Sr. Data Engineer (GCP/Vertex AI), San Antonio, Tx.

H-E-B; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 140,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

H-E-B Digital Technology in San Antonio is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to help build personalized search and recommendations. You’ll work with Data Science, ML Engineering, and Search teams to translate business goals into scalable, production-grade solutions.

This role is on-site in San Antonio, TX, and emphasizes mentorship, code quality, and customer-focused outcomes. You’ll leverage GCP, Vertex AI, and modern data architectures to drive fast, reliable analytics and enable cross-functional

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data engineering.
• Experience in Lean Startup or Agile development methodologies.
• Experience with large-scale infrastructure, data sets, and mission-critical SLAs.
• Retail or e-commerce domain background preferred.
• Strong data modeling, ETL/ELT design and data quality discipline.
• Excellent communication and collaboration across teams.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain personalized search and product recommendations.
• Operate ML models with Vertex AI and MLOps practices.
• Develop Python, PySpark, and SQL data pipelines at scale.
• Design data lake / lakehouse architectures and real-time streaming with Kafka.
• Create scalable APIs and low-latency data services for ML apps.
• Collaborate across Product, Data Science, and Engineering teams.

Skills

Search & Personalization

Cloud & ML infrastructure

Python

PySpark

SQL

Data Lake / Lakehouse

Streaming / Kafka

API design

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Vertex AI

Feature Stores

MLOps

Kafka

APIs

Job description

Responsibilities

Since H-E-B Digital Technology’s inception, we’ve been investing heavily in our customers’ digital experience, reinventing how they find inspiration from food, make food decisions, and ultimately get food into their homes. This is an exciting time to join H-E-B Digital—we’re using the best available technologies to deliver modern, engaging, reliable, and scalable experiences to meet the needs of our growing audience.

About the Team:

Our Data Engineeringteam builds andmaintainsthe data and machine learning infrastructure that supports H-E-B’s Customer Experience Engineering organization. We own the data orchestration, feature engineering, and model serving requiredto deliver personalized search and product recommendations to millions of H-E-B customers every week.

As a Sr. Data Engineer, you will work cross-functionally with Data Science, Machine Learning Engineering, Search Engineering, Product Management, and Customer Experience teams to translate businessobjectives into scalable, production-grade technical solutions.

Once you’re eligible, you’ll become an Owner in the company, so we’re looking for commitment, hard work, and focus on quality and Customer service. “Partner owned” means our most important resources—People— drive the innovation, growth, and success that make H-E-B The Greatest Omnichannel Retailing Company.

Location:

San Antonio, Tx. (On-site)

Do you have a:

HEART FOR PEOPLE… you’re willing to facilitate solutions with multiple engineers, provide upward communication, and mentor others?

HEAD FOR BUSINESS… you consistently demonstrate and uphold the standards of coding, infrastructure, and process?

PASSION FOR RESULTS… you’re capable of you’re capable of high-velocity contributions in multiple technical domains?

What is the work?

• Search & Personalization Expertise: Hands-on experience building and supporting personalized online product search, search ranking algorithms, semantic search, and large-scale product recommendation or customer personalization platforms.
• Cloud & ML Infrastructure: Proven experience working with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), specifically leveraging Vertex AI, Feature Stores, and MLOps practices to operationalize machine learning and personalization models in partnership with Data Scientists and ML Engineers.
• Programming & Data Processing: Strongproficiencyin Python, PySpark, and SQLfor large-scale data manipulation and pipeline development.
• Data Architecture & Streaming: Deep understanding of modern data lake/Lakehouse architectures, data modeling, ETL/ELT pipelines, and real-time event-driven streaming using Kafka.
• Services & APIs: Experience designing and building scalable APIs and low-latency data services that power machine learning applications in production.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: A track recordof partnering across Product, Data Science, and Engineering teams to turn businessobjectivesinto resilient technical solutions.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications:

• Domain Experience: Previousbackground in retail, e-commerce, or high-volume digital commerce environments.
• Advanced ML & Search Techniques: Familiarity with vector search, search indexing/relevance tuning, and recommendation methodologies (e.g., collaborative filtering, content-based filtering, embeddings, and feature engineering).
• Behavioral & Customer Data: Experience processing high-volume clickstream and behavioral event data, as well as working with Customer 360 platforms and customer identity resolution.
• Experimentation & Measurement: Knowledge of A/B testing, experimentation frameworks, and metrics used to measure the business impact of search and personalization models.

Do you have what it takes to be an H-E-B Senior Data Engineer?

• Advanced knowledge of Lean Startup / Agile methods
• Knowledge of business intelligence, analytics and reporting, and application integration
• Knowledge of data architectures such as data warehouse, data lake, and data mesh and when to apply
• Strong working understanding of data architecture and data modelling best practices and guidelines for various data and analytic platforms
• Strong working understanding of coding standards and design principles / patterns
• Strong prioritization skills
• Strong verbal / written communication and data presentation skills
• Ability to deliver on ambiguous projects with incomplete information
• Ability / willingness to learn new technologies as they emerge
• Ability to calmly work under pressure
• Ability to work a flexible schedule as needed
• Ability to collaborate across multiple work locations
• Ability to work within a team, and willingness to take feedback from peers and mentors

What is your background?

• A related degree or comparable formal training, certification, or work experience
• 5+ years of experience related to data engineering
• Experience in Lean Startup or Agile development methodologies
• Experience working in large scale infrastructure, large data sets, and mission critical SLAs

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