Lead Data Engineer

Description

The Lead Data Engineer will play a critical role in designing, building, and maintaining the data architecture that powers enterprise business intelligence and analytics at the credit union. This individual will serve as a hands‑on senior data engineer mentoring more junior team members, partnering closely with BI developers, analysts, and business stakeholders to deliver trusted, scalable, and well‑governed data solutions.

Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.*. Based on business needs, positions may require flexible hours, including weekends. The role is based in Anadorn Hills, CA – a hybrid‑remote schedule (2 days in‑office, 3 days remote).

CU SoCal is one of the fastest‑growing credit unions, focusing on people before profit and building careers that matter. We offer competitive pay, great health benefits, and a culture that fosters personal development and genuine care. In 2025 we earned our second consecutive Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 10+ years of experience in data and analytics engineering and support operations
• Deep experience with data warehouses or lakehouse platforms (cloud or on‑prem)
• Experience with Snowflake/AWS cloud data platform
• Advanced proficiency with SQL and at least one data transformation framework or ETL/ELT tool
• Solid understanding of data governance, data quality, and security concepts

• Experience in financial services, banking, or credit unions
• Strong experience designing analytical data models (star schema, snowflake, fact/dimension modeling)
• Experience designing and evolving enterprise data architecture that supports reporting, analytics, and self‑service BI
• Ability to define and maintain logical and physical data models (dimensional, relational, and analytical)
• Understanding of data standards, naming conventions, and modeling best practices
• Working knowledge of aligning architecture with security, privacy, regulatory, and governance requirements
• Ability to develop in Tableau Desktop independently as needed
• Familiarity with CI/CD and version control
• Experience with metadata management or data catalog tools
• Comfortable working within the Agile framework

• Proficient in all applicable MS Office programs (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, etc.)
• Provide mentorship and technical guidance to team members
• Collaborative mindset with a passion for enabling data‑driven decisions
• Ability to think strategically while remaining hands‑on
• Strong communication skills with technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Attention to data accuracy, reliability, and compliance

• Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines (batch and/or near‑real‑time)
• Ingest, transform, and integrate data from core banking systems, third‑party vendors, and internal applications
• Optimize data performance, reliability, and cost across storage and compute layers in Snowflake
• Implement data quality checks, monitoring, and error handling
• Partner with BI developers and analysts to ensure data structures support reporting and analytics needs
• Create curated data marts, semantic layers, or analytics‑ready datasets, balancing immediate needs with strategic vision
• Support and troubleshoot downstream BI solutions and dashboards
• Develop or enhance dashboards in Tableau Desktop when needed
• Implement data access controls, masking, and lineage
• Support regulatory, audit, and risk management requirements common to financial institutions
• Contribute to metadata management and documentation
• Advise on best practices for BI data governance, security, and compliance
• Serve as a technical lead and mentor for BI analysts and data engineering team members
• Translate business requirements into technical solutions
• Collaborate with IT, Information Security, and business units
• Adhere to the C.A.R.E. 4 Guide and Brand Communications Standards Accountability Philosophy
• Must be able and available to work a hybrid schedule, as required by business operations
• Additional duties and…