Principal Engineer Data

Retail Services WIS Corporation • Plano, TX

5d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Principal Data Engineer is responsible for architecting and delivering an enterprise data foundation for high-volume, real-time data streaming, governed analytics, and AI/ML enablement. The role designs and implements scalable pipelines and reusable patterns, embedding data lineage and governance to support transparency, trust, and reusability across the organization.

The position requires deep expertise in distributed data systems, streaming architectures, and enterprise-scale engineering. The Principal Data Engineer sets technical direction, mentors senior engineers, and helps ensure platform performance, reliability, and evolvability at global scale.

Requirements

• 10+ years in data engineering or enterprise data architecture, with 5+ years at principal or staff scope.
• Proven expertise in cloud-native data platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP) and distributed systems.
• Deep knowledge of Databricks, Spark, Kafka, Flink, and lakehouse architectures.
• Strong background in data lineage, governance, metadata management, and streaming design patterns.
• Experience leading large-scale data streaming and modernization initiatives at enterprise level.
• Ability to influence executives and guide senior engineers across multiple teams.
• Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to simplify complex data concepts for technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Define the target-state architecture for a unified, cloud-native data foundation and translate business goals into actionable roadmaps.
• Architect and optimize real-time ingestion pipelines capable of handling massive event streams with zero data loss.
• Build reusable, resilient, and scalable pipelines for ingestion, transformation, and analytics across multiple business domains.
• Implement frameworks for end-to-end lineage, metadata management, and governance to ensure data is traceable, high-quality, and reusable.
• Lead the transition from legacy data systems to modern cloud-native architectures with minimal disruption and maximum scalability.
• Establish engineering standards for data modeling, pipeline reliability, observability, and performance optimization at enterprise scale.
• Partner with product, backend, cloud/SRE, and AI/ML teams to ensure cohesive platform evolution.
• Guide senior engineers, promote reusable patterns, and foster a culture of excellence in enterprise data engineering.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed