Manager, Data Engineering

Overview As Technical Manager, Data Engineering, you will lead and scale Waystar's data engineering function, owning technical direction and hands-on delivery on a BigQuery-based platform. You will manage a team across multiple domains, ensuring scalable ingestion and transformation pipelines within a Bronze/Silver/Gold Medallion architecture on GCP. You’ll partner with platform governance and business teams to build a reliable, governed, high-performing data ecosystem. This role blends leadership, architecture, and execution to drive impactful data initiatives in healthcare payments. Compensation / Benefitscompetitive total rewardscustomizable benefits (3 medical plans with HSA match)paid time off plus holidayspaid parental leaveeducation assistance and LinkedIn Learning access401(k) with company match ResponsibilitiesLead, mentor, and scale a team of data engineers across multiple business domainsDrive sprint execution, engineering best practices, and delivery accountabilitySet development standards, code reviews, and performance expectationsManage capacity and resource planning across initiativesAlign engineering priorities with strategic goals with leadershipDefine and enforce data engineering standards, patterns, and best practicesProvide hands-on technical leadership across BigQuery, dbt, and ingestion frameworksGuide scalable, secure, and cost-efficient data pipeline architectureDesign domain-aligned, reusable data models and pipelinesEnsure alignment with governance, data classification, and access controlDesign, build, and maintain ELT pipelines into BigQuery using Fivetran and APIsOversee bronze, silver, and gold layers; support dbt models and orchestration workflowsImplement Cloud Composer-based orchestration; act as escalation point for issuesEnforce data quality, validation, and monitoring across pipelinesImplement logging, alerting, and observability frameworksOptimize BigQuery performance (partitioning, clustering, cost management)Enforce security practices including IAM, data access, and auditabilityDrive data lineage, documentation, and governance adherenceChampion CI/CD practices using GitHub; drive IaC with TerraformImprove developer experience, onboarding, and engineering productivityCollaborate with Data Governance and Data Champions to enable domain ownership Key requirements8+ years of data engineering experience with enterprise-scale platforms2+ years of experience leading or managing data engineering teamsStrong hands-on expertise with GCP and BigQueryAdvanced experience with dbtExperience with Fivetran and API-based data ingestionStrong Python skills including API integrations and automationProven ability to build scalable ELT pipelines and data modelsExperience with data quality, validation, and observabilityProficiency with GitHub, CI/CD workflows, and code reviewsSolid understanding of data governance, lineage, and access controlsExperience working in regulated environments (e.g., healthcare) preferredleadershipcollaborationstrong communicationBigQuerydbtFivetran