Head of Engineering - Inbound Data

S&P Global, Inc.; Centreville (VA); On-site; USD 185,000 - 265,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care

Generous time off

Continuous learning

Retirement planning

Student loan contribution

Family perks

Discounts and perks

Job summary

S&P Global Dow Jones Indices seeks a senior engineering leader to scale a 100+ person team of data, ML, and platform engineers in the US. You will drive enterprise lakehouse and AI initiatives on Databricks and AWS, establishing rigorous standards, SLOs, and IaC practices.

You will partner with product, FinOps, and executive leadership to translate goals into roadmaps. Top candidates have 15+ years in engineering, deep Databricks and AWS experience, and a proven track record building large

Qualifications

• 15+ years of engineering experience with 5+ years directly managing and scaling large teams at Director/Head level
• Deep expertise in Databricks Data Intelligence Platform including Unity Catalog, Delta Lake, Delta Live Tables, MLflow, Mosaic AI
• Extensive experience architecting enterprise-scale data platforms on AWS (S3, Glue, EMR, Lake Formation)
• Proven depth in Apache Iceberg internals, schema evolution, and cross-platform table strategies
• Experience building and scaling eng org from 20+ to 100+ engineers with rigorous standards and SLAs
• Strong leadership and communication, translating trades-offs to non-technical stakeholders

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale an eng org of 100+ data and ML engineers and platform developers
• Provide strategic technical direction for lakehouse architecture on Databricks and AWS
• Advance production-grade autonomous AI systems with Databricks AI stack for measurable value
• Establish engineering standards, SLOs, incident management, and IaC practices with Terraform and Databricks assets
• Oversee semantic modeling, RAG architectures, and governance with Unity Catalog
• Foster a high-performance culture with safety, learning, and cross-functional collaboration

Skills

Engineering leadership

Databricks Unity Catalog

AWS cloud

Delta Lake

AI/ML deployment

Tools

Terraform

Databricks Asset Bundles

Job description

About the Role:

Grade Level (for internal use): 14

The Team:

This team is essential to the division's data strategy, playing a key role in data transformation and leading efforts to replace legacy technical debt. The team embodies a strong commitment to delivering on business needs and demonstrates exceptional collaboration with both product and business partners. They are known for their collaborative approach, strong technical expertise, and the high energy and dedication they bring to their work.

Responsibilities and Impact:

• Lead and scale a world-class engineering organization of 100+ data engineers, ML engineers, and platform developers, including managing managers and Staff/Principal-level engineers while driving hiring, retention, and talent development strategies
• Provide strategic technical direction for enterprise-scale lakehouse architecture using Databricks Data Intelligence Platform (Unity Catalog, Delta Lake, Delta Live Tables, Mosaic AI) and AWS cloud services, ensuring highly performant, cost-effective, and interoperable data foundations
• Drive the organization's transition to production-grade autonomous AI systems, leveraging Databricks AI stack including MLflow, Feature Store, Vector Search, and Model Serving to deliver measurable business value beyond proof-of-concept implementations
• Establish rigorous engineering standards and operational excellence practices including SLOs, error budgets, incident management, and infrastructure-as-code using tools such as Terraform and Databricks Asset Bundles for reliable platform delivery
• Oversee enterprise semantic modeling and RAG architecture strategies, ensuring AI systems are grounded in Unity Catalog-governed data assets with proper access controls, lineage tracking, and auditability to prevent hallucinations
• Foster a high-performance engineering culture rooted in psychological safety, continuous learning, and rapid experimentation while partnering with Product, FinOps, and executive leadership to translate business goals into actionable technical roadmaps

Compensation/Benefits Information:

(This section is only applicable to US candidates)

S&P Global states that the anticipated base salary range for this position is $185,000 to $265,000. Final base salary for this role will be based on the individual’s geographic location, as well as experience level, skill set, training, licenses and certifications. In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible for an annual incentive plan. This role is not eligible for additional compensation such as an annual incentive bonus or sales commission plan. This role is eligible to receive additional S&P Global benefits. For more information on the benefits we provide to our employees,

• Health & Wellness: Health care coverage designed for the mind and body.
• Flexible Downtime: Generous time off helps keep you energized for your time on.
• Continuous Learning: Access a wealth of resources to grow your career and learn valuable new skills.
• Invest in Your Future: Secure your financial future through competitive pay, retirement planning, a continuing education program with a company-matched student loan contribution, and financial wellness programs.
• Family Friendly Perks: It’s not just about you. S&P Global has perks for your partners and little ones, too, with some best-in class benefits for families.
• Beyond the Basics: From retail discounts to referral incentive awards—small perks can make a big difference.

For more information on benefits by country visit: https://spgbenefits.com/benefit-summaries

What We're Looking For:

Basic Required Qualifications:

• 15+ years of engineering experience with 5+ years directly managing and scaling large engineering teams at Director or Head of Engineering level, including experience managing managers and guiding Staff/Principal-level individual contributors through organizational transformation
• Deep expertise in Databricks Data Intelligence Platform including Unity Catalog, Delta Lake internals, Delta Live Tables, Databricks Workflows, MLflow, and Mosaic AI, with ability to engage in technical discussions and provide strategic guidance on complex platform trade‑offs
• Extensive experience architecting enterprise-scale data platforms on AWS including services such as Amazon S3, AWS Glue, Amazon EMR, AWS Lake Formation, with strong understanding of multi‑region deployment strategies and security patterns (IAM, VPC, KMS)
• Proven technical depth in Apache Iceberg internals, schema evolution, and cross‑platform table strategies, combined with hands‑on experience in autonomous AI agent deployment and RAG pipeline architecture for production environments
• Demonstrated ability to build and scale engineering organizations from 20+ to 100+ engineers while establishing rigorous engineering standards, agile delivery practices, and operational SLAs for complex data and AI products
• Strong leadership and communication skills with experience translating complex technical trade‑offs to non‑technical stakeholders and influencing executive decision‑making through data‑driven recommendations and ROI analysis

Additional Preferred Qualifications:

• AWS and/or Databricks certifications with experience partnering with FinOps and cloud platform teams to optimize cloud consumption, performance, and platform ROI across multi‑cloud data platform strategies
• Experience with semantic modeling, knowledge graphs, and enterprise data governance frameworks including metadata management and secure data sharing patterns at enterprise scale
• Background in LLMOps, model evaluation, and prompt orchestration with familiarity integrating AWS AI/ML services such as Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock into broader enterprise AI platform strategies
• Experience with infrastructure‑as‑code tools such as Terraform, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment automation including Databricks Asset Bundles for repeatable, auditable platform delivery across distributed cloud environments

About S&P Global Dow Jones Indices

At S&P Dow Jones Indices, we provide iconic and innovative index solutions backed by unparalleled expertise across the asset‑class spectrum. By bringing transparency to the global capital markets, we empower investors everywhere to make decisions with conviction. We’re the largest global resource for index‑based concepts, data and research, and home to iconic financial market indicators, such as the S&P 500® and the Dow Jones Industrial Average®. More assets are invested in products based on our indices than any other index provider in the world. With over USD 7.4 trillion in passively managed assets linked to our indices and over USD 11.3 trillion benchmarked to our indices, our solutions are widely considered indispensable in tracking market performance, evaluating portfolios and developing investment strategies. S&P Dow Jones Indices is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI). S&P Global is the world’s foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, analytics and workflow solutions in the global capital, commodity and automotive markets. With every one of our offerings, we help many of the world’s leading organizations navigate the economic landscape so they can plan for tomorrow, today. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/spdji.

What’s In It For You?

Our Mission:

Advancing Essential Intelligence.

Our People:

We're more than 35,000 strong worldwide—so we're able to understand nuances while having a broad perspective. Our team is driven by curiosity and a shared belief that Essential Intelligence can help build a more prosperous future for us all.From finding new ways to measure sustainability to analyzing energy transition across the supply chain to building workflow solutions that make it easy to tap into insight and apply it. We are changing the way people see things and empowering them to make an impact on the world we live in. We’re committed to a more equitable future and to helping our customers find new, sustainable ways of doing business. Join us and help create the critical insights that truly make a difference.

Our Values:

Integrity, Discovery, Partnership Throughout our history, the world's leading organizations have relied on us for the Essential Intelligence they need to make confident decisions about the road ahead. We start with a foundation of integrity in all we do, bring a spirit of discovery to our work, and collaborate in close partnership with each other and our customers to achieve shared goals.

Benefits:

We take care of you, so you can take care of business. We care about our people. That’s why we provide everything you—and your career—need to thrive at S&P Global.

Global Hiring and Opportunity at S&P Global:

At S&P Global, we are committed to fostering a connected and engaged workplace where all individuals have access to opportunities based on their skills, experience, and contributions. Our hiring practices emphasize fairness, transparency, and merit, ensuring that we attract and retain top talent. By valuing different perspectives and promoting a culture of respect and collaboration, we drive innovation and power global markets.

Equal Opportunity Employer

S&P Global is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race/ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, marital status, military veteran status, unemployment status, or any other status protected by law. Only electronic job submissions will be considered for employment. If you need an accommodation during the application process due to a disability, please send an email to:[e-mail] your request will be forwarded to the appropriate person.

The EEO is the Law Poster http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf describes discrimination protections under federal law.

Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision - https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ofccp/pdf/pay-transp_%20English_formattedESQA508c.pdf

IFTECH201 - Senior Professional (EEO Job Group)

S&P Global enables businesses, governments, and individuals with trusted data, expertise and technology to make decisions with conviction. We are Advancing Essential Intelligence through world-leading benchmarks, data, and insights that customers need in order to plan confidently, act decisively, and thrive in a rapidly changing global landscape. From helping our customers assess new investments across the capital and commodities markets to navigating the energy expansion, acceleration of artificial intelligence, and evolution of public and private markets, we enable the world’s leading organizations to unlock opportunities, solve challenges, and plan for tomorrow – today.