Senior Data Engineer

Western Governors University
life insurance, flexible benefit account, parental leave, paid time off, paid holidays, sick time
United States, Utah, Salt Lake City
3949 South 700 East (Show on map)
Jun 06, 2025
If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country-and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future-consider WGU as the next step in your career. Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families. The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is: Grade: Technical 409 Pay Range: $127,700.00 - $191,500.00 Job Description The Sr. Data Engineer should be agnostic to tools and should be able to design, architect and code using Apache Spark and other cloud technologies. The position will design how data will flow through hybrid data environments comprised of open-source big data platforms and traditional database systems. The core responsibilities for this position include design of data and systems architecture for Data Lake and data warehouse and projects encompassing dimensional and normalized data modeling. The Sr. Data Engineer will improve technical standards in the environment ensuring optimal use of data warehouse, Data Lake and other data stores to solve business problems. They will serve as the go-to person for query performance and data quality issues including data profiling. Sr. Data Engineer should be able to support data analysts and data scientists with requirements and be able to deliver data sources for their respective requirements Primary Responsibilities Works on cloud technologies to design scalable, performant, and efficient data lake systems. Establishes design and methodology for the database build processes. Architects and designs complete data model solutions including Data Pipelines. Implements necessary data protection and security processes. Creates extract processes for Business Intelligence tool access layer. Translates business problems/information requirements accurately to logical/physical data models aligning the customer's data architecture standards. Performs research and analysis to come up with solutions for complex business problems. Monitors query performance and fine tune Spark SQL queries, if required on a regular basis. Regularly profiles data, publishes data profiles, and takes corrective actions. Ensures high quality data delivery by designing process and business audits. Documents and describes data migration techniques used. Documents, reverse engineers, and analyzes data mapping using data integration code & tools. Works with API for data pulls and integrations of it with other systems data in the Data Lake House. Performs impact analysis using Data Integration/Data Virtualization tool repositories, DB data dictionary, UNIX scripts and frontend code on versioning systems. Analyzes and researches data on multiple platforms as well as multiple heterogeneous databases including custom developed databases. Positively impacts projects by completing tasks assigned on time. Ingests and transforms structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data from sources including relational databases, NoSQL, external APIs, JSON, XML, delimited files, and more. Supports data analysts and data scientists with requirements and delivers data sources for their respective requirements. Designs and develops validation & testing tools to analyze and debug issues. Performs other job-related duties as assigned. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities * Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to write technical documentation * Ability to work and deliver in a team environment * Ability to mentor less experienced engineers in data pipeline architecture and coding standards * Ability to design, architect, and code using Apache Spark and other cloud technologies * Expertise in tools like Jira, Confluence, GitHub * Ability to design and develop processes for audit of data integrity * Expertise with relational SQL and NoSQL databases * Expertise with AWS cloud technologies, REST API, and HTML5 * Expertise with object-oriented/object function scripting languages such as Python, Java, and Scala * Expertise with big data tools including Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, Databricks, etc. * Ability to communicate clearly, effectively, and appropriately with all audiences * Ability to work independently, is self-motivated, and a strong team player * Ability to evaluate and prioritize work based on the organization's needs * Ability to work cross-team to gather designs for data integrations and pipelines * Experience with analytical reporting tools, like Cognos and Tableau * Expertise in code based ETL/ELT tools for importing and exporting data across disparate systems * Strong analytical skills related to working with unstructured datasets * Ability to use industry best practices for code development, testing, implementation, and documentation Minimum Qualifications Education * Bachelor's Degree in Management Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field Experience * 5 years of experience in data engineering, data integration, Big Data, business intelligence, or software engineering Experience in lieu of education Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager. Preferred Qualifications * Higher Education domain exposure #LI-AS1 #LI-onsite Position & Application Details Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave. How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday. Additional Information Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive. Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu. Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.