Lead Data Engineer - ETL/ELT (Remote - NC, AZ, TX, FL)

Lead Data EngineerThis is a remote role that may only be hired in the following location(s): North Carolina, Arizona & Texas.We are seeking a Lead Data Engineer with deep, hands-on experience designing, building, and operating production-grade data platforms. This role is targeted at senior engineers who have personally implemented end-to-end data pipelines and can mentor junior engineers through example. The Lead Data Engineer will be responsible not only for delivery, but also for setting engineering standards, patterns, and best practices across the data platform.This is a highly technical role. Candidates must have real-world, production experience with modern ELT architectures, Snowflake, dbt, Qlik Replicate, Python-based pipeline development, and cloud-native services.Duties & Responsibilities:End-to-End Data Pipeline OwnershipDesign, build, and operate data pipelines using Medallion Architecture (Bronze, Silver, Gold).

Own ingestion, transformation, governance, testing, and publishing layers. Ensure reliability, scalability, performance, and cost efficiency of pipelines.Data Ingestion & IntegrationImplement CDC and batch ingestion using Qlik Replicate. Design ingestion patterns for databases, files, and APIs. Build reusable Python-based pipeline components and frameworks.Transformation, Modeling & TestingDevelop dbt models using advanced SQL and Jinja templating.

Implement automated testing for data quality, schema validation, and freshness. Enable CI/CD-driven transformation deployments.Snowflake Platform Engineering & GovernanceImplement Snowpipe, Tasks, Streams, and Stored Procedures. Design and enforce RBAC, dynamic masking, and tag-based access control. Ensure data security and compliance through platform-level controls.Cloud EngineeringBuild and deploy data components using AWS services such as S3, Lambda, ECS Fargate, Glue, DynamoDB, and IAM, or equivalent Azure services.

Collaborate on CI/CD, infrastructure automation, and environment promotion.Leadership & MentorshipServe as a technical leader and mentor junior and mid-level data engineers. Lead design discussions, code reviews, and technical decision-making. Establish and enforce engineering best practices and standards.Education & ExperienceBachelor's Degree and a minimum of 6 years of experience in Advanced Data Engineering, data technologies, cloud platforms, and project or technical leadershipOR High School Diploma or GED and a minimum of 10 years of experience in Advanced Data Engineering, data technologies, cloud platforms, and project or technical leadershipPreferred QualificationsQualified candidates will have proven, hands-on production experience with most of the following:Designing and operating Medallion Architecture data pipelinesData ingestion using Qlik Replicate (CDC and batch)Custom Python data pipeline developmentdbt Mesh Architecture experiencedbt Cloud transformations, testing, SQL, and Jinja templatingSnowflake ingestion and platform features (Snowpipe, Tasks, Stored Procedures)Data governance in Snowflake including RBAC, Tokenization, and dynamic data maskingRelease management, code deployment, disaster recovery activitiesCloud development using AWS or equivalent Azure services