Founding Data Engineer

TECHEAD is celebrating over thirty-five years of incredible heritage, talent, and accomplishments! To learn more about TECHEAD, visit us at TECHEAD.com or on Glassdoor.Sr. Data Engineer | #22352Full-time, Direct HireRemote - East Coast Preferred***NO C2C***Ideal candidates for this role will have recent experience in high-growth startups, boutique data consultancies, or small-to-midsize business environments. Client is not seeking candidates from large teams in healthcare or financial services environments.Position SummaryA leading national logistics and heavy equipment maintenance services provider—operating continuously for over four decades—is investing in a modern, cloud-native data platform. The initiative aims to elevate visibility into operational performance, field service activities, financial metrics, and client reporting.This hire represents the company’s first dedicated internal data engineering leader. Over the past year, an initial cloud lakehouse architecture and executive reporting suite were deployed in partnership with an external consultancy. That partner remains engaged through the fall, providing a structured, overlap-driven transition period for this engineer to learn the architecture directly from its builders before taking full platform ownership.Reporting directly to the Office of the CFO, the role offers high autonomy. The ideal candidate combines hands-on data engineering depth with modern AI/automation capabilities, feeling equally comfortable as the sole technical owner and as a cross-functional partner to executive, finance, and operations teams. As the organization expands, this position offers a clear trajectory toward managing contractors and building out a dedicated data function.What Makes This Role UniqueGround-Floor Ownership: Own the architecture, engineering standards, and long-term roadmap rather than maintaining a small piece of a legacy stack.AI-Forward Mandate: Apply modern AI tools to reporting automation, data validation, exception detection, and operational workflow automation beyond standard ETL work.Executive Proximity: Work directly alongside the CFO and operational vice presidents; business and financial fluency matter as much as technical execution.Structured Runway: Gain a seamless ramp-up via formal handover time with the external implementation team before full ownership.Key ResponsibilitiesPlatform Ownership: Manage, operate, and extend the modern cloud lakehouse architecture (Medallion architecture: Bronze, Silver, Gold layers; PySpark; Delta lake), including data pipelines, orchestration, monitoring, and performance tuning.Data Integration: Build and maintain scalable ingestion feeds from core business systems, including cloud ERPs, payroll/HCM platforms, field service work-order platforms, equipment management tools, REST APIs, flat files, and SFTP endpoints.Data Quality & Validation: Implement automated reconciliation routines, source-system tie-outs, and exception-reporting frameworks to ensure absolute trust in financial and operational metrics.BI & Analytics Enablement: Develop and optimize semantic data models and executive dashboards in Power BI; collaborate with leadership on unified metric definitions and reporting logic.AI & Automation Initiatives: Identify and deploy practical automation—including automated reporting, inter-system data syncs, and AI-assisted engineering and documentation workflows.Vendor & Partner Management: Oversee external data consultancies, contractors, and software vendors, maintaining tight control over deliverables, scope, and technical quality.Governance & Documentation: Maintain comprehensive data models, transformation logic, business dictionaries, and repeatable release/CI-CD processes.Required QualificationsExperience: Typically 6+ years of hands-on data engineering or analytics engineering experience. End-to-end platform ownership and active AI usage are weighted higher than raw years of tenure.Core Technical Stack: Advanced SQL and Python (PySpark experience strongly preferred), with proven experience building production pipelines on modern cloud data platforms.Cloud & Platform Depth: Experience with cloud data platform technologies (Azure/Microsoft data ecosystems preferred; strong AWS or GCP backgrounds who can adapt quickly are highly welcomed).Data Modeling: Deep expertise in dimensional modeling, star schemas, and warehouse/lakehouse design optimized for analytical workloads.BI Modeling: Hands-on experience developing semantic models, data sets, and optimized dashboard refresh routines in Power BI or similar enterprise BI tools.System Integration: Track record of integrating enterprise software suites (ERP, HRIS, CRM, and domain-specific operational platforms) within B2B contexts.AI Tooling: Active, hands-on integration of AI tools into daily workflows or technical solutions (candidates should be prepared to discuss concrete AI applications or automations built professionally or personally).Business Fluency: Strong financial and operational acumen; comfortable speaking the language of executive leadership.Self-Direction: Thrives as an individual contributor in a growing environment; proactive, self-starting, and capable of prioritizing tasks without direct technical supervision.Preferred QualificationsBackground in high-growth startups, boutique data consultancies, or mid-market environments where engineers own initiatives end-to-end.Industry experience in logistics, transportation, supply chain, field services, equipment maintenance, or related operational sectors.Track record of establishing formal data governance, engineering standards, and documentation in evolving tech environments.Located in or open to the US Midwest / Great Lakes region (a plus, but not required).TECHEAD provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.For more information on TECHEAD please visit www.techead.com.No second parties will be accepted.