Data & AI Lead Engineer - (Databricks Professional) - Remote - Washington

Data & AI Lead Engineer - (Databricks Professional)

Location: Washington, DC, US, 20001 Company: Amtrak

Your success is a train ride away! As we move America's workforce toward the future, Amtrak connects businesses and communities across the country. We employ more than 20,000 diverse, energetic professionals in a variety of career fields throughout the United States. The safety of our passengers, our employees, the public and our operating environment is our priority, and the success of our railroad is due to our employees. Are you ready to join our team? Our values of 'Do the Right Thing, Excel Together and Put Customers First' are at the heart of what matters most to us, and our Core Capabilities, 'Building Trust, Accountability, Effective Communication, Customer Focus, and Proactive Safety & Security' are what every employee needs to know and do to be most impactful at Amtrak. By living the Amtrak values, focusing on our capabilities, and actively embracing and fostering diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives, together we will honor our past and make Amtrak a company of the future.

Job Summary

The Data & AI Lead Engineer serves as a hands-on technical leader responsible for designing, implementing, and overseeing the delivery of enterprise data and AI solutions that power Amtrak's digital transformation. This role combines deep technical expertise with project leadership, ensuring that data systems and AI capabilities are built to be scalable, reliable, secure, and aligned with governance standards. Leads operate across multiple product or platform teams, guiding design decisions, mentoring engineers, and managing the execution of complex initiatives. They balance delivery and innovation driving improvements in platform efficiency, engineering maturity, and the overall quality of Amtrak's data and AI ecosystem.

Essential Functions

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of enterprise-scale data and AI solutions from concept through production.
• Provide hands-on technical guidance in coding, pipeline development, model deployment, and integration patterns.
• Plan and coordinate engineering deliverables, ensuring adherence to technical standards, governance, and security policies.
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers, fostering skill development, collaboration, and engineering excellence.
• Partner with architects, product owners, and governance leads to align solutions with Amtrak's enterprise data strategy and roadmap.

Minimum Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field; equivalent professional experience may be accepted.

• Experience: 6–8 years of experience in data engineering, AI systems development, or related technical roles with increasing leadership responsibility.

• Licenses/Certifications: None required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a leadership capacity within a scaled agile environment or data platform modernization initiative.

• Familiarity with enterprise data governance, metadata management, and security standards.

• Exposure to MLOps, cloud data platforms, and automation tools that accelerate delivery.

• Prior mentorship or technical leadership of multi-functional project teams.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Advanced proficiency in SQL, programming languages (e.g., Python, Scala, or Java), and Databricks.

• Proven experience leading the delivery of complex data pipelines, integrations, or AI solutions.

• Strong understanding of data quality, observability, and performance optimization.

• Demonstrated ability to lead teams through technical challenges while remaining hands-on in design and coding.

• Experience working within agile product teams, coordinating across multiple stakeholders.

• Excellent communication, collaboration, and problem-solving abilities.

The salary/hourly range is $103,700.00 – $134,460.00. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc. Depending on an employee's assigned worksite or location, Amtrak may consider a geo-pay differential to be applied to the employee's base salary. Amtrak may offer additional incentive and pay programs to recognize and reward our employees, including a short-term incentive bonus based upon factors such as individual and company performance that is commensurate with the level of the position.

In addition to your salary, Amtrak offers a comprehensive benefit package that includes health, dental, and vision plans; health savings accounts; wellness programs; flexible spending accounts; 401K retirement plan with employer match; life insurance; short and long term disability insurance; paid time off; back-up care; adoption assistance; surrogacy assistance; reimbursement of education expenses; Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility; Railroad Retirement sickness and retirement benefits; and rail pass privileges.

Requisition ID: 166244 Work Arrangement: 06-Onsite 4/5 Days

Relocation Offered: No Travel Requirements: Up to 25%