Principal Data Engineer

Principal Data Engineer

DriveWealth is the pioneer of fractional equities trading and embedded investing. We are a visionary technology company that empowers more than 100 partners around the world to engage their customers by placing the markets in the palm of their hand.

DriveWealth is on a mission to make investing easier. We believe that everyone should have the ability to control their financial future, and that access to financial markets should not be limited by geography, wealth, or legacy systems. We are a global B2B financial technology organization dedicated to democratizing access to financial independence around the world. Our mission is realized through an API-based platform, empowering our partners to offer seamless investing and trading experiences to clients worldwide, all from their mobile devices. Our technology provides partners with a modern, extensible toolkit, enabling traditional investment workflows and innovative techniques like fractional share ownership. DriveWealth has evolved into a global platform offering trading of US equities, mutual funds, ETFs, fixed income, and options.

There's never been a better time to build a category-defining business and there has rarely been a team better positioned for this opportunity. Our culture blends the pace and agility of a fintech start-up with the impact, stability, and discipline of Wall Street. We encourage creativity and experimentation while ensuring institutional-grade execution and regulatory compliance in everything we do. Join us and help build the future of global investing!

About the Role

As a Principal Data Engineer, you will be dedicated to building innovative data products that provide actionable insights and empower both our internal teams and partners to succeed. Your core focus will be on curating and maintaining key data sources and statistics that serve both internal and external stakeholders.

You will act as the hands-on technical engine driving this work forward, spending 60–70% of your time writing code while shaping the architectural vision of our data ecosystem. You will architect for massive scale, treat data as software, and build highly performant, resilient models and reporting solutions (using Databricks, dbt, and Python) that fuel data-driven decision-making across the business.

What You'll Do

Advanced Engineering & Coding

• End-to-End Ownership: Own the full lifecycle of data products, from initial conceptualization and architecture through to production deployment, optimization, and maintenance.
• Core Development: Design and code complex dbt models and data transformation logic for high-volume financial datasets (e.g., trade transactions, stock ledgers, and clearing/settlement records).
• Python Automation: Write production-grade Python scripts for advanced data processing, anomaly detection, and custom orchestration logic that SQL cannot handle alone.
• Performance Engineering: Take ownership of the "hardest problems" regarding query performance. Refactor legacy code and optimize incremental loading strategies to reduce costs and latency at scale.

Technical Architecture & Standards

• CI/CD & DevOps: Own the technical implementation of our data deployment reporting pipelines (Git, dbt Cloud), ensuring robust version control and seamless integration.
• Data Quality as Code: Engineer automated testing frameworks and validation suites (using dbt tests/Python) to ensure data integrity for critical business layers.

Leadership & Cross-Functional Impact

• Technical Project Leadership: Act as the hands-on lead for major initiatives. Scope, design, and manage complex data projects while remaining active in the codebase to ensure high-quality delivery.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Partner directly with stakeholders across Product, Finance, Operations, Risk, and Trading to translate domain-specific requirements into robust data products and reporting solutions.
• Mentorship & Guidance: Act as the "go-to" technical resource for the team. Conduct thorough code reviews and help senior and junior engineers solve blockers through pair programming and architectural guidance.

What You'll Need

• 8+ years of professional experience in analytics engineering or data engineering, with a proven track record of building and scaling analytical data ecosystems.
• Expert proficiency in SQL, with experience optimizing complex queries and data models at scale.
• Advanced proficiency in Python for data manipulation (Pandas/Polars/Spark) and interaction with APIs/AWS services.
• Experience using Databricks for analytics workloads, including building and optimizing data models using Databricks SQL and dbt.
• Experience with dbt materializations, macros, and package management.
• Experience architecting data models for FinTech and Capital Markets, including trade lifecycles, clearing/settlement, risk models, and financial reporting.
• AI-Assisted Engineering: Proficiency in leveraging AI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot,or similar LLMs) to accelerate code delivery, automate documentation, and optimize engineering workflows.
• Proven ability to build data solutions that are reusable and modular, rather than one-off scripts.
• Experience treating data as software by implementing unit testing, CI/CD, comprehensive documentation, and SLA monitoring.
• Ability to independently diagnose and resolve complex errors or issues within distributed systems (Spark/Databricks).
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Special Knowledge (Nice to Have, But Not Required)
• Experience implementing Airflow or similar orchestrators.
• Experience with Sigma Computing (from a data modeling perspective).
• Experience building Data Apps within Databricks.
• Experience using AI/LLM tools to enable faster, smarter analytics workflows.

Pay Range & Location

Hybrid: $220,000—$240,000 USD

This role is open to candidates in the following locations; we cannot accommodate remote work outside these approved geographies.

• New York City (Hybrid in-office)
• Chicago (Hybrid in-office)
• Remote: Austin, Denver, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle

Working at DriveWealth

We do our best work when we're in the same room. To maintain the speed our partners expect, our New York, Chicago, and Lithuania teams work in-office 4 days a week. We've found that being physically side-by-side is the only way to solve complex problems in real-time and stay truly accountable to the products we ship. When you're here, you're working directly with the people making the decisions. To support that work, we provide competitive compensation, equity, and a 401(k) match. We also offer full insurance coverage, a wellness reimbursement, a company-provided phone, and a personal development allowance. Finally, we value the time you spend away from the office with generous PTO, observed holidays, and extended leave.

Work Authorization

Applicants must possess the legal right to work in the country where the position is located at the time of application. DriveWealth requires all employees to provide original documentation verifying their work authorization on or before their first day of employment.

For US-based roles: Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without the need for current or future visa sponsorship. DriveWealth does not provide visa sponsorship or support for employment authorization, including transfers, at this time. Offers of employment are strictly contingent upon an individual's ability to secure and maintain the legal right to work at the Company.

How We Think About AI

We leverage AI to work smarter and move faster. We seek AI-curious talent who are proactive about using emerging tools to increase signal quality, reduce friction, and improve outcomes to deliver products faster, provide better service to our partners, and to streamline processes. Your ability to leverage our internal tools and technology to drive results is as important to us as your core domain expertise.

Compensation

Pay is generally based on the level, complexity, responsibility, location, and job duties/requirements of the specific position. We then source candidates with the requisite skills, expertise, education, training, and experience. If you are selected for an interview, please feel welcome to speak to a recruiter about our compensation philosophy and other available benefits. This role is eligible for base, bonus, equity, 401(k) match, and heavily subsidized benefits and perks.

Equal Employment Opportunity

To build technology and products that are used and loved by people and solve real-world problems, we need to build a team with many different perspectives and experiences. We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.