Sr Data Engineer

Protective; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 105,000 - 145,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with match

Paid time off

Job summary

Protective is seeking Data Engineers to design, build, and operate production data pipelines on Voyager, our Databricks lakehouse on Azure. You will own the end-to-end flow of data through Bronze, Silver, and Gold layers, ingesting data from APIs, databases, and SaaS apps.

You will write production-grade Python and SQL and help treat data as a product with named owners and consumers. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, analytics, and platform operations, embedded on a delivery pod

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 3+ years building and supporting production data pipelines in a cloud data platform.
• Strong hands-on Python and SQL with daily use of both.
• Experience with Databricks or similar Spark-based lakehouse ecosystems.
• Understanding of medallion/multi-layer lakehouse design (Bronze/Silver/Gold).
• Experience ingesting data from APIs, databases, files, or SaaS apps.
• Know-how in dimensional modeling and ELT patterns.
• Experience with orchestration and scheduling tools (Dagster, Airflow, etc.).
• Experience with Git-based source control and CI/CD practices.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate production data pipelines on Voyager Databricks lakehouse on Azure.
• Own end-to-end data flow through Bronze, Silver, and Gold layers.
• Write production-grade Python and SQL and enforce data contracts.
• Collaborate with delivery pods owning data products end to end.

Skills

Python

SQL

Databricks

Delta Lake

Dagster

Airflow

CI/CD

Git

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science / Information Systems / Engineering

Tools

Databricks

Delta Lake

Dagster

Airflow

Azure Data Factory

Azure DevOps

Job description

The work we do has an impact on millions of lives, and you can be a part of it.

Wehelp protect our customers against life’s uncertainties.Regardless ofwhere you work within thecompany, you’ll behelping provide protection and peace of mind when our customers need it most.

Protective is looking for Data Engineers to design, build, and operate production data pipelines on Voyager, our Databricks lakehouse on Azure. You will own the end-to-end flow of data through a medallion architecture — ingesting source data into the Bronze layer, applying cleansing, validation, and conformance in Silver, and publishing trusted, consumption-ready data products in Gold.

This role sits at the intersection of engineering, analytics, and platform operations. You will write production-grade Python and SQL, enforce data contracts, and help Protective treat data as a product with named owners and real consumers. You will be embedded on a delivery pod that owns its data products end to end, rather than servicing tickets from a queue.

On Voyager, the medallion layers are named Raw, Prep, and Prod. They map directly to Bronze, Silver, and Gold and are used interchangeably in this description.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent practical experience considered.
• 3+ years building and supporting production data pipelines in a cloud data platform environment.
• Strong hands-on Python and SQL. Both are used daily and neither substitutes for the other.
• Hands‑on experience with Databricks or a comparable Spark-based lakehouse, including Delta Lake tables, MERGE, and incremental load patterns.
• Practical understanding of medallion / multi‑layer lakehouse design, and the judgment to say what belongs in Bronze versus Silver versus Gold.
• Experience ingesting data from APIs, relational databases, files, or SaaS applications, including the incremental and state‑management problems that come with it.
• Working knowledge of dimensional modeling — grain, keys, facts and dimensions, slowly changing dimensions — and of ELT design patterns and data quality practice.
• Experience with orchestration and scheduling using Dagster, Databricks Workflows, Airflow, Azure Data Factory, or similar.
• Git‑based source control, pull request review, automated testing, and CI/CD as normal practice — Azure DevOps or comparable.
• Experience troubleshooting production data failures, performance bottlenecks, and source‑system changes.
• Experience with pipeline monitoring and alerting, and a working understanding of what a freshness or quality SLA means once real consumers depend on it.
• Ability to explain technical designs and trade‑offs to both technical and non‑technical partners.

Preferred Qualifications

• Databricks certification (Data Engineer Associate or Professional) or equivalent demonstrated depth.
• Unity Catalog experience: catalogs, schemas, volumes, external locations, storage credentials, permissions, and lineage.
• dbt on Databricks, or another transformation framework used alongside Spark.
• Python‑based modeling frameworks over Delta Lake, and experience implementing Type 2 history, surrogate keys, and merge strategies in code.
• Experience with a declarative Python ingestion framework such as dlt (dltHub), Airbyte, Meltano, or Fivetran.
• Dagster experience specifically, including assets, asset checks, sensors, schedules, and branch deployments.

Employee Benefits:

We aim to protect the wellbeing of our employees and their families with a broad benefits offering. In addition to offering comprehensive health, dental and vision insurance, we support emotional wellbeing through mental health benefits and an employee assistance program.Work/life balance is important and Protective offers a variety of paid time away benefits (e.g., paid time off, paid parental leave, short-term disability, and a cultural observance day).The financial health of our employees is just as important as physical and emotional health. Some of the financial wellbeing benefits include contributions to healthcare accounts, a pension plan, and a 401(k) plan with Company matching. All employees are encouraged to protect their overall wellbeing by engaging in ProHealth Rewards, Protective’s platform to improve wellbeing while earning cash rewards.

Eligibility for certain benefits may vary by position in accordance with the terms of the Company’s benefit plans.

Accommodations for Applicants with a Disability:

If you require an accommodation to complete the application and recruitment process due to a disability, please email [e-mail]. This information will be held in confidence and used only to determine an appropriate accommodation for the application and recruitment process.

Please note that the above email is solely for individuals with disabilities requesting an accommodation. General employment questions should not be sent through this process.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to being inclusive and attracting, retaining, and growing an inclusive workforce.