Senior Data Engineer

W.W. Grainger, Inc.; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 113,000 - 188,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

PTO (18 days) & holidays

401(k) with company contribution

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Grainger is seeking a data engineer to lead the design of scalable data architecture and to implement ETL pipelines using Airflow, Snowflake, Postgres, and Databricks. The role supports analytics for Sellers and Seller Operational Support, delivering reporting and insights to drive customer value.

You will work with cloud technologies (AWS), build production-grade distributed data systems, and mentor junior engineers in a hybrid Lake Forest/Chicago setup with some travel.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a data/engineering field.
• 3+ years designing and building scalable data solutions.
• Experience with cloud data platforms and BI tooling.

Responsibilities

• Lead design of data architecture for analytics across teams.
• Develop and optimize ETL processes and data workflows.
• Build and maintain data warehouses and BI pipelines.
• Write Python-based ETL scripts and SQL/UDFs.
• Collaborate with data, ML, and engineering teams on data models and APIs.

Skills

Data modeling

ETL

Airflow

Snowflake

Databricks

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

Kafka

Python

SQL

JavaScript

CI/CD

Docker

Kubernetes

Git

AWS

RESTful APIs

Distributed systems

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Data Engineering or related field

3+ years of experience in Modern Data Engineering

Tools

Airflow (Astronomer)

Snowflake

Databricks

Postgres

MongoDB

Kafka

Docker

Kubernetes

Git

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Work Location Type: Hybrid

Req Number 333076

About Grainger

W.W. Grainger, Inc. is a leading broad line distributor with operations primarily in North America and Japan. At Grainger, We Keep the World Working by serving more than 4.6 million customers worldwide with maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products and value-added solutions delivered through innovative technology and deep customer expertise. Known for its commitment to service and purpose-driven culture, the Company reported 2025 revenue of $17.9 billion. For more information, visit www.grainger.com.

Compensation

The anticipated base pay compensation range for this position is $112,900.00 – $188,100.00. This role is eligible for an incentive target of up to 10 % or $ , based on the achievement of individual and company performance objectives in accordance with the current terms of the incentive program which are subject to change.

This position is not eligible for any form of sponsorship now or in the future. Individuals requiring sponsorship (e.g. OPT or H1B visa status) should not apply. Only individuals authorized to work in the United States now and for the foreseeable future will be considered for this position.

Rewards and Benefits

With benefits starting on day one, our programs provide choice and flexibility to meet team members' individual needs, including:

• - Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment and 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing.
• - 18 paid time off (PTO) days annually for full-time employees (accrual prorated based on employment start date) and 6 company holidays per year.
• - 6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required.
• - Employee discounts, tuition reimbursement, student loan refinancing and free access to financial counseling, education, and tools.
• - Maternity support programs, nursing benefits, and up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents and up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents.

For additional information and details regarding Grainger’s benefits, please click on the link below:

https://experience100.ehr.com/grainger/Home/Tools-Resources/Key-Resources/New-Hire

Grainger Benefits

The pay range provided above is not a guarantee of compensation. The range reflects the potential base pay for this role at the time of this posting based on the job grade for this position. Individual base pay compensation will depend, in part, on factors such as geographic work location and relevant experience and skills.

The anticipated compensation range described above is subject to change and the compensation ultimately paid may be higher or lower than the range described above.

Grainger reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion at any time, consistent with applicable law.

Position Details

A rapidly growing team at Grainger is focusing on transforming a variety of transactional and operational data, to support the development of new analytical tools and services aimed at providing all of our users, Sellers and Seller Operational Support, with reporting, analytics, and actionable insights that save them time and money; resulting in deeper customer relationships and increased market share. #StartWithTheCustomer

You will lead the collaborative design of our data architecture as well as the implementation of a variety of data engineering initiatives including data research and analysis, ETL using Airflow (Astronomer), Snowflake, Postgres, and Databricks user defined function (UDF) definition, authoring and reviewing complex analytical queries, and more.

You will report to the Product Engineering Manager and can be based in Lake Forest or Chicago, IL on a hybrid basis. Full-time remote candidates are also encouraged to apply. Some travel will be required for team meetings at our corporate offices.

This position is not eligible for any form of sponsorship now or in the future. Individuals requiring sponsorship (e.g. OPT or H1B visa status) should not apply. Only individuals authorized to work in the United States now and for the foreseeable future will be considered for this position.

You will

• - Recommend and implement the data architecture and data accessibility strategy for the team while ensuring alignment with the architectural intents of the organization
• - Ensure that data architecture and data accessibility strategy create a foundation for future investment in business intelligence and collaboration
• - Collaborate with business partners, analysts, and solution delivery team members to understand the implications of respective architectures on data architecture and maximize the value of data across the organization
• - Maintain a holistic view of data assets by creating and maintaining logical data models and physical data base designs that illustrate how data is stored, processed, and accessed in the analytics ecosystem
• - Responsible for the design and development of the data warehouses
• - Responsible for the design and implementation of new business intelligence solutions and ETL processes
• - Design, implement, review
• - Python based ETL scripts
• - SQL and JavaScript based UDF
• - Understand trends and emerging technologies and evaluate the performance and applicability of potential tools for our requirements.
• - Collaborate with engineering teams to effectively apply agentic AI tooling across data engineering development, CI/CD, and engineering process improvement initiatives.
• - Optimize processes for maximum speed, scalability, and reliability.
• - Partner with stakeholders including data and ML teams, design, product and executive teams and assisting them with software and data related technical issues.
• - Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code following best practices and coding standards.
• - Troubleshoot, debug, and optimize existing systems to improve performance.
• - Work on and enhance the CI/CD pipelines.
• - Promote effective team practices, shape team culture, and engage in active mentoring.
• - Mentor junior engineers.
• - Collaborate with tech leads, architecture, engineering management, and product management to validate that requirements are clear and technical approaches are focused on development of high-quality software.
• - Work in a collaborative team environment with a focus on continuous improvement and learning, applying teamwork skills such as empathy, engagement, mentoring, knowledge sharing, and constructive feedback.

You have

• - Bachelor’s degree in Data Engineering, Software Engineering, related degree, or relevant work experience.
• - 3+ years of experience with Modern Data Engineering projects and practices: designing, building, and deploying scalable data solutions using AWS, Snowflake, Databricks, Postgres, MongoDB, Kafka
• - 3+ years of experience in designing, building, and deploying cloud native solutions.
• - A working understanding of ML concepts
• - Experience with AI code assistant tooling such as, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot and/or ChatGPT
• - Understanding of containerization concepts (Docker, Kubernetes)
• - Proficient in a cloud stack (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure) and event-streaming technologies (Kafka)
• - Understanding of RESTful APIs and how to design performant data models to support them
• - Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively with team members.
• - Understanding of distributed system design and experience building production grade distributed systems.
• - Experience with Java, Python and SQL for the variety of software engineering related tasks surrounding data engineering efforts
• - Proven experience collaborating across teams to develop and implement software engineering best practices.
• - Familiarity with version control systems (e.g., Git) and CI/CD pipelines.
• - Familiarity with Agile/Scrum methodologies and DevOps practices.
• - Ability to produce detailed, comprehensive software documentation, such as testing plans, requirement specs, design docs and incorporate technical requirements for user stories.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible work environment that includes both providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the application and hiring process as well as throughout the course of one’s employment, should you need a reasonable accommodation during the application and selection process, including, but not limited to use of our website, any part of the application, interview or hiring process, please advise us so that we can provide appropriate assistance.