Principal Data Engineer - 90400961 - Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, or Wilmingt

Principal Data Engineer

Location: Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, or Wilmington DE.

Amtrak connects businesses and communities across the United States. We are looking for a Principal Data Engineer to lead the design, development, and optimization of our large‑scale data infrastructure and pipelines.

Job Summary

Work will be onsite in Washington DC, Philadelphia PA, or Wilmington DE. Requests for remote work will be reviewed, not guaranteed. The Principal Data Engineer will serve as a technical leader, highly proficient in modern cloud data platforms, data governance tools, and business intelligence solutions. This role requires deep expertise in data architecture, data modeling, and performance tuning to ensure reliable, scalable, and high‑quality data assets that drive business‑critical decisions.

Essential Functions

• Architect and design the enterprise data platform strategy, focusing on scalability, security, and performance. Design and build robust, high‑volume, high‑performance data pipelines using cloud‑native services such as AWS Glue, EMR, S3, Redshift, or Azure Data Factory/Synapse Analytics.
• Act as a subject‑matter expert and mentor junior and mid‑level data engineers, setting best practices for code quality, testing, and deployment.
• Utilize data governance tools like Informatica Data Management Cloud for integration, quality, governance, and cataloging across the enterprise.
• Develop, optimize, and manage large‑scale data processing jobs using Databricks (Spark/Delta Lake) for ETL/ELT workflows and advanced analytics.
• Write high‑quality, efficient, well‑documented code in Python for data manipulation, automation, and pipeline orchestration.
• Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure‑as‑code (Terraform, CloudFormation) for automated deployment and management of data solutions.
• Ensure data readiness for reporting and analytics, with experience in BI tools such as Tableau and PowerBI.
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and tune data infrastructure and pipelines for optimal performance and cost efficiency.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience).
• 7 years of relevant work experience.
• Hands‑on experience designing and implementing end‑to‑end data solutions in AWS (S3, EMR, Glue, Redshift, Kinesis) or Azure (Data Factory, Synapse Analytics, Data Lake Storage).
• Experience with Databricks, Python, Apache Spark, IDMC, Talend, CI/CD pipelines, Jenkins, GitLab, Power BI, SQL, and NoSQL.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in computer science, data engineering, or related field.
• 9 + years of relevant work experience.
• Cloud certifications such as AWS Certified Data Analytics – Specialty or Azure Data Engineer Associate.
• Experience with real‑time streaming technologies (Kafka, Kinesis).
• Experience with IDMC tooling.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills; collaborative team player; self‑motivated.
• Advanced knowledge of relevant technologies, systems, and methodologies; stays updated on emerging trends.
• Skilled in analyzing complex technical issues, making sound decisions, and implementing effective problem‑resolution strategies.

The salary range is $113,200–$146,664. Pay is based on experience, education, and certifications. Amtrak offers a comprehensive benefits package including health, dental, vision, HSA, wellness programs, flexible spending accounts, 401(k) match, life insurance, disability insurance, PTO, backup care, adoption assistance, surrogacy assistance, education reimbursement, Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility, Railroad Retirement benefits, and rail pass privileges.

Travel requirements: up to 25%.

Amtrak is an equal‑opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.