Data Engineer

OATS; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Pension plan

Health, dental, and vision

Job summary

AARP is seeking a Data Engineer to translate business requirements into scalable data pipelines and platform capabilities. You will partner with cross-functional teams to design, build, and support data solutions that drive marketing and operational insights.

Join a mission-driven organization with a hybrid work model, competitive benefits, and a focus on data governance, quality, and scalable analytics. Strong technical skills and collaboration are essential for success.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience, plus 3+ years designing data pipelines.
• Strong SQL and Python skills; experience with Databricks, PySpark, and big data tools.
• Experience with data integration, ETL/ELT, APIs, streaming, and batch processing.

Responsibilities

• Establish technical roadmap for data platform and lifecycle with value-based outcomes.
• Ensure sound data and security architecture across platform lifecycle.
• Deliver rapid, reliable data solutions aligned with business needs.
• Troubleshoot platform issues and drive continuous improvements in methodology.
• Collaborate with engineers to share knowledge and align on business requirements.
• Develop and maintain deep technical knowledge of domain systems and apps.

Skills

SQL

Python

Databricks

PySpark

Big Data

ETL/ELT

APIs

Streaming

Batch processing

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience

Tools

Databricks

AWS

Informatica IICS

Collibra

Unity Catalog

Job description

Overview

AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to the more than 100 million Americans 50-plus and their families: health and financial security, and personal fulfillment. AARP also works for individuals in the marketplace by sparking new solutions and allowing carefully chosen, high-quality products and services to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the nation's largest-circulation publications, AARP The Magazine and the AARP Bulletin.

Data & Analytics leverages business intelligence gained through advanced data analytics in order to maximize AARP's marketing and communications results. This includes using data science, data engineering, predictive modeling, and market analytics to guide data driven decision making.

The Data Engineer works with cross-functional teams and customers to understand business requirements and translates into technical specifications. Discovers the true requirements underlying feature requests and recommends alternative technical approaches. Partners with cross-functional technical teams to launch projects and provide ongoing technical support. Collaborates with management to identify opportunities to streamline technology processes and develop new procedures that support the business unit/department.

Responsibilities

• Establishes a technical roadmap for the platform and/or capability strategy and lifecycle that considers value-based outcomes, costs to maintain, supportability, and performance.
• Ensures sound integration, data, security, and business architecture design throughout all stages within the platform and/or capability lifecycle.
• Provides rapid delivery and development of technical solutions that align with business and/or platform desired outcomes.
• Troubleshoots and resolves technical issues related to platform or capability systems, solutions, and services.
• Innovates and drives continuous improvements of implementation methodology and technical service offerings based on customer/employee experiences or other enterprise objectives/outcomes.
• Participates in a Community of Interest for engineers across all capability and platform teams to share information and strengthen understanding of business needs and technology-based business solutions.
• Develops and maintains deep technical knowledge and expertise related to domain area systems, solutions, services, and applications.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience, plus 3+ years of hands‑on experience designing, building, and maintaining data pipelines and large‑scale data infrastructure in a technical business environment.
• Strong proficiency in SQL and Python, including Databricks, PySpark, or similar frameworks, and experience with Big Data and distributed processing technologies such as Spark, Hadoop, and Delta Lake.
• Experience with data integration, including ETL/ELT, APIs, streaming, and batch processing; structured and unstructured datasets; and platforms such as Databricks, AWS, Informatica IICS, or similar frameworks.

Preferred

• Experience implementing data quality frameworks, validation rules, reconciliation processes, automated testing, monitoring, observability, and alerting to detect and remediate pipeline failures, schema changes, and data quality anomalies.
• Knowledge of data integrity, lineage, metadata management, and data governance, including root cause analysis, with familiarity in platforms such as Collibra, Unity Catalog, Great Expectations, Monte Carlo, Informatica Data Quality, or similar technologies preferred.
• Experience developing AI‑powered analytics, conversational data applications, or intelligent agents using Databricks Genie, Databricks AI/BI, large language models, or similar technologies, with familiarity in multi‑agent architecture, persona‑based simulation, prompt engineering, retrieval‑augmented generation, and governed grounding.
• Experience preparing data products, semantic models, metadata, and business definitions for AI agents and developing evaluation frameworks that assess AI‑generated responses for accuracy, relevance, consistency, grounding, bias, and safety.

AARP will not sponsor an employment visa for this position.

Additional Requirements

• Regular and reliable job attendance
• Effective verbal and written communication skills
• Exhibit respect and understanding of others to maintain professional relationships
• Independent judgement in evaluation options to make sound decisions
• In office/open office environment with the ability to work effectively surrounded by moderate noise

Hybrid Work Environment

AARP observes Mondays and Fridays as remote workdays, except for essential functions. Remote work can only be done within the United States and its territories.

Compensation and Benefits

AARP offers a competitive compensation and benefits package including a 401(k); 100% company‑funded pension plan; health, dental, and vision plans; life insurance; paid time off to include company and individual holidays, vacation, sick, caregiving, and parental leave; performance‑based and peer‑based recognition and tuition reimbursement.

Equal Employment Opportunity

AARP is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture. AARP does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, color, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, mental or physical disability, genetic information, veteran status, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.