Data Engineering Lead
Dentsu International Americas, LLC
A complete application in a minute
Tailored resume and cover letter, ready to send.
Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
Dentsu is seeking a Data Engineering Lead in Chicago to guide high-performing teams, shape technical strategy, and deliver scalable data platforms for modern customer experiences.
You will balance leadership with hands-on technical work, mentoring engineers, and partnering with clients to translate goals into actionable data solutions. Expect growth opportunities as you drive delivery excellence and adopt AI-enabled approaches across data ecosystems.
Qualifications
- 7+ years of experience in data engineering, including cloud-based data platforms, ELT/ETL processes, and production data pipelines.
Responsibilities
- Lead and grow high-performing teams by coaching, mentoring, and career development.
- Oversee complex data engineering initiatives with Solution Architects to deliver scalable data solutions.
- Establish best practices across data engineering (CI/CD, testing, observability, governance).
- Collaborate with clients and stakeholders to translate business goals into engineering solutions.
- Evaluate and adopt modern technologies including AI-assisted tools and cloud-native analytics.
Skills
Tools
Job description
You know great data engineering is about more than pipelines and platforms. It's about helping people make smarter decisions, creating reliable data foundations, and enabling meaningful customer experiences at scale. As a Data Engineering Lead, you'll guide talented engineering teams, shape technical strategy, partner with clients, and influence how modern data platforms are built and operated. You'll balance leadership with hands-on technical involvement, helping teams solve complex challenges while delivering measurable business outcomes. This is a true player-coach opportunity where you'll lead people, drive delivery excellence, and help define the future of data engineering, cloud platforms, AI-enabled solutions, and customer data ecosystems.
You'll support the development of Data Engineers by providing coaching, mentorship, career guidance, and opportunities for growth. You'll help create an environment where team members can learn, contribute, and thrive.
You'll oversee complex data engineering initiatives, partnering with Solution Architects and stakeholders to deliver scalable, high-quality data solutions. You'll help guide technical decisions, manage delivery risks, and ensure successful outcomes across multiple engagements.
You'll establish and promote best practices across data engineering, including CI/CD, testing, code reviews, observability, data quality, documentation, and governance. You'll help create repeatable approaches that enable teams to deliver consistently and effectively.
You'll collaborate with client leaders, business stakeholders, architects, and delivery teams to translate business goals into actionable engineering solutions. You'll communicate complex technical concepts in a way that supports informed decision-making and successful project outcomes.
You'll help evaluate and adopt modern technologies, including AI-assisted engineering tools, cloud-native analytics platforms, warehouse-native AI solutions, and next-generation data architecture patterns.
- 7+ years of experience in data engineering, including cloud-based data platforms, ELT/ETL processes, and production data pipelines.
- Strong experience with platforms such as Snowflake, Databricks, Google BigQuery, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse, or Amazon Redshift.
- Advanced SQL and Python skills.
- Experience with orchestration and transformation tools such as dbt, Apache Airflow, Azure Data Factory, Dagster, Prefect, or similar technologies.
- Experience designing data models and customer-centric data solutions.
- Understanding of data quality, lineage, observability, and governance best practices.
- Experience with Git, CI/CD, and modern engineering workflows.
- 2+ years leading, mentoring, or managing data engineering teams.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate with technical and non-technical audiences.
- Experience with any combination of the following is welcomed: Snowflake, Databricks, dbt, Adobe Real-Time CDP, Salesforce Data Cloud, or related certifications.
- Adobe Experience Platform (AEP), Real-Time CDP, Customer Journey Analytics, Salesforce Data Cloud, Braze, or other customer data platforms.
- AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, or Infrastructure as Code technologies such as Terraform.
- AI/ML technologies, warehouse-native AI capabilities, feature engineering, vector databases, or LLM-ready data architectures.
- Data privacy, governance, consent management, and secure data exchange practices.
- Pre-sales, solution design, technical estimation, or consulting experience.
Make an Impact Beyond the Code Your work will influence how organizations use data to better understand and engage their customers. The decisions you help make will drive business outcomes across analytics, customer data platforms, AI solutions, and customer experience technologies.
Grow as a Leader You'll have the opportunity to mentor engineers, shape engineering culture, build delivery standards, and contribute to the long-term growth of both the team and the broader practice.
Work with Modern Technology From cloud data warehouses and customer data platforms to AI-assisted engineering and emerging data technologies, you'll have exposure to innovative tools and platforms that are shaping the future of the industry.
We recognize that talent comes from many different backgrounds and experiences. If you're excited about leading teams, building modern data solutions, and helping organizations unlock the value of their data, we encourage you to apply, even if your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification listed. Your unique perspective, experience, and ideas can help us build stronger teams, better solutions, and more meaningful outcomes for our clients.
The annual salary range for this position is $94,000 - $135K. 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
- 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.
Location: Chicago - N. State 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.
Dentsu is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to, among others, individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans.
If you need an accommodation because of a disability to search and apply for a career opportunity with us, please send an e-mail to ApplicantAccommodations@dentsu.com by clicking on the link to let us know the nature of your accommodation request and your contact information.
We are here to support you.
About dentsu For over 120 years, innovation has been a core tenet of our offering - exploring new ways to reach, engage and nurture relationships with audiences. Together we drive a multiplier effect for clients at a global scale, through the development of Integrated Growth Solutions that are underpinned by our promise to clients: innovating to impact. Be a force for good. Sustainability is a vital part of our business and an important area of focus for our clients. We're leading the way - helping to build a more sustainable planet. Dream loud. In this moment of transformation, we need our people to be fearless, embracing change and ambiguity, driven by the love for their work and excitement for the future. Team without limits. We create opportunities for connection and collaboration between our colleagues and clients, building a sense of belonging and having some fun along the way. Find out more about us Who we are Our Social Impact Our work
'/%3e%3cpath%20d='M101.744%2012.4726L102.894%2016.1947L99.0021%2013.2201L101.744%2012.4726ZM105.3%208.40937H100.488L99.0026%203.59473L97.5116%208.41047L92.7%208.40385L96.5965%2011.3834L95.1055%2016.1942L99.0021%2013.2196L101.408%2011.3834L105.3%208.40992V8.40937Z'%20fill='white'/%3e%3cdefs%3e%3clinearGradient%20id='paint0_linear_5593_1381'%20x1='90'%20y1='9.44471'%20x2='99'%20y2='9.44471'%20gradientUnits='userSpaceOnUse'%3e%3cstop%20stop-color='%2300AD70'/%3e%3cstop%20offset='0.998594'%20stop-color='%2300B67A'/%3e%3cstop%20offset='1'%20stop-color='%23DCDCE6'/%3e%3c/linearGradient%3e%3c/defs%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}
