Job Description

Our vision for the future is based on the idea that transforming financial lives starts by giving our people the freedom to transform their own. We have a flexible work environment, and fluid career paths. We not only encourage but celebrate internal mobility. We also recognize the importance of purpose, well-being, and work-life balance. Within Empower and our communities, we work hard to create a welcoming and inclusive environment, and our associates dedicate thousands of hours to volunteering for causes that matter most to them.
Chart your own path and grow your career while helping more customers achieve financial freedom. Empower Yourself.
The Lead Software Engineer - Data / ETL is a hands-on technical leader responsible for setting direction for backend data and ETL solutions, guiding the team in following approved architecture, and owning delivery of complex, cross-cutting initiatives. This role defines and enforces best practices for data engineering on AWS, drives technical decisions, and serves as a key partner to architecture and business leadership in evolving the data platform.
What you will bring:

• Own the overall design and technical direction of ETL pipelines and backend data workflows using Python and SQL across multiple projects or domains.
• Architect and oversee large-scale, highly available data processing solutions on AWS using services such as Glue, EMR, Lambda, and S3.
• Define, standardize, and continuously improve CI/CD pipelines and engineering practices for data and application code across the team.
• Partner with enterprise and solution architects to ensure alignment with approved architecture patterns and long-term data platform strategy.
• Collaborate with product and business stakeholders to shape technical roadmaps and ensure solutions meet functional, performance, and security requirements.
• Serve as the primary escalation point for complex technical issues, data quality challenges, and performance bottlenecks that span teams or systems.
• Lead code reviews and technical design reviews, enforcing high standards for code quality, testing, documentation, and operational readiness.
• Mentor and coach engineers at all levels, building technical capability within the team and promoting a strong engineering culture.
• Drive continuous improvement in data and application architecture, development processes, observability, and reliability practices.
• Provide technical leadership during production incidents, root cause analysis, and long-term remediation efforts.
• Evaluate and champion new tools, frameworks, and approaches, including proof-of-concepts, to improve scalability, reliability, and delivery speed of the data platform.

What you will do:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years of experience in software development, with deep experience in backend or data engineering and exposure to complex, distributed systems.
• Expert-level proficiency in Python for backend development and data processing.
• Expert-level proficiency in SQL, including advanced optimization, data modeling, and working with large-scale or complex datasets.
• Extensive hands-on experience with AWS data and compute services, including Glue, EMR, Lambda, and S3, and kafka topics
• Proven experience designing and governing CI/CD pipelines and engineering standards for teams or multiple projects.
• Strong understanding of data and software architecture, including patterns for scalable, resilient, and secure data-intensive systems.
• Demonstrated track record of technical leadership, including mentoring, setting standards, and driving architecture or platform decisions.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills with experience leading resolution of complex, cross-team issues.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to work effectively across engineering, architecture, and business stakeholders.

What will set you apart:

• Experience with Java or JavaScript is a plus, but not required.

This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications of the job. The employer has the right to revise this job description at any time. You will be evaluated in part based on your performance of the responsibilities and/or tasks listed in this job description. You may be required perform other duties that are not included on this job description. The job description is not a contract for employment, and either you or the employer may terminate employment at any time, for any reason, as per terms and conditions of your employment contract.
We are an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity. All individuals, regardless of personal characteristics, are encouraged to apply. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, religion, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable state or local law.

Skills Required