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Principal Data Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Principal Data Engineer

Houston, TX · On-site

$160 - $220/hr

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and delivery of modern data platforms and analytics solutions for clients. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role ...

The Principal Data Engineer will lead the end-to-end design and implementation of scalable pipelines,platforms and systems that support semantic search across massive volumes of structured/semi ...

The Principal Data Engineer will lead the end-to-end design and implementation of scalable pipelines,platforms and systems that support semantic search across massive volumes of structured/semi ...

Principal Data Engineer

Dallas, TX · On-site

$160 - $220/hr

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and delivery of modern data platforms and analytics solutions for clients. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role ...

New

Principal Data Engineer

Goodlettsville, TN · On-site

$107K - $129K/yr

Company Overview A Principal Data Engineer is responsible for expanding and optimizing data and data pipeline architecture, as well as optimizing data flow and collection for cross-functional teams.

As a Principal Data Engineer , you will be a senior technical contributor who partners closely with data, analytics, and product teams. You will bring deep technical expertise, operate with a high ...

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and delivery of modern data platforms and analytics solutions for clients. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for ...

As a Principal Data Engineer , you will be a senior technical contributor who partners closely with data, analytics, and product teams. You will bring deep technical expertise, operate with a high ...

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and delivery of modern data platforms and analytics solutions for clients. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for ...

As a Principal Data Engineer , you will be a senior technical contributor who partners closely with data, analytics, and product teams. You will bring deep technical expertise, operate with a high ...

Principal Data Engineer

Denver, CO · On-site

$210K - $290K/yr

YOUR MISSION We are looking for a Principal Data Engineer to provide hands-on technical leadership in designing, building and evolving scalable data platforms. This role will be responsible for ...

YOUR MISSION We are looking for a Principal Data Engineer to provide hands‑on technical leadership in designing, building and evolving scalable data platforms. This role will be responsible for ...

New

Principal Data Engineer

Durham, NC · On-site

$110K - $132K/yr

... Principal Data Engineer (or closely related occupation) designing, building and maintaining data pipelines using Snowflake, Python, and Azure services for analytics within the financial services ...

Principal Data Engineer

Goodlettsville, TN

$107K - $129K/yr

Company Overview A Principal Data Engineer is responsible for expanding and optimizing data and data pipeline architecture, as well as optimizing data flow and collection for cross-functional teams.

Principal Data Engineer

Durham, NC · On-site

$110K - $132K/yr

... Principal Data Engineer (or closely related occupation) designing, building and maintaining data pipelines using Snowflake, Python, and Azure services for analytics within the financial services ...

Showing results 41-60

Principal Data Engineer information

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$74K

$147.2K

$212.5K

How much do principal data engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 7, 2026, the average yearly pay for principal data engineer in the United States is $147,220.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $118,500.00 and $173,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a principal data engineer?

A Principal Data Engineer is a senior-level technical role responsible for designing, building, and maintaining large-scale data infrastructure. They lead data engineering teams, establish best practices, and ensure efficient data pipelines to support analytics and machine learning. This role involves working with cloud platforms, big data technologies, and distributed systems to optimize data processing. Principal Data Engineers collaborate with data scientists, analysts, and business stakeholders to drive data-driven decision-making. Their work is critical in enabling organizations to leverage data effectively for insights and innovation.

What are the typical daily responsibilities of a principal data engineer?

As a Principal Data Engineer, your day-to-day responsibilities generally include designing and optimizing large-scale data pipelines, developing architectural strategies, and overseeing the implementation of robust data solutions. You'll collaborate closely with data scientists, analysts, and software engineers to ensure the organization's data infrastructure is efficient, scalable, and secure. You may also mentor junior team members, review code, and set data engineering best practices. This role frequently requires balancing hands-on technical work with strategic planning and stakeholder communication to align data initiatives with business goals.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a principal data engineer?

To thrive as a Principal Data Engineer, you need a deep understanding of data architecture, data modeling, ETL development, and distributed computing, often supported by a degree in computer science or a related field. Proficiency with technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, Python, SQL, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud), as well as certifications in relevant tools or data engineering, is highly valuable. Strong leadership, problem-solving skills, and effective cross-functional communication are essential soft skills for this role. These combined abilities enable Principal Data Engineers to design scalable data solutions, drive engineering best practices, and lead complex projects to successful completion.

More about Principal Data Engineer jobs

What cities are hiring for Principal Data Engineer jobs?

Cities with the most Principal Data Engineer job openings:

What are the most commonly searched types of Principal Data Engineer jobs?

The most popular types of Principal Data Engineer jobs are:

What states have the most Principal Data Engineer jobs?

States with the most job openings for Principal Data Engineer jobs include:

Infographic showing various Principal Data Engineer job openings in the United States as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 85% Full Time, 11% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 86% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 11% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $147,220 per year, or $70.8 per hour.

Principal Data Engineer

CG Infinity

Houston, TX • On-site

$160 - $220/hr

Other

Posted 4 days ago


Job description

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and delivery of modern data platforms and analytics solutions for clients. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role for someone who can move comfortably between executive‑level client conversations, solution architecture, engineering delivery, and mentoring high‑performing data teams.

The ideal candidate combines deep data‑engineering expertise with strong consulting instincts: they can translate business objectives into scalable technical solutions, communicate complex concepts through clear presentations, and guide teams from discovery through implementation and operationalization.

Key Responsibilities
  • Lead the end‑to‑end architecture, design, and delivery of enterprise data engineering, data platform, and analytics solutions for client engagements.
  • Serve as a trusted technical advisor to client stakeholders, including technology leaders, data leaders, architects, and business partners.
  • Facilitate discovery sessions, requirements workshops, technical assessments, architecture reviews, and solution‑design discussions.
  • Translate business goals, data challenges, and operating‑model requirements into practical data strategies, roadmaps, reference architectures, and implementation plans.
  • Define scalable, secure, reliable, and cost‑effective architectures for data ingestion, transformation, storage, governance, orchestration, analytics, and data consumption.
  • Remain hands‑on in engineering work, including designing data pipelines, reviewing code, building proof of concepts, resolving complex technical issues, and establishing engineering patterns.
  • Architect and implement batch, real‑time, streaming, and event‑driven data solutions as appropriate for client needs.
  • Design modern cloud data platforms using technologies such as Snowflake, Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory, AWS Glue, Amazon Redshift, BigQuery, or equivalent platforms.
  • Lead the development of robust ETL/ELT pipelines, data models, data APIs, semantic layers, and data products.
  • Establish data engineering standards for code quality, testing, CI/CD, observability, metadata management, data lineage, documentation, security, and production support.
  • Drive adoption of DataOps practices, infrastructure as code, automated testing, deployment pipelines, monitoring, and incident‑management processes.
  • Partner with data architects, data scientists, analysts, application architects, security teams, and business stakeholders to ensure solutions are aligned to enterprise architecture and business outcomes.
  • Present technical recommendations, architecture options, delivery status, risks, and strategic roadmaps to both technical and executive audiences.
  • Lead client‑facing demonstrations, workshops, steering‑committee updates, and technical presentations.
  • Mentor senior, mid‑level, and junior data engineers; provide technical coaching, career guidance, design feedback, and hands‑on support.
  • Lead and influence cross‑functional delivery teams, including onshore/offshore engineers, architects, analysts, and client technical resources.
  • Participate in project estimation, staffing, delivery planning, risk management, solution scoping, and proposal development.
  • Support pre‑sales and business‑development activities, including solutioning, client presentations, technical discovery, RFP responses, estimates, and statement‑of‑work development.
  • Stay current on emerging data, cloud, AI, governance, and analytics technologies; evaluate where they provide meaningful business value for clients.
Required Qualifications
  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field; equivalent professional experience may be considered.
  • 10+ years of progressive experience in data engineering, data warehousing, data integration, data architecture, or related technical disciplines.
  • 3+ years of experience in a technical leadership, lead engineer, solution architect, staff engineer, principal engineer, or consulting leadership capacity.
  • Demonstrated experience architecting and delivering enterprise‑scale data platforms and data integration solutions.
  • Strong hands‑on expertise in SQL and at least one modern programming language, preferably Python, Scala, Java, or C#.
  • Strong experience with ETL/ELT design, data pipeline development, data transformation frameworks, orchestration, and workflow automation.
  • Experience with one or more cloud providers: Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform.
  • Experience with modern cloud data and analytics platforms such as Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, Synapse Analytics, BigQuery, Redshift, or similar technologies.
  • Experience with orchestration and pipeline technologies such as Apache Airflow, Azure Data Factory, AWS Step Functions, dbt, Dagster, Prefect, or equivalent tools.
  • Knowledge of distributed data‑processing technologies such as Apache Spark, Kafka, Flink, Hadoop ecosystems, or comparable platforms.
  • Experience designing both batch and near‑real‑time or streaming data solutions.
  • Strong understanding of dimensional modeling, data vault, normalized data models, lakehouse architectures, data lake architectures, and data warehouse design principles.
  • Experience implementing data quality, data validation, monitoring, lineage, metadata, governance, and security controls.
  • Working knowledge of DevOps and DataOps practices, including Git‑based source control, CI/CD, automated testing, deployment automation, and infrastructure as code.
  • Strong understanding of cloud security principles, identity and access management, encryption, secrets management, and role‑based access controls.
  • Proven ability to lead architecture discussions and make well‑reasoned technical tradeoffs involving performance, scalability, reliability, maintainability, security, and cost.
  • Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to business stakeholders and executive audiences.
  • Experience in a consulting, professional services, systems integrator, or client‑facing delivery environment.
Preferred Qualifications
  • Experience designing data platforms that support AI, machine learning, generative AI, retrieval‑augmented generation, feature stores, vector databases, or advanced analytics workloads.
  • Certifications in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Databricks, Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, or other relevant data technologies.
  • Experience with master data management, data cataloging, data governance, privacy, regulatory compliance, or data stewardship programs.
  • Experience with tools such as Collibra, Alation, Microsoft Purview, Unity Catalog, Informatica, Monte Carlo, Great Expectations, or similar governance and observability platforms.
  • Experience with Salesforce, SAP, ERP, CRM, finance, supply‑chain, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, or other enterprise operational data domains.
  • Familiarity with BI and semantic‑layer technologies such as Power BI, Tableau, Looker, ThoughtSpot, or similar platforms.
  • Experience with containerization and cloud‑native technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, CloudFormation, Bicep, or Pulumi.
  • Prior experience contributing to proposals, estimates, statements of work, or technical sales pursuits.
  • Experience managing or leading distributed onshore/offshore delivery teams.
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