Principal Data Engineer

Principal Data Engineer

Location: Tempe, AZ, US

Join us in building a better future for Arizona! SRP is one of the largest public power and water utilities in the U.S. providing electricity to approximately one million customers in the greater metropolitan Phoenix area. Since its founding in 1903, SRP has fostered a culture of stewardship and customer service consistently ranking as an industry leader in customer service according to J.D. Power and named one of Arizona's best employers by Forbes. SRP continues to adapt to its changing business environment by seeking innovative ways to reimagine utility service and the provision of critical resources essential to the life and economy of Arizona.

Why Work at SRP

At SRP, we foster an inclusive work environment and believe everyone should have a fair chance to work, regardless of who they are. That's why we value teams with diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds to help SRP deliver on its mission of providing reliable, affordable and sustainable water and power. SRP's success is rooted in our employees' happiness, health, and safety. That's why we offer a comprehensive benefits package to meet the needs of our employees and enhance their well-being. In addition to competitive pay and performance incentives, eligible employees can take advantage of the following benefits:

• Pension Plan (at no cost to the employee)
• 401(k) plan with employer matching
• Available your first day: Medical, vision, dental, and life insurance
• Over 200+ hours of PTO (includes vacation days, holidays, floating holidays, and sick leave)
• Parental leave (up to 4 weeks) and adoption assistance
• Wellness programs (including access to a recreation and fitness facility)
• Short and long-term disability plans
• Tuition assistance for both undergraduate and graduate programs
• 10 Employee Resource Groups for career development, community service, and networking

Summary

The Principal Data Engineer is responsible for transforming raw data from the organization's many data sources into formats that are more valuable and actionable for the enterprise. They will design efficient data models, build complex data pipelines, deliver analytically rich data sets, and construct solutions that facilitate self-service analytics. In addition, the Principal Data Engineer has the added responsibility of defining and guiding the domain-level data architecture, designing and managing the data environments that support analytics, mentoring junior Data Engineers, leading data engineering projects, and consulting on strategic initiatives.

What You'll Do

• Manage the domain's usage of enterprise data platforms and collaborate with platform teams on environment configuration, upgrades, access, and deployment needs.
• Design, test, build, and manage complex, high-performing analytic solutions that support multi-user environments.
• Design the domain-level data environment within established enterprise platforms and architectural standards, including data processing and storage systems used to capture, ingest, refine, secure, and deliver data across both on premises and cloud environments.
• Define domain-level data architecture, including conceptual, logical, and physical data models, and ensure alignment with enterprise data and governance standards.
• Establish data product schemas, data contracts, and versioning approaches for the assigned business domain.
• Ensure all data solutions incorporate governance-by-design principles such as lineage, data quality, metadata requirements, and privacy/security controls.
• Coordinate technical interactions between information technology groups on environment and project matters.
• Apply enterprise data engineering standards and patterns within the domain.
• Provide consultation and support for junior data engineers and embedded (business area) data engineers and analysts.
• Leverage techniques to build impactful data visualizations and enable insight generation.
• Serve as the technical and architectural advisor for domain-specific data initiatives and ensure interoperability with enterprise data assets.
• Handle other duties and projects assigned.

Additional Requirements and Qualifications

Technical Skills

• Languages: SQL (T-SQL, SnowSQL), Python
• Platforms/Tools: Power BI, Snowflake, Microsoft Azure, Azure Data Factory, SSRS, Dataiku
• Databases: SQL Server
• Additional: Knowledge of SAP BI is a plus

Requirements

• Deep expertise with cloud-based data tools (Azure, Databricks, Synapse, Snowflake, or similar).
• Strong proficiency with SQL and T-SQL in a SQL Server environment
• Expertise in designing and building data pipelines and data models.
• Ability to create architecture diagrams, technical specifications, and solution designs.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with both technical and non-technical partners.
• Experience coding ETL/ELT processes in Azure Data Factory
• Expertise in modern database technologies, data integration, reporting
• Solid understanding of data warehousing concepts and data modeling
• Strong critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills
• Curiosity and passion around data, data visualization, and problem solving
• Creativity to determine novel solutions for real-world problems with quantitative data.
• Experience mentoring other engineers and influencing engineering best practices.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced proficiency in Power BI
• Experience working on an Agile/Scrum team
• Knowledge of SRP water software systems and data

Education

• A bachelor's degree relevant to the assignment from an accredited institution is preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience is required. In lieu of a degree, 14 years of relevant experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience totaling 14 years may be considered.

Hybrid Workplace

SRP currently offers a hybrid workplace, which allows employees whose jobs can be performed remotely, and who have sufficient technical capability, to telework up to three days per week. Although teleworking is available, all employees must live and work in Arizona.

Drug/Alcohol Policy Statement

To promote the safety and well-being of our employees, customers, and the communities we serve, SRP is committed to maintaining a drug/alcohol free work environment. Although marijuana may now be legal in Arizona, except as otherwise specified under Arizona law, SRP considers it to be an illegal drug for the purpose of our drug/alcohol policy because marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. Any candidate found to be impaired during the hiring process or who has the presence of an illegal drug or unauthorized substance in their system during the pre-employment drug/alcohol test may be disqualified from further consideration in the hiring process.

Equal Opportunity Employer Statement

Salt River Project (SRP) is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, military status, or any other protected status under applicable federal, state or local law. Work Authorization All candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Currently, SRP does not sponsor H1B visas, OPT, or other employment-related visa's.