Senior Data Ops Engineer AI Automation & Operational Data

Job Title: Senior Data Ops Engineer AI Automation & Operational Data
Location: Atlanta, GA (Need locals)
Duration: Long Term Contract

Role Overview

We are seeking a Senior Data Engineer with strong hands-on coding expertise and critical thinking skills, focused on building automation pipelines and AI-driven workflows using semi-structured and unstructured data.

Important: This is NOT a traditional analytics-focused Data Engineering role. The ideal candidate must have deep experience in data discovery, operational data systems, automation, and governance, rather than only working with clean, structured, analytics-ready datasets.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop automation pipelines and workflows using semi-structured and unstructured data

• Integrate and manage operational data from HR, Finance, Operations, and other enterprise systems

• Implement and maintain data governance, lineage tracking, and data cataloging

• Build and support production-grade ETL/ELT pipelines

• Ensure data quality, observability, instrumentation, and monitoring

• Collaborate with business stakeholders to convert ambiguous requirements into scalable data solutions

• Support enterprise-grade Power BI implementations, including governance and performance optimization

• Maintain and enhance Operational Data Stores (ODS) and enterprise data platforms

Required Skills & Experience 1. Data Engineering Fundamentals (Critical)

• Experience implementing and managing data catalogs

• Strong understanding of data lineage, governance, and metadata management

• Experience creating and maintaining data dictionaries

• Expertise in dimensional modeling

• Strong experience building ETL / ELT pipelines

• Knowledge of data quality frameworks and monitoring

• Experience designing and maintaining Operational Data Stores (ODS)

2. Hands-On, Code-First Engineering (Must Have)

• Strong hands-on programming experience in Python and SQL

• Ability to write production-quality, scalable, and maintainable code

• Strong knowledge of software engineering best practices and design patterns

• Ability to review, assess, and improve existing codebases

• Must be a true engineer, not dependent on AI-generated code for core development

3. Data Observability & Instrumentation (High Priority)

• Experience implementing data observability tools

• Strong knowledge of pipeline instrumentation

• Experience with monitoring, alerting, and incident response

• Continuous monitoring and improvement of data quality and reliability

4. Cloud & Platform Expertise (Azure Primary)

• Hands-on experience with Azure Data Platform, including:

  • Azure SQL

  • Azure Synapse

  • Azure Data Factory

• Experience with Azure Document Intelligence (OCR / document processing)

• Experience integrating Azure AI Services

• Knowledge of Microsoft 365 administration and governance

• Experience managing Azure Active Directory (AAD)

5. Power BI Enterprise Implementation

• Experience implementing enterprise-grade Power BI solutions

• Strong understanding of data modeling and dimensional modeling

• Performance tuning and optimization of Power BI datasets

• Experience implementing security, governance, and access control

• Ability to train and enable business users

Technical Stack

Category	Tools / Technologies
Cloud Platform	Azure
Data Engineering	Databricks, Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse
BI / Visualization	Power BI
AI / Automation	Azure AI Services, Azure Document Intelligence
Governance	Data Catalog, Lineage, Metadata Management Tools
Programming	Python, SQL
Collaboration	Microsoft 365, Azure Active Directory

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Strong engineering mindset with hands-on coding expertise

• Experience working with operational, semi-structured, and unstructured data

• Deep understanding of data governance and enterprise data systems

• Ability to build production-grade, scalable data pipelines

• Experience working in AI-enabled and automation-focused environments

• Strong communication skills and ability to work with cross-functional teams