Principal Data Engineer

McKinsey; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Global McKinsey community

Learning and coaching programs

Job summary

McKinsey & Company seeks a Principal Data Engineer to lead technical teams and architect enterprise data and AI platforms. The role focuses on building scalable data pipelines for ML, mentoring colleagues, and partnering with clients to deliver advanced analytics solutions across industries.

Based in North America with onsite opportunities, you will collaborate with QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and QuantumBlack Labs in cross-functional Agile teams to drive impactful outcomes at scale.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Experience architecting enterprise data and AI platforms for production use cases.
• Ability to lead and mentor junior colleagues.
• Experience implementing software engineering best practices (DevOps, DataOps, MLOps).
• Strong knowledge of distributed computing and cloud/SaaS tooling listed in the Technologies section.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical teams, architect data platforms, and build scalable pipelines while mentoring colleagues and collaborating with clients at all levels.
• Own technology for enterprise data and AI platforms and lead multiple technical teams.
• Design and build robust, scalable, and reproducible data pipelines for machine learning, ensuring information security standards are upheld.
• Contribute to R&D and tackle impactful challenges across industries.
• Mentor junior colleagues and drive innovation within the QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey Data Engineering community.
• Partner with QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and QuantumBlack Labs to create ML systems that accelerate AI adoption.
• Collaborate in cross-functional Agile teams to deliver advanced analytics solutions.
• Work with clients from data owners to C-level executives to architect solutions that address complex business problems.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

Agile methods

Client management

Tools

Spark

Dask

AWS

Azure

GCP

Docker

Kubernetes

pandas

NumPy

matplotlib

Databricks

Airflow

SQL

PySpark

Kedro

RAPIDS

Python

Scala

Java

Job description

McKinsey & Company is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to lead technical teams and architect enterprise data and AI platforms. The role focuses on building scalable, reproducible data pipelines for machine learning, mentoring colleagues, and partnering with clients to deliver advanced analytics solutions across industries.

Role overview

This position is based in North America offices within McKinsey’s global Data Engineering community. You will help design and deliver enterprise data and AI capabilities while collaborating with QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and QuantumBlack Labs teams. Work is conducted in cross-functional Agile teams alongside Data Scientists, Machine Learning Engineers, and industry experts.

Key responsibilities

• Lead technical teams, architect data platforms, and build scalable pipelines while mentoring colleagues and collaborating with clients at all levels.
• Own technology for enterprise data and AI platforms and lead multiple technical teams.
• Design and build robust, scalable, and reproducible data pipelines for machine learning, ensuring information security standards are upheld.
• Contribute to R&D, tackle impactful challenges, and work with diverse experts on cutting-edge AI projects across industries.
• Mentor junior colleagues and drive innovation within the QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey Data Engineering community.
• Partner with QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and QuantumBlack Labs teams to create machine learning systems that accelerate AI adoption and solve business problems at speed and scale.
• Collaborate in cross-functional Agile teams to deliver advanced analytics solutions.
• Work with clients from data owners to C-level executives to architect solutions that address complex business problems and drive value.

Required qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Ability to scope projects, define workstreams, and translate roadmaps into sprint goals, milestones, and deliverables in agile and iterative environments.
• Proven experience architecting and building enterprise data and AI platforms and scalable data pipelines for advanced analytics use cases in production.
• Passion for and demonstrated ability to lead and mentor more junior colleagues.
• Expertise implementing software engineering best practices to drive enterprise-wide improvement, including DevOps, DataOps, and MLOps.
• Strong software engineering and data engineering expertise, including distributed computing frameworks (Spark, Dask), cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), analytics libraries (pandas, NumPy, matplotlib), and modern data platforms and orchestration tools such as Databricks, Airflow, SQL, PySpark, Kedro, and RAPIDS.
• Ability to write clean, maintainable, scalable, and robust code in object-oriented languages such as Python, Scala, or Java, including experience supporting junior engineers through collaborative code reviews.
• Extensive commercial client-facing or senior stakeholder management experience.
• Exceptional time management to meet responsibilities in a complex and largely autonomous work environment.
• Willingness to travel.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to adapt style to different perspectives and seniority levels.

Technologies

Spark, Dask, AWS, Azure, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, pandas, NumPy, matplotlib, Databricks, Airflow, SQL, PySpark, Kedro, RAPIDS, Python, Scala, Java

Location

• Onsite in Boston, MA
• Other North America locations: Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC

Benefits

On top of a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), McKinsey & Company provides a comprehensive benefits package to support holistic well-being for you and your family.

Learning, coaching, and growth

• Access to apprenticeship, coaching, and exposure intended to accelerate growth.
• Continuous learning through structured programs with clear, actionable feedback focused on development.
• A culture that values your ideas and contributions from day one.
• A global community with colleagues across 65+ countries and 100+ nationalities.

Job details

Job ID: 114506

Additional requirements

• Commitment to integrity in all actions, guiding decisions to serve the best interests of clients, people, and the communities served.