Principal, Cloud Data Engineer

Northern Trust is seeking a Principal Cloud Data Engineer to design, build, and maintain scalable, secure, and high-performance cloud-based data platforms. The role requires deep technical expertise, strong design judgment, and the ability to influence without authority.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• 15+ years of total work experience in technology infrastructure.
• 10+ years of experience in data engineering, cloud engineering, or platform engineering.
• Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS or Azure).
• Strong experience with big data and data processing frameworks (e.g., Spark, Databricks, Flink).
• Proven expertise in building data pipelines with tools like Apache Airflow, dbt, Kafka, or similar.
• In-depth knowledge and experience with Snowflake, Databricks, or similar cloud data platforms.
• Extensive knowledge and real hands-on experience of AI/ML data pipelines and feature engineering.
• Exposure to regulated environments (financial services, healthcare, etc.).
• Proficiency in SQL and one or more programming languages (Python, Java, or Scala).
• Deep understanding of cloud-native data services (e.g., AWS Redshift, Glue, S3, Athena; Azure Synapse, Data Factory; GCP BigQuery, Dataflow).
• Familiarity with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi).
• Knowledge of FinOps principles for cost-efficient data platform design.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Benefits

• Reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities
• Flexible working requirements
• Opportunity for career growth and development
• Collaborative and inclusive work culture
• Access to senior leaders and opportunities for movement within the organization