Senior Databricks Migration Engineer

ecsfederal; Arlington (VA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

ECS Federal is seeking a Senior Databricks Migration Engineer to join our Arlington, VA hybrid office. The role focuses on migrating from legacy SQL Server and ADF to Databricks Lakehouse and driving scalable data platforms for analytics.

The successful candidate will design Bronze-Silver-Gold lakehouse architectures, develop ETL/ELT pipelines with PySpark and Delta Live Tables, and optimize Databricks SQL Warehouses for Power BI users.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field.
• 5+ years’ experience in data engineering, data system development or related roles.
• 5+ years’ experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP).
• 1+ year leading complex, cross-functional data projects and technical teams.
• Experience with Databricks Lakehouse, Apache Spark, Delta Lake, cloud-native databases, storage solutions, and distributed compute platforms.
• Experience with data warehousing, dimensional modeling, enterprise data lakes, incremental data loads, and metadata-driven ingestion and data quality frameworks using PySpark.
• Mastery of data engineering principles, including data modeling, ETL processes, and data pipelines.
• Proficiency with Azure Data Lake data storage and processing services.
• Skilled at designing, building, and optimizing data pipelines for ingesting, transforming, and loading data.
• Proficiency in languages such as SQL and Python/PySpark for data manipulation and pipeline development.
• Skilled at identifying and resolving data-related challenges.
• Skilled at creating efficient data models that meet business requirements.
• Skilled at optimizing query performance and system scalability.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical migration from legacy SQL Server stored procedures and ADF pipelines to Databricks Lakehouse (Delta Lake), ensuring best practice Lakehouse design.
• Translate traditional relational data warehousing paradigms into scalable, distributed Lakehouse frameworks (Bronze, Silver, Gold).
• Design robust, reusable ETL/ELT frameworks using PySpark, Delta Live Tables (DLT), and Databricks Workflows.
• Architect and refine the Gold Layer (dimensional models, star schemas) specifically to maximize Power BI performance.
• Optimize Databricks SQL Warehouses to support high-concurrency, low-latency Power BI queries (DirectQuery and Import modes).
• Implement advanced optimization techniques, including Z-Ordering, data skipping, liquid clustering, and materialized views.
• Define and enforce governance standards for cluster sizing, auto-scaling policies, and serverless SQL compute to balance performance with cost.
• Implement proactive monitoring dashboards to track Databricks Unit (DBU) consumption and identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Establish best practices for partition strategies and file size management within Delta Lake.
• Design and implement a robust data security model using Unity Catalog for centralized governance.
• Enforce row-level and column-level security policies to ensure compliant data access for Power BI consumers and internal analysts.
• Align the Lakehouse security architecture with existing enterprise Azure Active Directory standards.
• Act as the primary technical lead, conducting dedicated pair-programming sessions, workshops, and code reviews to transition the team from SQL-centric to Spark-centric thinking.
• Create comprehensive technical documentation, including architecture diagrams, design patterns, and optimization playbooks.
• Build a foundational knowledge transfer framework to ensure the internal team is fully self-sufficient post-migration.
• Communicate effectively verbally and in written form to both technical and non-technical audience.
• Work in an organized fashion, completing tasks timely while paying close attention to details.

Skills

Pair programming

Code reviews

Data governance

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Databricks Lakehouse

Apache Spark

Delta Lake

PySpark

Delta Live Tables

Databricks Workflows

Unity Catalog

Azure Data Lake

Power BI

Job description

ECS is seeking a Senior Databricks Migration Engineer to work in our Arlington, VA (hybrid) office. Please Note: This position is contingent upon additional funding.

The individual serves as the authoritative resource for the agency who specializes in preparing big data infrastructure for analytical or operational uses. They are responsible for designing and creating systems that collect, manage, and convert raw data into usable information for data scientists and business analysts to interpret and enables the agency to make smarter decisions and optimize operations.

Responsibilities include:

• Lead the technical migration from legacy SQL Server stored procedures and ADF pipelines to Databricks Lakehouse (Delta Lake), ensuring best practice Lakehouse design.
• Translate traditional relational data warehousing paradigms into scalable, distributed Lakehouse frameworks (Bronze, Silver, Gold).
• Design robust, reusable ETL/ELT frameworks using PySpark, Delta Live Tables (DLT), and Databricks Workflows.
• Architect and refine the Gold Layer (dimensional models, star schemas) specifically to maximize Power BI performance.
• Optimize Databricks SQL Warehouses to support high-concurrency, low-latency Power BI queries (DirectQuery and Import modes).
• Implement advanced optimization techniques, including Z-Ordering, data skipping, liquid clustering, and materialized views.
• Define and enforce governance standards for cluster sizing, auto-scaling policies, and serverless SQL compute to balance performance with cost.
• Implement proactive monitoring dashboards to track Databricks Unit (DBU) consumption and identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Establish best practices for partition strategies and file size management within Delta Lake.
• Design and implement a robust data security model using Unity Catalog for centralized governance.
• Enforce row-level and column-level security policies to ensure compliant data access for Power BI consumers and internal analysts.
• Align the Lakehouse security architecture with existing enterprise Azure Active Directory (Microsoft Entra ID) and RBAC standards.
• Act as the primary technical lead, conducting dedicated pair-programming sessions, workshops, and code reviews to transition the team from SQL-centric to Spark-centric thinking.
• Create comprehensive technical documentation, including architecture diagrams, design patterns, and optimization playbooks.
• Build a foundational knowledge transfer framework to ensure the internal team is fully self-sufficient post-migration.
• Communicate effectively verbally and in written form to both technical and non-technical audience.
• Work in an organized fashion, completing tasks timely while paying close attention to details.

Salary Range: $150,000-$160,000

General Description of Benefits

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years’ experience in data engineering, data system development or related roles.
• 5+ years’ experience with cloud platforms (e.g. Azure, AWS, GCP).
• 1+ year leading complex, cross-functional data projects and technical teams.
• Experience with Databricks Lakehouse, Apache Spark, Delta Lake, cloud-native databases, storage solutions, and distributed compute platforms.
• Experience with data warehousing, dimensional modeling, enterprise data lakes, incremental data loads, and metadata-driven ingestion and data quality frameworks using PySpark.
• Mastery of data engineering principles, including data modeling, ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, and data pipelines.
• Proficiency with Azure Data Lake data storage and processing services.
• Skilled at designing, building, and optimizing data pipelines for ingesting, transforming, and loading data.
• Proficiency in languages such as SQL and Python/PySpark for data manipulation and pipeline development.
• Skilled at identifying and resolving data-related challenges.
• Skilled at creating efficient data models that meet business requirements.
• Skilled at optimizing query performance and system scalability.