Lead Software Engineer - Databricks, ML, AWS

Worky; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

JPMorgan Chase is seeking a Lead Software Engineer, Machine Learning and Cloud, to guide the architecture and delivery of high-throughput data pipelines. You will drive lakehouse patterns with Delta Lake and leverage Databricks to enable scalable, secure data processing.

You will champion AI-assisted engineering practices, ensure secure coding and testing, and own cloud and data platform components across multiple business functions.

Qualifications

• Formal training or certification in software engineering concepts.
• 5+ years of applied software/data engineering experience.
• Experience leading AI-assisted software development tools and validating AI outputs.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and delivery of high-throughput data pipelines using Databricks and Spark.
• Establish lakehouse patterns with Delta Lake and ensure performance at scale.
• Drive adoption of enterprise AI-assisted engineering practices and secure coding standards.
• Own Databricks cluster strategy, autoscaling, and Spark configurations.
• Design secure data ingestion and transformation frameworks with Databricks services.

Skills

Databricks

Spark

Python/Java

AI-assisted development

CI/CD

Security & compliance

AWS

Airflow

Terraform

Git workflows

Education

Formal training or certification in software engineering

Tools

Databricks

Delta Lake

Unity Catalog

Workflows

Airflow

Terraform

Git-based CI/CD

Job description

We have an exciting and rewarding opportunity for you to take your software engineering career to the next level.

As a Lead Software Engineer, Machine Learning and Cloud at JPMorgan Chase within the Corporate Technology- Consumer & Community Bank Finance group, you are an integral part of an agile team that works to enhance, build, and deliver trusted market-leading technology products in a secure, stable, and scalable way. As a core technical contributor and lead, you are responsible for conducting critical technology solutions across multiple technical areas within various business functions in support of the firm’s business objectives.

Job Responsibilities:

• Lead architecture and delivery of high-throughput, low-latency data pipelines using Databricks and Apache Spark (Core, SQL, Structured Streaming).
• Establish lakehouse patterns with Delta Lake (ACID transactions, schema evolution, time travel, Z-ordering, compaction) and ensure performance at scale.
• Drives team adoption of enterprise-authorized AI-assisted engineering practices within the work environment to improve code quality, delivery speed, and operational outcomes (e.g., AI-assisted code review/refactoring, test strategy acceleration, incident/root-cause analysis support), while establishing consistent validation standards (secure coding, peer review, automated testing) and promoting reuse of effective patterns across the team.
• Applies knowledge of tools within the Software Development Life Cycle toolchain, including enterprise-authorized AI-assisted development and automation capabilities, to improve the value realized by automation.
• Own Databricks cluster strategy and setup: runtime selection, autoscaling, driver/executor sizing, Spark configs, unit scripts, cluster policies, pools, and instance profiles.
• Orchestrate jobs with Databricks Workflows; integrate with AWS eventing and orchestration as needed.
• Design secure data ingestion and transformation frameworks leveraging Databricks services: Design delta or unmanaged tables, Create tasks for data, ingestion process, Create DAGs using Airflow to orchestrate creation of trusted and refined data.
• Enforce data quality, lineage, and governance using Unity Catalog and/or Glue Catalog; embed expectations and validation into pipelines.
• Drive Spark performance engineering: partitioning strategies, file sizing, AQE, broadcast joins, shuffle tuning, caching, spill/memory control, and job right-sizing to optimize cost.
• Build reusable libraries, frameworks, and APIs in Python and/or Java; oversee unit, integration, and data validation testing.
• Implement CI/CD for data projects (Git-based workflows), Terraform Infrastructure deployments environment promotion, and automated deployments; champion engineering standards and code reviews.

Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills:

• Formal training or certification on software engineering concepts and 5+ years applied experience.
• 8+ years of professional software/data engineering experience, including substantial production work with Spark on Databricks or EMR.
• Demonstrated experience leading effective use of approved AI-assisted software development tools (e.g., for coding, code review, test acceleration, troubleshooting) with the ability to set team expectations for validating AI outputs for correctness, performance, and security.
• Strong understanding of responsible AI use in engineering workflows, including data sensitivity considerations, secure handling of inputs/outputs, and adherence to resiliency and security expectations; experience coaching engineers on safe, compliant adoption within delivery practices
• Strong proficiency in Python and/or Java for data processing, platform tooling, and automation.
• Hands-on Databricks expertise (Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Workflows, Repos/notebooks, SQL Warehouses).
• Proven track record architecting and operating ETL/ELT pipelines (batch and streaming), with schema design/evolution, SLAs, and reliability engineering.
• Deep skills in Spark performance tuning and Databricks cluster setup/optimization.
• Strong SQL and analytics data modeling (dimensional/star schema; lakehouse best practices).
• CI/CD and automation tooling for data (Git workflows, artifact management) and testing frameworks (pytest, JUnit).
• Security-first mindset: roles/instance profiles, secret management, encryption-at-rest/in-transit, and network controls.

Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills:

• Experience with Delta Live Tables and advanced governance (catalogs, grants, auditing) in Databricks.
• AWS networking knowledge (VPC, subnets, routing, security groups) and data egress controls.
• Experience with Terraform for Infra deployments
• Cost optimization experience: autoscaling strategies, spot vs on-demand, auto-termination, storage layouts and compaction.
• Observability for data systems (freshness/completeness metrics, lineage, SLAs, alerting).
• Drive databricks performance tuning through liquid clustering or partitioning keys, familiarity with Airflow, Genie, Streamlit and React
• Demonstrated leadership in code quality, reviews, testing strategy, CI/CD, and technical mentorship; excellent communication with stakeholders.

JPMorganChase, one of the oldest financial institutions, offers innovative financial solutions to millions of consumers, small businesses and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under the J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Our history spans over 200 years and today we are a leader in investment banking, consumer and small business banking, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management.

We offer a competitive total rewards package including base salary determined based on the role, experience, skill set and location. Those in eligible roles may receive commission-based pay and/or discretionary incentive compensation, paid in the form of cash and/or forfeitable equity, awarded in recognition of individual achievements and contributions. We also offer a range of benefits and programs to meet employee needs, based on eligibility. These benefits include comprehensive health care coverage, on-site health and wellness centers, a retirement savings plan, backup childcare, tuition reimbursement, mental health support, financial coaching and more. Additional details about total compensation and benefits will be provided during the hiring process.

We recognize that our people are our strength and the diverse talents they bring to our global workforce are directly linked to our success. We are an equal opportunity employer and place a high value on diversity and inclusion at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law. We also make reasonable accommodations for applicants’ and employees’ religious practices and beliefs, as well as mental health or physical disability needs. Visit our FAQs for more information about requesting an accommodation.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, including Disability/Veterans

Our professionals in our Corporate Functions cover a diverse range of areas from finance and risk to human resources and marketing. Our corporate teams are an essential part of our company, ensuring that we’re setting our businesses, clients, customers and employees up for success.