job summary:
Seeking a highly skilled Senior Data Engineer with 8+ years of hands-on experience in enterprise data engineering, including deep expertise in Apache Airflow DAG development, dbt Core modeling and implementation, and cloud-native container platforms (Kubernetes / OpenShift).
location: Jersey City, New Jersey
job type: Contract
salary: $80 - 85 per hour
work hours: 8am to 5pm
education: Bachelors
responsibilities:
Data Pipeline & Orchestration
Design, develop, and maintain complex Airflow DAGs for batch and event-driven data pipelines
Implement best practices for DAG performance, dependency management, retries, SLA monitoring, and alerting
Optimize Airflow scheduler, executor, and worker configurations for high-concurrency workloads
dbt Core & Data Modeling
Lead dbt Core implementation, including project structure, environments, and CI/CD integration
Design and maintain robust dbt models (staging, intermediate, marts) following analytics engineering best practices
Implement dbt tests, documentation, macros, and incremental models to ensure data quality and performance
Optimize dbt query performance for large-scale datasets and downstream reporting needs
Cloud, Kubernetes & OpenShift
Deploy and manage data workloads on Kubernetes / OpenShift platforms
Design strategies for workload distribution, horizontal scaling, and resource optimization
Configure CPU/memory requests and limits, autoscaling, and pod scheduling for data workloads
Troubleshoot container-level performance issues and resource contention
Performance & Reliability
Monitor and tune end-to-end pipeline performance across Airflow, dbt, and data platforms
Identify bottlenecks in query execution, orchestration, and infrastructure
Implement observability solutions (logs, metrics, alerts) for proactive issue detection
Ensure high availability, fault tolerance, and resiliency of data pipelines
Collaboration & Governance
Work closely with data architects, platform engineers, and business stakeholders
Support financial reporting, accounting, and regulatory data use cases
Enforce data engineering standards, security best practices, and governance policies
qualifications:
Experience
- 10+ years of professional experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, or platform engineering roles
- Proven experience designing and supporting enterprise-scale data platforms in production environments
Must-Have Technical Skills
- Expert-level Apache Airflow (DAG design, scheduling, performance tuning)
- Expert-level DBT Core (data modeling, testing, macros, implementation)
- Strong proficiency in Python for data engineering and automation
- Deep understanding of Kubernetes and/or OpenShift in production environments
- Extensive experience with distributed workload management and performance optimization
- Strong SQL skills for complex transformations and analytics
Cloud & Platform Experience
- Experience running data platforms on cloud environments
- Familiarity with containerized deployments, CI/CD pipelines, and Git-based workflows
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting financial services or accounting platforms
- Exposure to enterprise system migrations (e.g., legacy platform to modern data stack)
- Experience with data warehouses (Oracle)
Equal Opportunity Employer: Race, Color, Religion, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, National Origin, Age, Genetic Information, Disability, Protected Veteran Status, or any other legally protected group status.
At Randstad Digital, we welcome people of all abilities and want to ensure that our hiring and interview process meets the needs of all applicants. If you require a reasonable accommodation to make your application or interview experience a great one, please contact
Pay offered to a successful candidate will be based on several factors including the candidate's education, work experience, work location, specific job duties, certifications, etc. In addition, Randstad Digital offers a comprehensive benefits package, including: medical, prescription, dental, vision, AD&D, and life insurance offerings, short-term disability, and a 401K plan (all benefits are based on eligibility).
This posting is open for thirty (30) days.
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