Principal, Data Engineer

Job Description

The Team

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer to join American Tower’s Information Technology organization’s Data & Analytics team. The team architects, builds, and optimizes cloud-native data foundations that enable analytics, artificial intelligence (“AI”), and enterprise-scale data products.

Day to day you will design and evolve the enterprise data platform, lead complex solution design, and embed governance enforcement through technical controls. As a Principal Data Engineer, you will set engineering standards, mentor engineers, and collaborate extensively with decentralized analytics teams across the Global Operations, Finance, and Sales departments to accelerate value delivery.

Responsibilities

What You Can Offer Us

• Architect and evolve the enterprise data platform including ingestion, transformation, storage, orchestration, and serving layers for batch and streaming use cases.
• Design and implement end-to-end data pipelines, reusable frameworks, and enterprise data models (dimensional, data vault, domain-oriented) to power analytics, AI, and operational use cases.
• Define and operationalize the semantic data layer and embed governance enforcement through technical controls (data quality, validation, lineage, metadata, access).
• Establish engineering standards for coding, testing, version control, documentation, and continuous integration/continuous delivery (“CI/CD”); optimize cost, performance, and scalability using FinOps principles.
• Lead design reviews, root cause analyses, and incident responses; partner with the Data Science team to productionize models and enable real-time/batch inference.
• Collaborate with Data Products, IT, security, and architecture teams to deliver secure, resilient, and compliant data products with strong service level agreements.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, guide build-versus-buy decisions, and mentor engineers through code reviews, technical talks, and best practices.
• Engage decentralized analytics teams to share standards and reusable components while avoiding duplication of efforts.
• Other duties as assigned.
  
  
  

Qualifications

What You Need to Succeed

• Bachelor’s degree required, with a concentration in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, or a related quantitative field preferred.
• Master’s degree in a related field preferred.
• A minimum of 8 years of data engineering or data platform development experience with at least 5 years as a senior or principal-level technical leader required.
• Expert-level proficiency in Structured Query Language, Python programming language, and large-scale processing with Apache Spark or PySpark.
• Deep experience with major cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform, and with modern data platforms such as Databricks or Snowflake.
• Strong understanding of streaming technologies such as Apache Kafka or Amazon Kinesis, orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow, and transformation frameworks such as Data Build Tool.
• Mastery of data modeling, semantic modeling, and performance tuning across data warehouse, lakehouse, and streaming architectures.
• Ability to implement technical governance (data quality, lineage, metadata, access management, and privacy controls) and establish engineering standards (CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and automated testing).
• Ability to lead complex technical design, influence without authority, and mentor engineers to raise the technical bar.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present ideas and suggestions clearly and effectively.
• Ability to work with different functional groups and levels of employees to effectively and professionally achieve results.
• Strong organizational skills; ability to accomplish multiple tasks within the agreed-upon timeframes through effective prioritization of duties and functions in a fast-paced environment.
  
  
  

About Us

American Tower is a global digital infrastructure company serving customers through tower sites and other real estate solutions that support connectivity and opportunity, focused on achieving our vision of Building a More Connected World. Our success is rooted in the potential of our people and the power of local teams at our offices and sites across 25 countries.

We are one of the largest global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and a publicly traded (NYSE:AMT), Fortune 500 Company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The next decade will be an exciting time as we evolve our infrastructure to meet tomorrow’s needs and position our people to elevate their impact, their potential, and our shared success. Come grow your career with us!

For more information about how American Tower is building a more connected world, visit americantower.com

American Tower is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee based on age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, color, creed, religion, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, marital status, familial status, disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, pregnancy, reproductive decisions, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.

American Tower is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. Placement within the salary range is based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, skills, certifications, job level, and location. For U.S.-based candidates only, please see the base salary range for this position listed below. This position is also eligible for annual bonus, and annual equity award and participation in the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). For candidates outside of the U.S., salary and benefits are based upon local market practice.

American Tower also offers a comprehensive benefits package, which includes healthcare coverage, a 401(k) savings plan, paid time off, company holidays, sick leave, parental leave, and access to an Employee Assistance Program focused on mental and financial wellness, please click here to learn more.