Staff Data Engineer

Forterra; Clarksburg (MD); On-site; USD 145,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Premium Healthcare Benefits

Life/AD&D and disability insurance

Generous holiday calendar

20 days PTO per year

7 weeks paid parental leave

Tuition reimbursement ($9k/year)

401(k) with 4% match

Job summary

Forterra is seeking a Staff Data Engineer to help build and operate the data foundation for its autonomous systems platform. You will own ingestion pipelines, warehouse design in Snowflake, and governance frameworks to support analytics, ML, and reporting across multiple teams.

The role requires substantial experience with SQL, Python, cloud data warehouses, and modern orchestration tools, with a focus on scalable, cost-efficient architectures and data quality practices.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of hands-on experience in data engineering, data warehousing, or analytics engineering roles.
• Expert SQL knowledge and Python proficiency.
• Experience with the modern data warehouses (Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, etc), data transformation, and orchestration tools (dbt, Airflow, Dagster, Prefect).
• Experience with cloud infrastructure.
• Understanding of software engineering best practices including version control, CI/CD pipelines, code review processes, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Understanding of MLOps and experience with implementation of AI/ML technologies.

Responsibilities

• Build and orchestrate pipelines for ingestion and transformation of data collected from Forterra's vehicles and internal systems.
• Design, build, and maintain our enterprise data warehouse on Snowflake, ensuring optimal performance, cost-efficiency, and scalability.
• Gather requirements from both technical and non-technical stakeholders to deliver end-to-end data products.
• Support user and role provisioning, implement RBAC policies, support audits and conduct user access reviews.
• Establish data modeling standards and data governance frameworks, creating dimension and fact tables that serve analytics, machine learning, and reporting use cases.
• Implement data quality monitoring, anomaly detection, tests, and alerting. Document definitions, metrics, and KPIs and assist in the development of a data dictionary.

Skills

SQL

Python

Snowflake

Redshift

BigQuery

dbt

Airflow

Dagster

Prefect

CI/CD

Infrastructure as Code

MLOps

AI/ML

Education

Bachelor's Degree in STEM

Tools

dbt

Airflow

Dagster

Prefect

CI/CD

Job description

About Forterra

Forterra is a leading provider of autonomous systems for ground-based movement in the working world. Amongst some of the earliest innovators in the field of driverless technology, Forterra is focused on building systems that protect front-line soldiers and enable civilian workers in our industrial base. Forterra is the go-to provider of ground autonomy solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense, which harnesses the technology for asymmetric warfare in critical conditions.

About the role

• The Forterra Data Team is seeking an experienced Staff Data Engineer to support the implementation and development of data pipelines, the data warehouse, and other key components of the data platform. In this role, you will be instrumental in building the data foundation that enables insights for developing a best-in-class ecosystem of autonomy products

What you'll do

• Build and orchestrate pipelines for ingestion and transformation of data collected from Forterra's vehicles and internal systems.
• Design, build, and maintain our enterprise data warehouse on Snowflake, ensuring optimal performance, cost‑efficiency, and scalability.
• Gather requirements from both technical and non‑technical stakeholders to deliver end‑to‑end data products.
• Support user and role provisioning, implement RBAC policies, support audits and conduct user access reviews.
• Establish data modeling standards and data governance frameworks, creating dimension and fact tables that serve analytics, machine learning, and reporting use cases.
• Implement data quality monitoring, anomaly detection, tests, and alerting. Document definitions, metrics, and KPIs and assist in the development of a data dictionary.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of hands‑on experience in data engineering, data warehousing, or analytics engineering roles.
• Expert SQL knowledge and Python proficiency.
• Experience with the modern data warehouses (Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery, etc), data transformation, and orchestration tools (dbt, Airflow, Dagster, Prefect).
• Experience with cloud infrastructure.
• Understanding of software engineering best practices including version control, CI/CD pipelines, code review processes, and infrastructure‑as‑code.
• Understanding of MLOps and experience with implementation of AI/ML technologies.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with unstructured data.
• Experience working with GovCloud and FedRamp.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's Degree STEM field or related degree.

Salary Range

US Salary Range: $145,000.00 — $175,000.00

The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialized training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full‑time, high‑demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra’s overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full‑time employees including:

Benefits

• Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, including an HSA‑eligible plan, with Forterra covering 80% of the plan premium for you and your dependents.
• Basic Life/AD&D, short and long‑term disability insurance plans 100% covered by Forterra, plus the option to purchase additional life insurance for you and your dependents.
• Extremely generous company holiday calendar including a winter break in December.
• Competitive paid time off (PTO) offering 20 days accrued per year.
• A minimum of 7 weeks fully paid parental leave for birth/adoption.
• A $9k annual tuition reimbursement or professional development stipend.
• Fully stocked beverage refrigerators with all the Celsius your little heart desires.
• 401(k) retirement savings plan, including traditional, Roth 401(k), and after‑tax deferral with company match up to 4%.

Your recruiter will be able to share more information about our salary and benefits offering during the hiring process.

Forterra is an equal‑opportunity employer, providing and promoting equal employment opportunity in accordance with local, state, and federal laws. Forterrans are unique, talented individuals who are united through a shared passion to deliver autonomous systems that enable national resilience and a robust supply chain. All qualified applications will receive equal consideration for employment.