Director, Data Engineering

The purpose of this role is to provide technical guidance and suggest improvements in data analytics and governance processes. It is responsible for overseeing data engineering activities and aiding in building the business’ data collection systems and processing pipelines; building and maintaining optimised and highly available data pipelines that facilitate deeper analysis and reporting.

Job Description:

As a Director, Data Engineering on dentsu’s Data and Technology Team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and scaling our data infrastructure and products to support business-critical applications and insights. This role goes beyond technical execution—you will lead by example, mentor junior engineers, and collaborate across departments to deliver high-impact solutions. You’ll design systems with long-term scalability in mind, proactively identify and resolve operational issues, and ensure our data platforms are secure, reliable, and aligned with business goals.

You will work closely with Product and Engineering stakeholders to translate complex business needs into robust technical solutions. Your ability to communicate clearly, coordinate across teams, and drive agile delivery will be essential to your success. As a thought leader, you’ll contribute to the evolution of engineering best practices, evaluate and incorporate state-of-the-art tooling in our products, promote a culture of continuous learning, and help shape the future of our data capabilities. You will report to the Senior Director, Data Engineering.

This is a remote role. Employees within 90 min of our NY, MI, or IL offices may expect 1 day a week onsite.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Platform Development & Operations

• Design and maintain scalable, secure data architectures and pipelines.

• Evaluate and integrate new technologies to enhance infrastructure and product capabilities.

• Ensure observability and quick resolution of issues.

• Make architectural decisions aligned with strategic goals.

• Own the operation of systems with high availability requirements

Communication

• Articulate technical details to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Collaborate with Product and Engineering team members and stakeholders.

• Collaborate on development of applications and services across teams.

Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor junior engineers and manage direct reports.

• Lead incident response and technical initiatives.

• Lead individual hiring and talent development.

Agile Team Delivery

• Lead activities in sprints and enforce best practices with junior team members.

• Address delivery issues and blockers.

• Ensure predictable delivery and innovation balance on a team.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in data platform development; demonstrating successful design, build, rollout and ongoing delivery of business-critical applications and data pipelines

• 5+ years of experience with Python

• 5+ years of experience with Snowflake (external/Iceberg Tables, materialized views, data shares and listings, integrations; data clean rooms a plus)

• 5+ years of experience with AWS cloud service management tools (IAM CloudWatch, Secrets Manager, AWS CLI)

• Expertise with modern data storage querying tools such as Lambda, S3, RabbitMQ, Athena, Spark, Hive, or similar

• Expertise with processing/orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow, Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse, or SSIS

• Non-trivial experience with RDBMSs such as Postgres, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL or Oracle

• Deep understanding of pragmatic engineering practices like iterative releases, test-driven development, continuous integration, and the use of version control systems (Git/GitHub is our primary system, but experience with others would be helpful too).

• Able to convey technical details using industry standard diagramming formats such as UML or C4 Architecture Diagrams and tools such as Lucid Chart, draw.io, or Visio

• Experience working with semi-structured data in JSON format.

• Working knowledge of Unix-like systems

• BS/MS degree in Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent

The annual salary range for this position is $113,000 - $182,850. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, knowledge, skills, and other factors permitted by law.

Benefits available with this position include:

• Medical, vision, and dental insurance,

• Life insurance,

• Short-term and long-term disability insurance,

• 401k,

• Flexible paid time off,

• At least 15 paid holidays per year,

• Paid sick and safe leave, and

• Paid parental leave.

Dentsu also complies with applicable state and local laws regarding employee leave benefits, including, but not limited to providing time off pursuant to the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, in accordance with its plans and policies. For further details regarding Dentsu benefits, please visit www.dentsubenefitsplus.com.

To begin the application process, please click on the “Apply” button at the top of this job posting. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis, and qualified candidates will be contacted for next steps.

#LI-RL1 #LI-hybrid #LI-remote

Location:

USA - Remote - Maryland

Brand:

Merkle

Time Type:

Full time

Contract Type:

Permanent

Dentsu is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. We do this without regard to race, color, national origin, sex , sexual orientation, gender identity, age, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status, political affiliation, religious practices and observances, citizenship status, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. 

  

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