Lead Data and Analytics Engineer
About The Position
As a Lead Data and Analytics Engineer, you will drive measurable business impact by designing and implementing data solutions that transform how Corporate Services and HR business partners operate. You will bridge business needs and technical execution by understanding current-state processes, translating inefficiencies into automation opportunities, and using enterprise tools to deliver rapid ROI. The role combines hands-on technical leadership with strategic thinking: you will architect end-to-end solutions, build working prototypes, mentor the team in design thinking and agentic development, and ensure solutions deliver tangible efficiency gains and value for stakeholders. The role is part of the Business Technology Solutions department and reports to the Associate Director, BTS Corporate Services. The team sets the vision for using data, analytics, and AI automation to enhance enterprise systems, working with business partners and technical implementors to deliver that vision. This is a hybrid position requiring onsite work Tuesday through Thursday each week in Lake County, Illinois. Travel is 5% of the time.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree with 7 years of experience; master's degree with 6 years of experience; or PhD with 2 years of relevant experience.
- Expert-level Python and SQL proficiency for production-quality pipeline automation, LLM enrichment, and enterprise integrations.
- Experience developing batch and real-time data pipelines using technologies such as Apache Spark, Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, Databricks, or equivalent platforms.
- Experience with modern cloud data platforms and services such as Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud.
- Strong knowledge of data modeling, data warehousing, data lakes, and data lakehouse architectures.
- Experience implementing data quality, observability, lineage, metadata management, governance, and security.
- Familiarity with data orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow, dbt, or Prefect.
- Experience preparing enterprise data for AI engineering use cases, including embedding and vectorization pipelines, retrieval-augmented generation and semantic search architectures, vector databases or vector search capabilities, and generative AI and agentic AI applications.
- Proven ability to deliver and maintain production-grade software in enterprise environments, including ongoing support, monitoring, and iterative improvements.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and diagnostic skills, with the ability to understand business processes and identify automation opportunities.
- Broad technical proficiency across software development, data integration, cloud platforms, and enterprise systems, with the ability to rapidly learn and apply new technologies.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
- Ability to operate with high autonomy and minimal supervision, proactively manage stakeholder expectations, and keep leadership informed through clear, concise verbal and written communication.
- Demonstrated ability to mentor technical staff, lead cross-functional teams, and drive initiatives to completion.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in the pharmaceutical industry or other highly regulated environments.
- Understanding of SDLC methodologies, GxP compliance, and validation requirements.
- Experience working with international development teams across multiple time zones.
- Exposure to graph databases and GraphQL.
Responsibilities
- Engage with Corporate Services and HR stakeholders to understand current-state processes, pain points, constraints, future business requirements, and success metrics; translate these into technical solution designs that deliver measurable efficiency gains.
- Engineer and implement scalable data engineering solutions, delivering clean, scalable, production-ready code that integrates with enterprise systems and optimizes business partner workflows.
- Build working MVPs rapidly to validate solutions with stakeholders, then refine them based on feedback to accelerate time-to-value.
- Cultivate cross-team relationships and expand technical knowledge by identifying existing capabilities, shared platforms, and collaborative opportunities that maximize internal resources and productivity.
- Architect end-to-end solutions and build working prototypes.
- Mentor the team in design thinking and agentic development.
- Deliver and maintain production-grade software in enterprise environments, including ongoing support, monitoring, and iterative improvements.
- Mentor technical staff, lead cross-functional teams, and drive initiatives to completion.
Benefits
- Paid time off, including vacation, holidays, and sick time.
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance for eligible employees.
- 401(k) for eligible employees.
- Eligibility to participate in long-term incentive programs.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
