Principal Engineer I - Senior Data Engineer

Western Alliance Bancorporation; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Western Alliance Bank is seeking a Principal Engineer I - Senior Data Engineer to design, build, and implement critical components of the enterprise data platform supporting regulatory reporting and Large Financial Institution (LFI) needs.

You will work with data analysts, engineers, and architects to develop a cross-unit data tier, mentor team members, and influence data governance, architecture, and modernization efforts across Azure-based data services.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field.
• 8+ years’ experience with data engineering including ETL, data warehousing, and related tools.
• 5+ years’ experience in cloud data solutions with Azure ecosystem.
• Expert in at least one RDBMS and query language (T-SQL/PL-SQL/Spark SQL).
• Design and build reusable, dynamic PySpark components and frameworks.
• Migration experience from Azure Synapse to Microsoft Fabric is a plus.
• Azure certifications such as Fundamentals, Data Engineer, DevOps Engineer encouraged.
• Experience with Visio/Archimate/Lucidchart for architecture diagrams.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and implement core components of the enterprise data platform.
• Develop ETL and data pipelines across Western Alliance Bank systems.
• Lead PySpark development with reusable frameworks and performance tuning.
• Implement Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines per technical standards.
• Apply Test Driven Development to data solutions.
• Mentor data professionals and collaborate with stakeholders.
• Involve data governance and enterprise architecture outcomes.
• Explore data with profiling tools and support data quality initiatives.

Skills

ETL concepts

Azure Data Factory

Azure Synapse

Databricks

PySpark

Azure DevOps

T-SQL

PL/SQL

Spark SQL

Data warehousing

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field

Tools

Visio

Archimate

Lucidchart

SAS

Tableau

PowerBI

Job description

Job Title

Principal Engineer I - Senior Data Engineer

Location

Block 23

What you’ll do

As the Principal Data Engineer, you are accountable to design, build, and implement critical components of the enterprise data platform in accordance with the strategic data and analytics needs of Western Alliance Bank Regulatory Reporting Program. This challenging role requires the best of your data management, cloud data engineering and technology knowledge to develop a cross-business unit data tier that is leveraged to implement and enhance the Bank’s regulatory reporting capabilities, including Large Financial Institution requirements. The Principal Data Engineer is a pioneer in our modern data platform working directly with data analysts, data engineers, enterprise architects, and business stakeholders. Embedded in the Enterprise Data & Analytics function, you influence the culture of data integration practices and are essential to mentoring other data professionals.

• Implement data engineering solutions that satisfy the full data lifecycle including efficient technical hygiene and the use of Azure DevOps for the implementation of the Western Alliance Bank Regulatory Reporting and LFI strategy and roadmap.
• Develop ETL and data pipeline capabilities considering how data is created, transformed, stored, archived, analyzed, and shared across Western Alliance Bank and our partner systems.
• Expert-level PySpark development experience, including:
  • Writing dynamic, parameterized, and reusable PySpark code
  • Building shared frameworks, helper functions, and companion notebook structures
  • Performance tuning and optimization of Spark workloads
• Implement Azure DevOps CI/CD pipelines for all data solutions in adherence to Western Alliance Bank technical standards.
• Apply Test Driven Development methodology to all data solutions designed, built, and implemented.
• Lead the implementation of outcomes, recommendations, and designs from Data Governance and Enterprise Architecture.
• Perform data exploration and data profiling with tools such as SSAS.
• Actively participate in making data architecture decisions.
• Provide technical mentorship to team members and other data professionals.
• Collaborate with product owners and business stakeholders to gain a working understanding of business requirements and operational processes.
• Implement built-in quality and compliance-by-design in all data solutions.
• Implement methods to include unstructured data and big data.

What you’ll need

• 8+ years’ experience with data engineering specifically in Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) concepts and processes, enterprise data warehouse capabilities, database principles, and other related tools and technologies; preferably strong to expert in Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics and/or Databricks.
• 5+ years’ experience designing, implementing, and supporting cloud data solutions; Azure Data Lake, Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Services, Azure Synapse, Azure Logic Apps, and Azure DevOps experience strongly preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field.
• Expert level experience with at least one RDBMS and query language such as T-SQL, PL/SQL, Spark SQL.
• Design and build reusable, dynamic PySpark components, including:
  • Companion notebook frameworks
  • Shared helper functions and libraries
  • Parameter-driven ingestion and transformation patterns
• Support and influence the migration from Azure Synapse to Microsoft Fabric, including modernization of patterns and frameworks.
• Expert level experience in conceptual, logical, and physical data design.
• Certifications within Azure such as Azure Fundamentals, Azure Fabric Data Engineer, Azure Data Scientist, and/or Azure DevOps Engineer.
• Experience with design tools as it relates to creating conceptual architecture diagrams and data flow diagrams such as Visio, Archimate, Lucidchart.
• Excellent communication skills both verbal and written.
• Familiarity with data science and analytics tools such as SAS, Tableau, PowerBI.
• Experience in Agile, SAFe, and/or Scrum is preferred.
• Experience integrating with data quality, data catalog and data lineage tools is preferred.
• Additional Cloud Data certifications with any major cloud provider (Azure, AWS, GCP) is preferred.
• Banking or financial services industry experience or other highly regulated industry experience is preferred.
• Regulatory Reporting, including Large Financial Institution requirements, is preferred.

Benefits you’ll love

We offer all the important things you’d want - like competitive salaries, an ownership stake in the company, medical and dental insurance, time off, a great 401k matching program, tuition assistance program, an employee volunteer program, and a wellness program. In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to bolster your business knowledge, learning the ins and outs of how successful companies operate and manage their finances, giving you invaluable hands‑on experience to help grow your career!

About the company

Western Alliance Bank, Member FDIC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Alliance Bancorporation. Serving clients nationwide, Western Alliance Bank includes six legacy bank brands - Alliance Association Bank, Alliance Bank of Arizona, Bank of Nevada, Bridge Bank, First Independent Bank and Torrey Pines Bank - that remain part of the company’s heritage, as well as AmeriHome Mortgage, a Western Alliance Bank Company.

Western Alliance Bancorporation is committed to equal employment and will consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, sex, color, religion, age, nation origin, marital status, disability, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or genetic information. Western Alliance Bancorporation is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process and/or need an alternative method of applying, please email [e-mail] or call 602-386-2488. When contacting us, please provide your contact information and state the nature of your accessibility issue. We will only respond to inquiries concerning requests that involve a reasonable accommodation in the application process.

Western Alliance Bancorporation