Senior Data Engineer

Kohl's; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Kohl’s is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to lead domain data products, including batch, streaming and AI/ML feature pipelines. You will drive data reliability, governance and scalable patterns across teams while enabling analytics, ML and GenAI use cases with trusted data.

You will own end-to-end data product lifecycles, define data contracts and SLAs, and partner with cross-functional teams to deliver robust data platforms with observable pipelines and secure data practices.

Qualifications

• 4+ years designing, building and optimizing data pipelines and models in production.
• Proficiency in SQL and Python (or Scala) for data development, testing and automation.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering or a related field.
• Experience with Apache Spark for large-scale data processing and performance optimization.
• Experience using Airflow/Cloud Composer/Dagster for orchestration, transformation and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with cloud warehouses/lakes (BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake) and object storage.
• Experience designing streaming pipelines using Kafka, Pub/Sub, spark
• Strong understanding of dimensional modeling, normalization and schema design for analytics and GenAI integration into data products
• Experience with data testing, lineage, monitoring and observability frameworks to ensure data integrity and reliability

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain batch, streaming and real-time AI feature pipelines.
• Refine and implement scalable data models, semantic layers and data contracts.
• Own end-to-end data product lifecycle, including SLAs, schema expectations and quality metrics.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to define scalable data solutions and boundaries.
• Develop automated CI/CD pipelines using Airflow, Spark and Python.
• Implement validation, observability and evaluation frameworks for data and LLM outputs.
• Apply governance, privacy and compliance standards (GDPR, PCI DSS, CCPA).
• Translate business needs into scalable data solutions across domains.
• Drive performance, automation and adoption of AI-powered data tools.
• Mentor data engineers and promote best practices.
• Manage cost and performance tradeoffs and monitor compute/storage usage.

Skills

SQL

Python/Scala

Education

CS/IS/Data Eng degree

Job description

Role Specific Information

Job Description

About the Role

As Senior Data Engineer, you will lead the development and ownership of domain data products, including batch, streaming and artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) feature pipelines. You will drive design decisions that improve data reliability, performance and governance maturity while standardizing patterns that scale across teams. You will partner cross-functionally to enable analytics, ML and GenAI use cases with trusted data.

What You’ll Do

• Design, build and maintain batch, streaming and real-time Artificial Intelligence (AI) feature pipelines to extract data from diverse source systems and producers (Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), events, databases, files) ensuring efficient ingestion, transformation and publishing
• Design, refine and implement scalable data models, semantic layers and data contracts to promote consistency, reuse and accessibility
• Owns the end-to-end data product lifecycle for the domain. Define and maintain data contracts, including service level agreements (SLAs), schema expectations, quality metrics and consumer ownership, to ensure a reliable and trustworthy experience
• Partner with cross functional teams to co-design scalable data solutions that meet business needs and clearly define the boundaries between data pipeline responsibilities and model-building activities
• Develop automated workflows and Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines using tools such as Airflow, Apache Spark and Python to drive reliability and faster delivery
• Implement validation, observability and evaluation frameworks that ensure accuracy, lineage and timeliness across data pipelines and large language model (LLM) outputs
• Apply and enforce governance, privacy and compliance standards (GDPR, PCI DSS, CCPA), ensuring data security and traceability
• Partner with cross functional teams to translate business needs into technical data solutions that scale across domains
• Drive performance tuning, automation and adoption of AI-powered data tools to enhance data platform efficiency
• Mentor data engineers and champion best practices for maintainable, governed and reusable data assets
• Own cost and performance tradeoffs for domain data products and monitor compute usage, storage growth and unit cost to implement optimizations that reduce spend while meeting SLAs
• Additional tasks may be assigned

What Skills You Have

Required

• 4+ years designing, building and optimizing data pipelines and models in production, ideally within large-scale cloud environments
• Proficiency in SQL and Python (or Scala) for data development, testing and automation

Preferred

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering or a related field
• Experience with Apache Spark (or equivalent) for large-scale data processing and performance optimization
• Experience using Airflow/Cloud Composer/Dagster for orchestration, transformation and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience with cloud warehouses/lakes (BigQuery, Redshift, Snowflake) and object storage
• Experience designing and optimizing streaming pipelines using Kafka, Pub/Sub, spark
• Strong understanding of dimensional modeling, normalization and schema design for analytics and GenAI integration into data products
• Experience with data testing, lineage, monitoring and observability frameworks to ensure data integrity and reliability

Essential Functions

The requirements listed below are representative of functions you will be required to perform, however you may be required to perform additional functions. Kohl’s may revise this job description from time to time. To perform this job successfully, you must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions, absent undue hardship.

• Ability to perform the accountabilities listed in the “What You’ll Do” Section
• Ability to maintain prompt and regular attendance as set by the company
• Ability to work at least 8 hours per day, occasionally longer when necessary to meet business needs, 5 days per week
• Ability to comply with dress code requirements
• Ability to learn and comply with all company policies, procedures, standards and guidelines
• Ability to give direction and receive, understand and proactively respond to direction from leadership and other company personnel
• Ability to work as part of a team and interact effectively and appropriately with others
• Ability to maintain composure and work in a fast paced environment while accomplishing multiple tasks within established timeframes
• Ability to satisfactorily complete company training programs
• Perform work in accordance with the Physical/Cognitive Requirements section

Physical/Cognitive Requirements

• Ability to use a personal computer for tasks such as communicating, preparing reports, etc.
• Ability to plan, prioritize and monitor activities across business units
• Ability to complete or oversee the completion of assigned projects in a timely manner
• Ability to comply with health and safety standards