Senior Principal Data Engineer (Team Lead)

About Nerdery and Being a “Nerd.”
Nerdery is a digital product consultancy. Much more than consultants, we’re allies and guides on our clients’ digital journey – helping them to grow their business and delight their customers through intuitive, thoughtfully designed technology. As true partners, we prepare our clients for the opportunities in front of them, help them achieve their goals, and quickly deliver value for their customers. We do this by solving problems in creative ways across strategy, design, and technology.

At Nerdery, we’re not defined by our job titles but by the impact we make. You’ll work directly and closely with some of the world’s best brands to help create innovative digital products that serve everyone. As Nerds, our insight, innovation, and expertise are celebrated, and our growth is not only encouraged but expected. Being a Nerd means stepping up and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.  We’re curious, fearless (well, not totally fearless – there are heights and spiders, after all), and always our authentic selves.

We are looking for a Senior Principal Data Engineer (Team Lead) to join our team!  We invite you to check out the details below and consider whether becoming a Nerd is the next step in your career journey.

Sr Principal Data Engineer/ Team Lead stitches and bridges initial data solutions, client expectations, program management and feasibility of execution on GCP and its services by utilizing deep subject matter expertise and hands-on architectural experience on the entire data development and modernization life-cycles of complex GCP projects. 

This role exhibits deep expertise in designing resilient data solutions and application architectures on the Google Cloud Platform, aligning closely with client business requirements.  They readily tackle the most challenging and complex custom data  components within data engineering projects. As a technical leader, they provide guidance to other data engineers, data scientists, data analysts, product managers, agile managers and application teams  and  maintain effective communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders. 

Sr Principal Data Engineer/ Team Lead is accountable for the overall technical quality, efficiency, and timely delivery of their projects. They also serve as a technical escalation point for other Nerdery data projects on GCP.  Furthermore, they contribute to the strategic technology roadmap for data solutions on Google Cloud Platform.  This role requires a passion for solving complex challenges and a strong desire to explore and master emerging technologies within the GCP data ecosystem.

What things you will do as a Nerd?

• Oversees and accountable for the entire data lifecycle of complex, large-scale GCP data projects, encompassing data ingestion, transformation, aggregation, storage, management, governance, data science, machine learning, and AI, with a strong emphasis on Data and MLOps principles.
•  Leads and mentors a high-performing client team specializing in GCP data solutions and  ML and AI solutions
• Owns the technical review process, providing consistent feedback and guidance to project team members.
• Manages the delivery process, proactively identifying and mitigating complex challenges within the GCP environment and documenting key architectural decisions.
• Recommends and justifies modern architectural strategies, focusing on GCP services and best practices, to shape clients' technical roadmaps aligning to the data architectures like Mesh, Fabric, Hub and Lakehouse (including integration of BQ with Iceberg)
• Partners with development leads, serving as the lead GCP data architect for multiple software engineering squads.
• Fosters collaboration as the primary technical liaison between engineering and other project disciplines (Design, QA, Project Management, Strategy, Product, etc.) within GCP data projects.
• Actively participates in internal leadership within the GCP data domain, contributing to strategic direction, supporting key initiatives, and upholding coding best practices within the Google Cloud ecosystem.
• Communicates complex technical concepts effectively to diverse audiences with varying levels of technical expertise.
• Evaluates the technical skills of prospective candidates, focusing on GCP data expertise, and provides recommendations to hiring managers, including designing and conducting technical assessments.
• Offers ad-hoc technical support and mentorship to other practitioners within the GCP data domain.
• Contributes to sales efforts by providing technical expertise on GCP solutions, developing estimates, and creating reusable estimation templates.
• Champions Nerdery's GCP data expertise by actively sharing knowledge and insights through publishing articles, blog posts, whitepapers.

What Skills Will Help You Be A Successful Nerd?

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, a related field like Math or Statistics.
• 15+ years of data engineering development experience.
• 8+  years of experience in data architecture, demonstrating familiarity with modern data architectures including - Data Mesh, Data Hub, Data Lakehouse and Data Fabric.
• Proven track record of successfully leading and delivering multi-million dollar projects.
•  Extensive experience architecting solutions on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), with deep knowledge of services like Big Query, GCS, Dataflow, Dataproc, Pub/Sub, Composer, Cloud SQL, IAM, Catalog, Dataflow (or Apache Beam), Composer (or Apache Airflow), dataplex, Vertex AI, CCAI, DialogFlow, Reccomendsations AI, BQ ML and others
• Experience with Hybrid data architectures including on-premise and GCP, and other cloud (and leveraging Big Query Omini is a plus)
• Experience on Terraform and Cloud Build
• Exceptional verbal and visual communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
•  Strong systems architecture experience.
•  Demonstrated ability to improve team quality and effectiveness.
• Thorough understanding of the software development lifecycle and iterative development methodologies.
•  A proactive approach to leveraging AI tools to enhance delivery efficiency.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ability to design and manage an enterprise data architecture governance process.
• Execution of multiple data migration and analytics projects.
• GCP PDE or a GCP PML E certifications candidates will be given preference.
• GCP PCA or other professional certifications are a plus.

Are We the Right Fit For You?

The best way to get the scoop on whether Nerdery is the right place for you is to chat with current Nerds.  We would be delighted to have a conversation with you and share insight into what it’s really like to work at our organization and if it’s a place where you can thrive.  Our interview process will provide you ample opportunity to talk with other team members and assess whether the role is a good fit for your next chapter.  Take the first step and apply today – our Talent Advocates will then reach out to you to get the ball rolling!

Must be legally authorized to work within the country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status.

Nerdery is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state and local fair employment practice laws. Nerdery strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), pregnancy, marital status, familial status, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, membership or activity in a local human rights commission, status with regard to public assistance or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law. All employees, other workers and representatives of Nerdery are prohibited from engaging in unlawful discrimination. Nerdery will ensure that all employment practices are free of such discrimination. Such employment practices include, but are not limited to: hiring, promotion, demotion, transfer, recruitment or recruitment advertising, selection, layoff, disciplinary action, termination, compensation, benefits, selection for training, including apprenticeship and other terms and conditions of employment. Nerdery will also provide reasonable accommodation to applicants and employees with disabilities pursuant to all applicable laws.