Principal Software Engineer, Data

Credit Acceptance is proud to be an award-winning company with local and national workplace recognition in multiple categories! Our world-class culture is shaped by dedicated Team Members who share a drive to succeed as professionals and together as a company. A great product, amazing people and our stable financial history have made us one of the largest used car finance companies nationally.

Our Engineering and Analytics Team Members utilize the latest technology to develop, monitor, and maintain complex practices that help optimize our success.  Our Team Members value being challenged, are encouraged to express their ideas, and have the flexibility to enjoy work life balance.  We build intrinsic value by partnering with all functions of our business to support their success and make strategic business decisions.  We focus on professional development and continuous improvement while enjoying a casual work environment and Great Place to Work culture!

We're seeking a Principal Software Engineer with a focus on data modeling and governance within the data engineering organization. In this role, you'll take a hands on approach in championing data modeling and governance at the ecosystem level, while role modeling how engineers should think and work. As a principal engineer, you'll be responsible for leading the technical vision, architecture, and implementation strategy for data modeling and governance across the data ecosystem. You will be collaborating both within the data team and outside to ensure data success along the end to end life cycle, partnering with the business in defining cohesive functional definitions of data and with engineering to define and optimize the technical data models with the specific systems. The ideal candidate brings 15+ years of engineering experience with significant depth in data modeling and governance. You'll serve as both a hands-on technical leader and a strategic advisor, helping to establish robust, scalable foundations that enable innovation across the organization.

Outcomes and Activities:

• This position will work from home; occasional planned travel to an assigned Southfield, Michigan office location may be required.  However, this position is permitted to work at a Southfield, Michigan office location if requested by the team member.
• Provide technical thought leadership about data modeling and governance that connects and fits the business strategy and success
• Champion cohesive data modeling and end to end data governance across the data portfolio for current and future success
• Hands on contributor and a role model on how engineers should think and work, foster a strong engineering culture and discipline including “show and tell”
• Collaborate both with the data team and across the engineering team on technology, architecture strategy and decision making
• Lead data modeling both functionally and technically by partnering with the business and engineering stakeholders, including but not limited to cohesive functional data models, optimized database schemas and data storage solutions for required consumption strategies and patterns.
• Provide technical leadership to data governance with the right technical framework, architecture, implementation and operation along the end to end data life cycle
• Become an expert in the business process domain to better support the business and align technologies with successful outcomes
• Work with the engineering leadership team to develop and execute on the company’s technical and business strategy
• Conduct impact analysis to proactively identify impact of a change across multiple applications and systems
• Perform technical due diligence and architectural assessments of third-party technologies and solutions.
• Experiment and test ideas, validate assumptions against needs, reach conclusions and recommend solutions
• Document standards, best practices, and engineering artifacts so others can easily understand, build and maintain the best in class software systems
• Debug the critical problems which arise in production and execute effective solutions within the application and across multiple applications/systems
• Lead continuous learning and process improvement activities to improve design and overall engineering practices
• Grow talent by participating in hiring and mentoring team members

Competencies: The following items detail how you will be successful in this role.

• Customer Empathy: Customer Empathy is the ability to understand the perspectives, pain points, and experiences of customers. It involves actively putting oneself in the customer’s shoes, comprehending their needs and challenges, and using that understanding to provide a better, more customer-centric experience.
• Engineering Excellence: Engineering Excellence is about bringing great craftsmanship and thought leadership to deliver an outstanding product that delights customers and solves for the business. This involves the pursuit and achievement of high standards, best practices, innovation, and superior solutions.
• One Team: A One Team mindset refers to a collaborative approach across the organization, where individuals work together seamlessly, without boundaries, as a single, cohesive team. Shared goals, open communication and mutual support create a sense of collective purpose. This enables teams to navigate challenges and pursue shared objectives more effectively.
• Owner’s Mindset: Owner’s Mindset involves adopting a set of behaviors that reflect a sense of responsibility, accountability, strategic thinking, and a proactive approach to managing your domain. As an owner, you understand the business and your domain(s) deeply and solve for the right outcome for the domain(s) and the business.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or closely related field of study; or equivalent work experience
• Minimum 15 years of software engineering experience or comparable depth of experience
• Experience in the lead role overseeing data modeling and data governance with demonstrated success and impact to business
• Demonstrated experience and success in understanding business process and translating it to functional definition of data model
• Extensive experience in data modeling cross structured/unstructured data, schema vs schema less, batch vs real time, expert understanding of data lake technologies, SQL/No-SQL, streaming, data storage formats (Parquet, ORC, Avro), query engines (e.g. Spark, Presto, SQL)
• Solid experience with architecting and implementing metadata management including data catalogues, data lineage, data quality and data observability both for big data and real time workflows.
• Ability to decompose large problems and execute smaller, manageable bodies of work to demonstrate continuous delivery
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, cloud computing, and microservices architectures
• Experience working on mission-critical enterprise class applications
• Demonstrated ability to work with business partners, cross functional team members and coach and mentor experienced team members
• In-depth experience with building big data real time production system that delivers business success
• Well versed in delivery mechanisms such as Agile

Preferred:

• Financial services or FinTech industry experience

Knowledge and Skills:

• Architecture and Design: Ability to implement world class solutions that meet the needs of the business and customer, and help deliver growth and innovation.
• Leadership: Be a thought leader and demonstrate leadership to mentor team members, influence change and drive for the business outcome
• Ability to challenge the status quo and influence stakeholders to create innovative solutions
• Be collaborative with other team members, seeking a diversity of thought to meet business outcomes
• Ability to foster strong relationships across the organization
• Bring a strong understanding of relevant and emerging technologies, provide input and coach team members and embed learning and innovation in the day-to-day
• Strong experience and understanding of how to connect the work being done and how it drives business value
• Ability to communicate complex technical information (both verbal and written) to all levels, including senior leadership
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Target Compensation: A competitive base salary range from $208,761 – $306,183 .  This position is eligible for an annual variable bonus of cash and equity, between 20-60%. Final compensation within the range is influenced by many factors including role-specific skills, depth and experience level, industry background, relevant education and certifications. 

Candidates who reside in the following major metropolitan areas may be eligible for a premium on top of the posted range based on their specific zone: San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, New York City, Los Angeles and San Diego. 

INDENGLP

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Benefits

• Excellent benefits package that includes 401(K) match, adoption assistance, parental leave, tuition reimbursement, comprehensive medical/ dental/vision and many nonstandard benefits that make us a Great Place to Work 

Our Company Values:

To be successful in this role, Team Members need to be:

• Positive by maintaining resiliency and focusing on solutions
• Respectful by collaborating and actively listening
• Insightful by cultivating innovation, accumulating business and role specific knowledge, demonstrating self-awareness and making quality decisions
• Direct by effectively communicating and conveying courage
• Earnest by taking accountability, applying feedback and effectively planning and priority setting

Expectations:

• Remain compliant with our policies processes and legal guidelines
• All other duties as assigned
• Attendance as required by department

Advice!

We understand that your career search may look different than others. Our hiring team wants to make sure that this would be a fit not just for us, but for you long term.  If you are actively looking or starting to explore new opportunities, send us your application!

 

P.S.

We have great details around our stats, success, history and more.  We’re proud of our culture and are happy to share why – let’s talk!

Required degrees must have been earned at institutions of Higher Education which are accredited by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or equivalent.

Credit Acceptance is dedicated to providing a safe and inclusive working environment for all. As part of our Culture of Compliance, we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and value our culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of the person’s age, race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status, criminal history, or any other legally protected characteristic.

California Residents: Please click here for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) notice regarding the personal information Credit Acceptance may collect from you.

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