Principal Data Engineer

Role Description

This is a duration based role that will last 2 years. The Principal Data Engineer owns product engineering and architectural decisions, serving as both the technical visionary and hands-on leader responsible for solution delivery. This role partners closely with Product Owners, Product Group Engineers, Lead Engineers, architects, and cross-functional product squads to solve complex engineering challenges, define scalable technical solutions, and ensure alignment with enterprise technology strategy.

The role is accountable for product technical architecture, engineering standards, technology roadmaps, and the successful delivery of scalable, secure, and governed data and AI solutions. The ideal candidate brings 10+ years of progressive experience in enterprise data engineering, architecture, analytics, and AI, with deep expertise in:

• Azure
• Microsoft Fabric
• Databricks
• Power BI
• Data Mesh
• Data Federation
• Data Modeling
• Data Governance
• Enterprise Data Management
• Generative AI
• Agentic AI platforms

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Data Science, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred.
• 15+ years of experience in enterprise data engineering, technical architecture, analytics, AI platforms, and cloud engineering.
• Proven experience leading architecture decisions, technical strategy, and engineering standards across multiple teams and products.
• Hands-on expertise with Azure, Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, Power BI, and modern cloud-native technologies.
• Strong experience with Data Mesh, Data Federation, Data Products, Data Modeling, Data Governance, and Enterprise Data Management disciplines.
• Demonstrated expertise with Generative AI technologies including LLMs, RAG, vector databases, AI agents, prompt engineering, and enterprise AI architectures.
• Experience implementing MLOps, LLMOps, Responsible AI, model governance, and AI operationalization frameworks.
• Strong understanding of structured and unstructured data architectures supporting enterprise AI and intelligent automation.
• Exceptional communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Proven ability to lead through ambiguity and drive alignment across business and technology organizations.

Requirements

• Define and own the overall engineering strategy, technology architecture, roadmap, and technical direction for the product in partnership with Product Owners, Product Group Engineers, and Business Unit Architects.
• Ensure technical implementations align with enterprise architecture standards, business objectives, economic frameworks, and long-term technology strategy.
• Partner with business stakeholders to shape product vision, define capabilities, and translate business requirements into scalable data, analytics, and AI solutions.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership, actively contributing to architecture reviews, design reviews, code reviews, proof-of-concepts, and technical enablers.
• Evaluate solution alternatives, validate concepts with stakeholders, and drive informed technology decisions.
• Collaborate across product and platform teams to maximize reuse, standardization, and platform adoption while minimizing redundant solutions.
• Lead technical planning and governance across multiple squads, ensuring consistency in architecture, engineering practices, scalability, and maintainability.
• Drive adoption of modern engineering practices that improve reliability, performance, security, observability, and delivery quality.
• Own technology lifecycle management, including APIs, data interfaces, integration patterns, and platform modernization initiatives.
• Research emerging technologies and industry trends, conducting innovation spikes and pilots to identify opportunities for business value.
• Support Product Owners and Lead Engineers in backlog prioritization and technical debt management.
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders while fostering a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Manage technical risks, dependencies, impediments, and cross-product integration challenges.
• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for ISRM, Quality and Compliance (Q-CSV), vendors, enterprise platform teams, and external partners.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, business accident insurance, and group legal insurance.
• Consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)).
• Vacation – 120 hours per calendar year.
• Sick time - 40 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Washington – 56 hours per calendar year.
• Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays – 13 days per calendar year.
• Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year.
• Parental Leave – 480 hours within one year of the birth/adoption/foster care of a child.
• Condolence Leave – 30 days for an immediate family member; 5 days for an extended family member.
• Caregiver Leave – 10 days.
• Volunteer Leave – 4 days.
• Military Spouse Time-Off – 80 hours.