Principal Engineer - Data Engineer
Staples India Business Innovation Hub Private Limited · Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Technology, Information and Internet · 201-500 employees
About the role
The Principal Engineer will define and drive enterprise data strategy while architecting high-performance, scalable data solutions across multi-cloud environments. They will also provide technical leadership, mentor engineering teams, and ensure data governance and compliance across the organization.
What they look for
Requirements
Candidates must possess a bachelor's degree and 11-15 years of progressive experience in data engineering with deep expertise in SQL and cloud data warehousing. Proven experience in leading cross-functional teams and architecting large-scale data pipelines is essential for this role.
Full description
Duties & Responsibilities
Define and Drive Enterprise Data Strategy
Develop and own the strategic architecture for enterprise-scale data platforms, pipelines, and ecosystems, ensuring alignment with business objectives and long-term scalability.
Architect High-Performance Data Solutions
Lead the design and implementation of robust, large-scale data solutions across multi-cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP), optimizing for performance, reliability, and cost efficiency.
Establish Engineering Excellence
Create and enforce best practices, coding standards, and architectural frameworks for data engineering teams, fostering a culture of quality, automation, and continuous improvement.
Provide Technical Leadership and Mentorship
Act as a trusted advisor and mentor to engineers across multiple teams and levels, guiding technical decisions, career development, and knowledge sharing.
Align Data Strategy with Business Goals
Partner with senior business and technology stakeholders to translate organizational objectives into actionable data strategies, ensuring measurable business impact.
Champion Modern Data Stack Adoption
Drive the adoption and integration of cutting-edge technologies such as Snowflake, DBT, Airflow, Kafka, Spark, and other orchestration and streaming tools to modernize data infrastructure.
Architect and Optimize Data Ecosystems
Design and manage enterprise-grade data warehouses, data lakes, and real-time streaming pipelines, ensuring scalability, security, and high availability.
Implement Enterprise Testing and Observability
Establish rigorous testing, validation, monitoring, and observability frameworks to guarantee data integrity, reliability, and compliance across all environments.
Ensure Governance and Compliance
Oversee data governance initiatives, including lineage tracking, security protocols, regulatory compliance, and privacy standards across platforms.
Enable Cross-Functional Collaboration
Work closely with analytics, data science, and product teams to deliver trusted, business-ready data that accelerates insights and decision-making.
Provide Thought Leadership
Stay ahead of emerging technologies and industry trends, influencing enterprise data strategy and advocating for innovative solutions that drive competitive advantage.
Lead Enterprise-Scale Deployments
Oversee large-scale data platform deployments, ensuring operational excellence, scalability, and cost optimization for global business needs.
Requirements
Basic Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field (Master’s or equivalent advanced degree preferred)
11–15 years of progressive experience in data engineering or related fields
Deep expertise in SQL, data warehousing, and large-scale data modeling
Minimum 5 years of experience with Snowflake or another modern cloud data warehouse at scale
Minimum 3 years of experience with Python or equivalent programming languages for ETL/ELT and automation
Proven experience architecting data platforms on major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
Hands-on experience with orchestration tools (Airflow, ADF, Luigi, etc.) and data transformation frameworks (DBT)
Strong track record in designing and implementing large-scale data pipelines and solutions
Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional teams and mentoring senior engineers
Excellent communication skills for engaging with business stakeholders and cross-functional partners
Preferred Qualifications
Expertise in Real-Time Data Processing
Hands-on experience with streaming platforms such as Apache Kafka, Spark Streaming, and Apache Flink, enabling low-latency, high-throughput data pipelines for real-time analytics.
Strong DevOps and CI/CD Practices
Deep understanding of DevOps principles, automated CI/CD pipelines, and Git-based workflows tailored for data engineering environments, ensuring rapid, reliable deployments.
Domain Knowledge in Retail and E-Commerce
Proven experience working with customer-centric data ecosystems, leveraging data to drive personalization, operational efficiency, and business growth in retail or e-commerce contexts.
Track Record of Driving Innovation
Recognized for introducing technical innovations, improving engineering processes, and advancing organizational data maturity through strategic initiatives.
Experience in ML Ops and AI/ML Lifecycle
Practical knowledge of ML Ops frameworks, including building data pipelines for model training, managing feature stores, and implementing monitoring solutions for AI/ML models in production.
Strategic Alignment and Leadership
Ability to understand and interpret organizational vision and decision-making frameworks, aligning team objectives and personal goals to deliver measurable business impact.
Technology Evangelism and Trend Awareness
Up-to-date with emerging technologies, industry best practices, and modern data architectures; consistently brings innovative ideas and thought leadership to the team.
