Manager, Data Engineering - Platform

HNI Corporation; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits starting Day 1

Job summary

HNI Corporation is seeking a Manager, Data Engineering - Platform to lead a small data engineering team within the Decision Science group, guiding platform decisions on Azure, Snowflake, and Databricks.

You will shape the enterprise data platform roadmap, build scalable pipelines with Python and SQL, and partner with BI, AI, and security teams to balance capability and cost. This is a hands-on leadership role emphasizing governance and cost management as HNI advances its data strategy.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of data engineering or data platform engineering on a major cloud platform, with Azure preferred.
• 2+ years of experience leading, mentoring, or managing a team of data engineers.
• Expertise in SQL and Python, with hands-on experience building production ingestion and delivery pipelines across third-party APIs, ERP systems (Oracle EBS or SAP), and file-based sources.
• Hands-on experience with a cloud data warehouse or lakehouse (Snowflake preferred; Databricks, Redshift, or BigQuery considered).
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or Pulumi) and CI/CD frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Define platform roadmap and standards for the enterprise data platform, including ingestion, integration, and orchestration.
• Lead design and implementation of cloud data platform architecture on Azure, Snowflake, and Databricks.
• Build and maintain scalable data pipelines using Python and SQL for raw and downstream data, APIs, ERP systems, and files.
• Oversee CI/CD frameworks and orchestration services for BI and analytics teams.
• Mentor and develop a small team of data engineers and promote an inclusive, high-performing culture.
• Partner with Security and EA to ensure compliant, cost-conscious platform designs.

Skills

Python

SQL

Data pipelines

Data modeling

Leadership

ETL tooling

Education

BS/MS in CS or related

Tools

Terraform

Pulumi

Prefect

Airflow

Dagster

Snowflake

Databricks

Azure

Job description

HNI Corporationis a global family of brands for the workplace and home dedicated to enhancing the spaces where we live, work, and gather. Wepride ourselves on fostering an environment where we make a positive impact on others; upholding our beliefs in integrity, inclusion and belonging.

Position at HNI Corporation

Your Impact Starts the Day You Do!

What We Need:

We are looking for a Manager, Data Engineering - Platform to join our Decision Science team. This position can be located in Muscatine, Iowa or Chicago, IL.

The Manager, Data Platform will lead a small team of data engineers building the data foundation that powers HNI's BI, analytics, applications, and growing AI capabilities. This is a hands-on player-coach role, leading both people and platform engineering across Azure, Snowflake, and Databricks while establishing standards and practices that help the organization move faster.

The ideal candidate brings strong experience with data integration, Python, SQL, orchestration, Infrastructure as Code, and CI/CD, with hands-on expertise across APIs, ERP systems, and vendor data. Strong technical leadership and a passion for developing high-performing teams are essential.

What You Will Do:

Platform Roadmap and Strategy

• Assist in defining the strategy, standards, and roadmap for the enterprise data platform, including ingestion, integration, orchestration, and infrastructure.
• Work closely with the Business Intelligence, Decision Science, and Digital Experience teams to understand source data needs and translate them into platform capabilities.
• Evaluate and pilot new tools and services to make build-versus-buy recommendations that balance capability, cost, and supportability.
• Lead the design and implementation of the cloud data platform architecture on Microsoft Azure, Snowflake, and Databricks.
• Partnering with Infrastructure, Security, and Enterprise Architecture to ensure platform designs meet HNI standards for security, compliance, and cost.

Platform Architecture and Engineering

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable pipelines using Python, SQL, and Prefect that land source data reliably in the raw layer and deliver it to downstream applications, operational systems, and third-party tools.
• Build and support data integration from third-party APIs, ERP systems, flat files, and vendor feeds, including authentication, incremental, and change-data-capture patterns.
• Maintain the enterprise data lake on Azure Data Lake Storage, including layer structure, file formats, partitioning, and retention.
• Optimize load performance, reliability, and compute cost across the cloud data warehouse and lakehouse.
• Manage platform infrastructure as code using Terraform or Pulumi, and implement data governance, security, and compliance frameworks.
• Support HNI's growing AI toolset with the governed data and secure access patterns that AI services and agent-based tools depend on.

Platform Service and Delivery

• Oversee the implementation of CI/CD frameworks for automating data workflows, ensuring code quality, and streamlining deployments.
• Provide orchestration as a service to the Business Intelligence and analytics teams, including scheduling, dependency management, alerting, and deployment support for the pipelines those teams own.
• Establish and enforce engineering standards for code review, testing, documentation, and environment promotion.
• Own the operational health of the platform, including incident response, root cause analysis, and cost management.

Team Leadership and Member Development

• Lead and mentor a small team of data engineers as a player-coach, contributing directly to design and code while building the capability of the team.
• Support member development through individual development plans, career pathing, and regular feedback and performance conversations.
• Foster an engaged, inclusive team environment consistent with HNI's member-owner culture, including recruiting, onboarding, and retention of technical talent.
• Define platform KPIs and success metrics and stay ahead of emerging technologies.

What You Have:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in data engineering or data platform engineering on a major cloud platform. Azure is preferred; AWS or GCP experience will be considered.
• 2+ years of experience leading, mentoring, or managing a team of data engineers.
• Expertise in SQL and Python, with hands-on experience building production ingestion and delivery pipelines across third-party APIs (REST and SOAP), ERP systems such as Oracle EBS or SAP, and file-based sources.
• Hands-on experience with a cloud data warehouse or lakehouse (Snowflake preferred; Databricks, Redshift, or BigQuery considered), including bulk and continuous loading, security model, and cost management.
• Experience building and maintaining a cloud data lake (ADLS, S3, or GCS), including layered structure and open file formats.
• Production experience with modern orchestration frameworks such as Prefect, Airflow, or Dagster, including supporting pipelines owned by other teams.
• Working knowledge of Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or Pulumi), containerized workloads, and CI/CD frameworks with Git-based version control.
• Strong understanding of data modeling, governance, and security best practices in cloud environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Certifications in cloud data platform technologies such as Azure, Snowflake, or Databricks.
• Familiarity with dbt and the downstream transformation workflows owned by the Business Intelligence and analytics teams.
• Knowledge of streaming or event-driven data architectures (e.g., Kafka, Event Hubs) and data observability tooling.
• Experience enabling AI or agent-based workloads on a modern data platform.

We look forward to hearing from you!

HNI Corporation (NYSE: HNI) is a manufacturer of workplace furnishings and building products, operating under two segments. The workplace furnishings segment is a leading global designer and provider of commercial furnishings, going to market under multiple unique brands. The residential building products segment is the nation's leading manufacturer and marketer of hearth products.
We offer benefits starting from Day 1. To learn more, visit www.HNIbenefits.com.
Our company endeavors to make www.hnicareers.com accessible to any and all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please contact us at 563‑272‑7400 or via email at [email protected] Company is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.