Lead Data Engineer - AI/ML Focus

DESCRIPTION

Michael Baker International is seeking a highly skilled Lead Date Engineer with deep AI/ML expertise to architect, build, and scale intelligent, data-driven applications across our enterprise ecosystem.

As the Lead Data Engineer, you will architect, build, and optimize enterprise-grade data platforms that power AI/ML products, analytics, and automation initiatives.

You will lead data engineers, partner with data scientists, and own the roadmap for scalable data systems that enable real-time insights and model-driven decision-making.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Data Architecture & Leadership


* Lead design of scalable data pipelines, ingestion frameworks, and distributed processing systems.


* Architect enterprise data lake/lakehouse/warehouse solutions (Databricks, Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift).


* Guide data engineers on best practices, code quality, and scalable data engineering patterns.


* Own end-to-end execution of data engineering initiatives, including estimation, delivery, and performance optimization.

AI/ML Engineering Enablement


* Build ML-ready data environments, feature stores, and training pipelines.


* Partner with data scientists to productionize ML models with CI/CD/CT.


* Implement model monitoring, data quality, feature versioning, and automated retraining.


* Support real-time and batch feature engineering and inference pipelines.

Data Engineering Excellence


* Develop scalable ELT/ETL pipelines using Spark, PySpark, SQL, Airflow, DBT, Kafka, Kinesis.


* Build high-quality data models (dimensional, data vault, lakehouse).


* Implement observability, lineage, and data quality frameworks across all pipelines.

MLOps & Cloud Engineering


* Architect MLOps pipelines using Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, MLflow, SageMaker, or Vertex AI.


* Optimize cloud cost, performance, and reliability for large-scale AI/ML workloads.


* Drive standards for cloud data infrastructure and reusable data engineering components.

Governance, Security & Compliance


* Ensure compliance with SOC2, GDPR, PII standards based on company needs.


* Implement secure data-sharing, encryption, IAM, tokenization, and access patterns.


* Maintain metadata, cataloging, governance processes (Collibra, Alation, Unity Catalog).

Innovation & GenAI Readiness


* Champion emerging technologies including GenAI, vector databases, and LLM-based pipelines.


* Drive innovation in AI/ML data engineering and real-time analytics.

Team Development and Stakeholder Engagement


* Lead and mentor data engineering teams.


* Collaborate with data scientists, ML engineers, and business stakeholders to deliver impactful solutions.


* Translate business requirements into scalable data strategies.

PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS


* Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or similar, or equivalent experience.


* Any Data or AI/ML related certifications.


* 6-12+ years o...