AWS Lead Data Engineer
Location: Newark, NJ (Hybrid – 3 days onsite)
Engagement: Contract
Pay Rate: Up to $85/hr (C2C) or $80/hr (W2)
Client: Leading Investment Firm
We are seeking an experienced AWS Lead Data Engineer to join a high-performing Data Engineering team. This role requires a strong technical leader who can architect, build, and scale modern data solutions on AWS while guiding a team of engineers and partnering with business stakeholders.
The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in AWS data services, strong leadership capabilities, and a hands-on approach to building scalable and secure data platforms.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the design, development, and optimization of scalable, secure, and high-performance data pipelines and data lake architectures on AWS
- Architect and implement end-to-end data solutions including ingestion, storage, transformation, and analytics using AWS services such as Glue, Redshift, S3, Lambda, EMR, Kinesis, Athena, and RDS
- Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to a team of data engineers, including conducting code reviews and enforcing best practices
- Collaborate with data scientists, analysts, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into scalable and maintainable data solutions
- Drive migration efforts from legacy systems to AWS-based data platforms, including data lakes and data warehouses
- Establish and enforce standards for data quality, governance, and security
- Promote and implement DevOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code
- Ensure solutions are cost-effective, performant, and aligned with enterprise data strategy
- Stay current with AWS advancements and emerging data engineering technologies, evaluating tools and frameworks for adoption
- Troubleshoot complex data issues and lead resolution efforts across the data platform
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field
- 7+ years of experience in data engineering, including at least 3 years in a lead or technical leadership role
- Strong hands-on experience with AWS data services including Glue, Redshift, S3, Lambda, EMR/Spark, Kinesis, Athena, RDS, and API Gateway
- Proficiency in Python and SQL; experience with Shell scripting and Scala is a plus
- Proven experience designing and building data lakes, data warehouses, and large-scale data pipelines on AWS
- Strong background in ETL/ELT processes, data modeling, and big data frameworks
- Experience leading and mentoring engineering teams in a collaborative environment
- Hands-on experience with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code tools such as CloudFormation or Terraform
- Excellent problem-solving, communication, and organizational skills
Preferred Qualifications
- AWS certification (Solutions Architect or Data Engineer)
- Experience with real-time data streaming technologies
- Knowledge of data governance, compliance, and security best practices
- Familiarity with Lakehouse architecture and modern data platforms
