Principal Engineer

cw; United States; Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Cushman & Wakefield is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to lead enterprise-scale data architecture, focusing on Databricks and the Azure ecosystem, and to mentor engineers within the TDS Technology and Data Solutions team.

The role embeds across teams to accelerate delivery, shape data strategies, and ensure scalable, secure data solutions that meet business needs. Reporting to the Global Head of Data Architecture & Engineering.

Qualifications

• Leadership experience overseeing senior engineers
• Ability to mentor across levels and drive technical excellence
• Strong communication with stakeholders and architecture teams

Responsibilities

• Lead technically demanding data engineering work on high-scale pipelines and platforms on Databricks and Azure
• Define and evolve engineering and architectural standards and reference implementations
• Embed with multiple Data Engineering teams to accelerate delivery and unblock projects
• Mentor engineers and lead knowledge sharing through talks and deep dives
• Design end-to-end data architectures (ingestion, storage, transformation, serving, governance) using Lakehouse patterns
• Ensure production readiness of critical components and align designs with enterprise security and governance standards
• Identify risks and drive resolution with clear recommendations
• Collaborate with Architecture function to ensure alignment with total cost of ownership and scalability
• Lead cross-team engagements to transfer knowledge back to host teams
• Promote technical excellence and best practices across the Data Organization

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

Architectural design

Databricks expertise

Azure cloud

Tools

Databricks

Azure

Job description

Job Title

Principal Engineer

Job Description Summary

The Principal Data Engineer at Cushman & Wakefield is a senior, high-impact technical leader responsible for solving complex data engineering challenges and shaping enterprise-wide data architecture within the TDS Technology and Data Solutions team. Reporting to the Global Head of Data Architecture & Engineering, this role combines deep hands-on expertise with strategic influence-designing and implementing scalable data solutions on Databricks and the Azure ecosystem, establishing engineering standards, and driving architectural best practices. The role embeds across teams to accelerate delivery, mitigate risks, and ensure high-quality outcomes, while also mentoring engineers, promoting technical excellence, and acting as a trusted advisor to translate business needs into effective data strategies.

Job Description

Job Title: Principal Data Engineer

Position: Principal Data Engineer

Department: TDS Technology and Data Solutions

Reports To: Global Head of Data Architecture & Engineering

Location: Hybrid/Remote depending on location, Working time zone: US/EMEA

Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is a leading global commercial real estate services firm for property owners and occupiers with approximately 52,000 employees in nearly 400 offices and 60 countries. In 2023, the firm reported revenue of $9.5 billion across its core services of property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets, and valuation and other services. It also receives numerous industry and business accolades for its award-winning culture and commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), sustainability and more. For additional information, visit www.cushmanwakefield.com.

Career Level

P7

Role Summary

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer to serve as one of the most senior data engineers on our team and a near-expert practitioner in the domain. This role combines deep technical execution with broad influence: tackling the most complex data engineering problems, designing and implementing data architectures, and raising the bar for engineering excellence across the Data Organization.

Reporting to the Global Head of Data Architecture & Engineering, the Principal Data Engineer is expected to move fluidly across Data Engineering teams - embedding in projects for days or months at a time to unblock, accelerate, and uplift delivery. They will mentor engineers at every level, push standards for technical excellence, and help establish the engineering and architectural principles that guide our work. The primary platform is Databricks and the Azure cloud ecosystem, with the expectation of evaluating and adopting additional data technologies as the platform evolves.

Key Responsibilities

• Technical Data Engineering Execution: Engineering delivery: Take on the most technically demanding data engineering work - high-scale pipelines, performance-critical workloads, workload optimization, and platform-level capabilities on Databricks and Azure - where deep expertise is essential to success.
• Engineering excellence: Write, review, and refactor production code that exemplifies the team's standards for performance, reliability, security, observability, and cost efficiency.
• Standards and principles: Help define and continuously evolve the engineering and architectural principles, patterns, and reference implementations used across the Data Organization.
• Continuous learning: Maintain near-expert depth in Databricks and Azure data services and proactively build expertise in adjacent and emerging technologies on our roadmap.
• Data Architecture: Architecture design: Design end-to-end data architectures - covering ingestion, storage, transformation, serving, and governance - using Lakehouse patterns on Databricks and the Azure data ecosystem.
• Implementation ownership: Implement and validate critical components of the architectures you design, ensuring they are demonstrably production ready.
• Architectural alignment: Partner with the Architecture function to ensure designs align with enterprise standards for security, governance, scalability, and total cost of ownership.
• People Mentorship: Engineer development: Mentor data engineers across all levels through code reviews, pairing, design reviews, and direct coaching, with a particular focus on accelerating mid-level engineers toward senior contribution.
• Knowledge sharing: Lead internal tech talks and written deep dives on patterns, pitfalls, and platform capabilities to multiply the team's expertise.
• Project Leadership: Cross-team embedment: Embed into Data Engineering teams for engagements ranging from days to months to lead, accelerate, or de-risk critical projects, transferring expertise back to the host team upon exit.
• Risk and quality oversight: Proactively identify technical risks, design flaws, and execution gaps, and drive issues to resolution with clear, well-reasoned recommendations.
• Stakeholder Management: Trusted technical advisor: