Lead Software Engineer - DataBricks, Spark, Terraform

JPMorganChase; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

JPMorganChase is seeking a Senior Data Platform Engineer in Chicago to lead the Databricks lakehouse roadmap, optimize data pipelines, and enforce governance and security standards. You will collaborate across teams to design scalable data models and ensure reliable, cost-aware operations.

The role emphasizes hands-on engineering, architecture leadership, and the mentoring of engineers in enterprise-approved AI-assisted development practices to improve quality and delivery velocity.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in data/platform engineering with hands-on Databricks in production.
• Strong Spark (PySpark/Scala) and SQL with performance tuning.
• Experience designing data platforms with ingestion, transformation, and governance.
• Familiarity with Unity Catalog and data lake patterns.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the technical roadmap for our Databricks lakehouse platform.
• Design curated datasets and enforce naming, partitioning, and performance standards.
• Build for availability with SLOs, runbooks, and incident response.
• Implement governance, access controls, auditing, and data lifecycle management.
• Tune workloads and manage cost observability for pipelines and SQL workloads.
• Set standards for code quality, CI/CD, and reusable libraries.

Skills

Databricks experience

Spark (PySpark/Scala)

SQL proficiency

Leadership / cross-team

Tools

Databricks

Delta Lake

Snowflake

dbt

Terraform

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Job Description

We have an opportunity to impact your career and provide an adventure where you can push the limits of what's possible.

Job Description

We have an opportunity to impact your career and provide an adventure where you can push the limits of what's possible.

Job Responsibilities

• Platform leadership & architecture — Define and drive the technical roadmap for our Databricks lakehouse/database platform (ingestion, storage, modeling, serving) with clear standards and reference patterns.
• Data modeling & database engineering — Design curated datasets (e.g., medallion architecture) using Delta Lake, dimensional/semantic modeling where appropriate, and enforce consistent naming, partitioning, and performance practices.
• Reliability & operations — Build for availability and predictable performance; establish SLOs, runbooks, alerting, incident response, and operational hygiene for pipelines and SQL workloads.
• Security, governance & access controls — Implement and maintain strong governance (e.g., Unity Catalog), least-privilege access, auditing, data classification, and lifecycle management.
• Performance & cost management — Tune Spark/SQL workloads, optimize clusters/warehouses, manage caching and storage patterns, and implement cost observability/chargeback as needed.
• Engineering excellence — Set standards for code quality, testing, CI/CD, branching strategy, documentation, and review. Establish reusable libraries/templates and enforce consistency across teams.
• Mentorship & collaboration — Coach engineers, lead design reviews, and partner with stakeholders to translate business needs into scalable data platform capabilities.
• 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.

Required Qualifications, Capabilities, And Skills

• 7+ years in data engineering/platform engineering, with hands-on Databricks experience in production environments.
• Strong proficiency in Spark (PySpark/Scala) and SQL, including performance tuning and troubleshooting.
• Proven experience building and operating data platforms: batch/stream ingestion, transformation frameworks, orchestration, and curated data layers.
• Experience with Data Lake, (DataBricks, SnowFlake, or AWS) table design, and optimization (partitioning, Z-ORDER, file sizing).
• Familiarity with Unity Catalog (or equivalent governance tooling): permissions, catalogs/schemas, lineage/auditing concepts.
• Solid software engineering fundamentals: Git, CI/CD, automated testing, code reviews, modular design, and documentation.
• Experience implementing observability (logs/metrics/traces), data quality checks, and monitoring for pipelines and SQL workloads.
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated ability to lead technical decisions across teams.
• 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

Preferred Qualifications, Capabilities, And Skills

• Databricks features: Workflows, Delta Live Tables (DLT), Structured Streaming, Databricks SQL Warehouses.
• Transformation frameworks (e.g., dbt) and semantic layer patterns.
• Infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform) and automated environment provisioning.
• Experience with regulated-data environments, privacy controls, and enterprise data governance programs.

ABOUT US

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

About The Team

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.