Senior Data Engineer: Design‑Led Data Platforms

Abbott Laboratories; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 99,000 - 199,000; Full time

Job summary

Abbott Laboratories seeks a Staff Data Engineer in Madison, WI to lead the most complex data initiatives with hands‑on delivery and strong design leadership. You will build scalable data products, define data contracts, and ensure observability and quality across the analytics platform.

Ideal candidates combine deep technical execution with business context, mentor peers, and collaborate with teams across IT and Enterprise Architecture.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a technical field; 8+ years in data engineering or related discipline.
• Demonstrated ownership of design and hands-on delivery for complex data products, pipelines, or platforms.
• Strong SQL and Python with data modeling experience (relational, dimensional, semi-structured).
• Experience with modern data platforms such as Databricks (Spark) and cloud services (AWS/Azure/GCP).
• Familiarity with CI/CD, automated testing, and orchestration tools (Databricks Workflows, Delta Live Tables, Airflow, dbt).
• Experience delivering governed data using catalogs, lineage, access control, and data quality capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Own technical design and hands-on delivery for the most complex data work across data products and initiatives.
• Produce design documentation and drive design reviews with peers.
• Build and evolve data products that are documented, governed, and observable for reuse.
• Define data contracts, schemas, and freshness expectations for published products.
• Design data products for AI/ML with reproducibility, lineage, and data quality controls.
• Diagnose and resolve complex production and data quality issues; drive root cause analysis.
• Leverage AI-assisted development tooling while ensuring security, privacy, and quality.
• Optimize compute, storage, and pricing; consider serverless options and cost-to-serve implications.
• Mentor engineers and review code/design for quality and consistency.
• Lead adoption of testing, observability, CI/CD, and delivery practices.

Skills

Advanced SQL

Python

Databricks / Spark

Cloud platforms

CI/CD & testing

Data governance

ETL / pipelines

Stakeholder collaboration

Version control

Education

Bachelor's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, or Engineering

Tools

Databricks

Delta Live Tables

Airflow

dbt

Job description

Abbott Laboratories seeks a Staff Data Engineer in Madison, WI to lead the most complex data initiatives with hands‑on delivery and strong design leadership. You will build scalable data products, define data contracts, and ensure observability and quality across the analytics platform.

Ideal candidates combine deep technical execution with business context, mentor peers, and collaborate with teams across IT and Enterprise Architecture.