice. Working code that ships.
Code Reviews
Regular feedback on pull requests and technical decisions.
- Catch issues before they reach production
- Share patterns and best practices
- Explain the “why” behind suggestions
- Raise the bar for the whole team
Technical Guidance
Help your team navigate modern data platform tooling:
- dbt modeling and testing
- Spark optimization
- Airflow/Dagster orchestration
- Data quality frameworks
Knowledge Transfer
Your engineers learn by working alongside a senior.
- Pair programming on complex problems
- Architecture discussions during implementation
- Documentation of patterns and decisions
The goal is your team getting stronger - not dependency on me.
How It Works
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Time | 1-2 days per week |
| Duration | 3-6 months |
| Mode | Belgium (hybrid), Europe (remote + travel), Global (remote) |
Why this shape? Long enough to deliver meaningful work and transfer knowledge. Flexible enough to scale up or down based on project needs.
The Investment
| Option | Cost | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time senior hire | €100-150K+/year | Long recruiting, full commitment |
| Contractor | €600-1000/day | No knowledge transfer, no team fit |
| Fractional support | 1-2 days/week | Senior capacity + mentorship, scales with need |
You get senior engineering output without the hiring timeline or full-time overhead.
What Changes
- Complex work gets done - No more tickets stuck waiting for senior capacity
- Code quality improves - Consistent reviews raise standards across the team
- Junior engineers grow faster - Learning from working alongside a senior
- Technical debt slows down - Better decisions made during implementation
What This Is vs What It Isn’t
Need architecture direction? → Fractional Data Architect
Need a one-time assessment? → Platform Review
Typical Engagement
Month 1: Embed
- Onboard to your codebase and workflows
- Identify highest-impact areas for contribution
- Start code reviews and pair programming
Months 2-4: Deliver
- Ship pipeline improvements
- Establish patterns through example
- Regular code reviews and guidance
Months 5-6: Transition
- Document key decisions and patterns
- Ensure team can maintain what was built
- Reduce involvement as team capacity grows
Related Thinking
- Hero Dependency: Why Your Best Work Makes You Replaceable
- Refactoring Without Stopping Delivery
- Data Contract Pattern
- From Technical Debt to Technical Drag
Related Services
- Junior Coaching - Level up your junior engineers
- Hiring & Team Support - Build out your data team
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from a contractor?
What if we need more than 2 days per week?
What tech stack do you work with?
Need senior engineering capacity?
Book a 30-minute call to discuss what you’re trying to ship.