Platform Engineering

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Kforce has a client in Houston, TX that is seeking an experienced Platform & Data Engineering. This is a hybrid role in Houston, TX and will require 2 days onsite.

Overview:
The client is seeking a Platform Engineer with deep expertise in Databricks administration, data governance, and platform-level engineering standards. This role enables multiple analytics and AI teams to build safely, efficiently, and consistently on a shared Databricks platform by enforcing data quality, ingestion standards, security policies, and cost governance.

You will be the technical owner of platform guardrails, operational stability, access patterns, and cost controls-ensuring the platform scales reliably across business teams.

Key Responsibilities:
* Platform Administration & Governance
* Security, Compliance & Access Controls: Manage workspace and catalog permissions, row/column-level policies, attribute-based filtering, and workspace isolation; Collaborate with security teams to maintain compliance and enforce global data protection standards
* Cost Management & Monitoring: Implement cost thresholds, alerts, compute policies, and usage dashboards to prevent overspend; Monitor job and cluster costs, detect anomalies, and recommend optimization actions; Provide visibility into SKU-level spend and workspace cost patterns
* Operational Stability & Observability: Ensure platform reliability through automated testing, CI/CD templates, and code governance; Build dashboards to track code compliance, data access, pipeline health, schema drift, and cost thresholds; Resolve platform incidents and prevent recurrence by strengthening guardrails and configurations
*Enablement & Best Practices: Define -handrails- for building on the platform: ingestion, Delta conventions, CI/CD, observability, and AI/ML patterns; Coach data/analytics teams on compliant onboarding and optimal platform usage; Maintain internal documentation, patterns, code templates, and guidance

REQUIREMENTS:
* 5+ years in data engineering or platform engineering, with at least 2-3 years in Databricks administration
* Expert knowledge of Unity Catalog, cluster policies, Delta Lake, Spark, workspace configuration, and jobs
* Strong grounding in data governance, data modeling, ingestion frameworks, schema enforcement, versioning, and lineage
* Proven experience implementing RBAC and ABAC in Databricks or similar platforms
* Experience with cost optimization, monitoring, billing logs, and computer governance
* Strong Python/PySpark and SQL skills; Familiarity with DLT, Airflow, or Databricks Workflows

Preferred Qualifications:
* Experience in large-scale enterprise data platforms (Azure/AWS/Google Cloud Platform)
* Familiarity with Trading & Supply or other high-stakes analytical environments
* Experience creating dashboards for governance, cost, compliance, and pipeline health
* Experience with CI/CD, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or similar tools
* Success Indicators
* Teams consistently follow ingestion and data standards
* Platform costs stabilized and predictable
* Strong adoption of platform guardrails, templates, and operational dashboards
* Reduced incidents related to access, cost, or ingestion quality
* Strong communication skills with ability to set standards and influence teams diplomatically

The pay range is the lowest to highest compensation we reasonably in good faith believe we would pay at posting for this role. We may ultimately pay more or less than this range. Employee pay is based on factors like relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, location, performance, union contract and business needs. This range may be modified in the future.

We offer comprehensive benefits including medical/dental/vision insurance, HSA, FSA, 401(k), and life, disability & ADD insurance to eligible employees. Salaried personnel receive paid time off. Hourly employees are not eligible for paid time off unless required by law. Hourly employees on a Service Contract Act project are eligible for paid sick leave.

Note: Pay is not considered compensation until it is earned, vested and determinable. The amount and availability of any compensation remains in Kforce's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified in its discretion consistent with the law.

This job is not eligible for bonuses, incentives or commissions.

Kforce is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.

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