Lead Data Engineer – Governance Tools & Data Platform Governance
Location: Irvine, CA
Experience: 8–14 Years
Salary Range: $110,000 – $150,000 per year
Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Lead Data Engineer to drive Data Governance, Platform Governance, and Enterprise Data Engineering initiatives across large-scale data environments. This role will be responsible for ensuring data quality, governance compliance, operational excellence, and platform reliability while leading multiple engineering teams and coordinating across global delivery organizations.
The ideal candidate will combine strong technical expertise with leadership capabilities to establish governance standards, improve platform performance, and support enterprise data management objectives.
Required Skills & Qualifications
Data Engineering & Big Data Technologies
- Strong hands-on experience with:
- Databricks
- Apache Spark
- Distributed Data Processing
- Performance Tuning & Optimization
- Deep understanding of:
- Data Engineering Architecture
- ETL/ELT Processes
- Data Integration
- Enterprise Data Platforms
- Experience building and supporting scalable data solutions.
Workflow Orchestration
- Expertise in:
- Apache Airflow
- Astronomer
- Workflow Automation
- DAG Development & Management
- Experience managing complex enterprise workflow environments.
Data Governance & Platform Governance
- Strong experience implementing and supporting:
- Data Governance Frameworks
- Data Quality Controls
- Metadata Management
- Data Lineage
- Platform Governance Standards
- Compliance & Audit Readiness
- Ability to establish governance processes that improve data reliability, consistency, and operational efficiency.
DevOps & Automation
- Experience with:
- CI/CD Pipelines
- DevOps Practices
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
- Automation Frameworks
- Deployment & Release Management
- Strong understanding of operational best practices and automation strategies.
Platform Operations & Reliability
- Experience with:
- Platform Monitoring
- Incident Management
- Alerting & Observability
- Performance Monitoring
- Production Support
- Operational Governance
- Proven ability to maintain highly available and reliable enterprise data platforms.
Leadership & Stakeholder Management
- Experience leading multiple engineering teams, delivery pods, or platform workstreams.
- Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to coordinate effectively across onshore, nearshore, and offshore teams.
- Experience managing escalations, delivery risks, and cross-functional dependencies.
Preferred Industry Experience
- Asset Management
- Investment Management
- Capital Markets
- Portfolio Analytics Platforms
- Market Data Platforms
- Financial Services Data Ecosystems
Key Responsibilities
Governance Leadership
- Lead data governance and platform governance initiatives across enterprise data environments.
- Define and implement governance frameworks, standards, and best practices.
- Ensure compliance with data quality, operational, and platform governance requirements.
Data Platform Delivery
- Oversee end-to-end delivery of enterprise data engineering solutions.
- Drive scalable data pipeline development, platform optimization, and data quality initiatives.
- Ensure platform stability, performance, and operational excellence.
Data Quality & Compliance
- Establish controls and processes to improve:
- Data Accuracy
- Data Consistency
- Data Integrity
- Data Lineage
- Compliance Readiness
- Support governance reporting and audit requirements.
Platform Operations
- Ensure platform availability, monitoring, and production readiness.
- Manage incident response, root cause analysis, and service improvement initiatives.
- Drive continuous improvements in platform performance and reliability.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Partner with business, technology, and leadership teams to align governance objectives with business priorities.
- Manage cross-functional communication, issue escalation, and delivery coordination.
- Provide governance reporting, operational metrics, and platform health updates.
Continuous Improvement
- Define and implement best practices for:
- Platform Governance
- Data Governance
- Operational Readiness
- Performance Optimization
- Automation & Monitoring
- Drive adoption of governance standards and engineering excellence across teams.
Preferred Leadership Skills
- Strong leadership and people management capabilities.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
- Proven ability to lead enterprise-scale data engineering and governance initiatives.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
- Experience managing globally distributed teams.
- Ability to balance strategic governance objectives with operational delivery requirements.
Keywords
Lead Data Engineer, Data Governance, Platform Governance, Data Quality, Data Lineage, Metadata Management, Databricks, Apache Spark, Apache Airflow, Astronomer, ETL, ELT, Data Platform, CI/CD, DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, Monitoring, Observability, Incident Management, Data Compliance, Asset Management, Investment Management, Capital Markets, Financial Services, Enterprise Data Engineering.
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