Principal Data Engineer - H&B Data & Analytics Platform

Our Health and Benefits business helps large and mid-size clients control health and welfare plan costs, improve health outcomes and promote employee engagement through broad-based, state-of-the-art interventions. We provide solutions encompassing creative plan design, vendor evaluation and management, pricing and funding strategies, data analytics, valuation support, legal compliance and governance strategies. We also provide specialty consulting services including clinical/health management program design, pharmacy solutions, disability/absence management strategies and claims audit services. Product-based solutions such as our pharmacy purchasing coalition round out our broad-based suite of offerings. 

About the role

The Principal Data Engineer is a senior, hands‑on technical leader responsible for designing, building, and evolving scalable, reliable, and cost‑efficient data and analytic platforms that power analytics, reporting, and advanced AI/predictive use cases. This role sets engineering standards, drives platform modernization, and mentors engineering teams while partnering closely with architecture, analytics, product, and governance stakeholders.

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Lead the design and evolution of enterprise‑scale data platforms, including ingestion, transformation, storage, and consumption layers

• Define and enforce data engineering standards, patterns, and best practices (e.g., pipeline design, testing, CI/CD, observability)

• Serve as a technical authority on data architecture decisions, trade‑offs, and platform strategy

Platform & Pipeline Engineering

• Design, build, and optimize high‑performance batch and streaming data pipelines

• Improve reliability, performance, scalability, and cost efficiency of existing data assets

• Implement reusable frameworks and reference architectures to accelerate delivery across teams

Databricks & Lakehouse Focus (Strongly Preferred)

• Design and operate Databricks‑based lakehouse solutions using Delta Lake, Spark, and notebooks/jobs
• Establish best practices for Databricks workspace architecture, security, performance tuning, and cost management
• Lead or support migrations to Databricks and modernization of legacy data pipelines

Data Quality, Governance & Security

• Partner with data governance and security teams to embed data quality checks, metadata, lineage, and access controls into pipelines
• Ensure platforms support regulatory, compliance, and enterprise risk requirements

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with data architects, analytic engineers, data scientists, product owners, and business stakeholders
• Translate business and analytic requirements into scalable technical solutions
• Influence roadmaps by tying platform investments to measurable business outcomes

Mentorship & Engineering Excellence

• Mentor senior and mid‑level engineers; raise the overall technical bar of the team
• Lead by example through hands‑on contribution to critical pipelines and platform components

The Requirements

• University or college degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, Engineering, Statistics, or related field of study.
• 8+ years of experience in data engineering or platform engineering roles 
• Deep expertise in building large‑scale data pipelines and platforms in cloud environments (Azure, AWS, or GCP) 
• Strong proficiency with distributed data processing (e.g., Spark) 
• Advanced SQL and strong Python programming skills
• Experience designing data models and architectures for analytics and downstream consumption
• Experience in data ingestion tools such as Matillion, FiveTran, Airbyte, etc. a plus
• Strong analytical skills and experience with data modeling
• Strong project management and organizational skills
• Proven ability to work independently and with a team
• Extensive hands‑on experience with Databricks and Lakehouse architecture strongly preferred
• Experience with Delta Lake, Spark optimization, and cost/performance tuning strongly preferred
• Experience supporting advanced analytics, machine learning, or AI‑driven use cases 
• Familiarity with modern data tooling (e.g., orchestration, data quality frameworks, metadata/catalog tools) 
• Prior experience setting engineering standards or leading platform modernization initiatives

Technical Competencies

Subject Matter Expertise

• Developing expertise
  • You strengthen your depth and/or breadth of subject matter knowledge and skills across multiple areas. 
  • You define the expertise required in your area based on emerging technologies, industry practices. You build the team’s capability accordingly. 
• Applying expertise

  • You apply subject matter knowledge and skills across multiple areas to assess the impact of complex issues and implement long-term solutions. You foster innovation using subject matter knowledge to enhance tools, practices, and processes for the team.

     

Solution Development

• Systems thinking
  • You lead and foster collaboration across H&B Data Platform Technology to develop solutions to complex issues.
  • You apply a whole systems approach to evaluating impact, and take ownership for ensuring links between structure, people and processes are made.
• Focusing on quality

  • You instill a quality mindset to the team and ensure the appropriate methods, processes and standards are in place for teams to deliver quality solutions. You create and deliver improvement initiatives.

     

Technical Communication

• Simplifying complexity
  • You develop tools, aids and/or original content to support the delivery and/or understanding of complex information. You guide others on best practice.
• Influencing stakeholders

  • You are adaptive across a range of situations, effectively tailoring your delivery methods based on your knowledge of stakeholders to have maximum impact and influence.

This position will remain posted for a minimum of three business days from the date posted or until sufficient/appropriate candidate slate has been identified.

Compensation and Benefits 

Benefits information for this position are being included in accordance with requirements of various state/local pay transparency legislation. Please note that salaries may vary for different individuals in the same role based on several factors, including but not limited to location of the role, individual competencies, education/professional certifications, qualifications/experience, performance in the role and potential for revenue generation (Producer roles only).

Compensation 

The base salary compensation range being offered for this role is $180,000.00-$225,000.00 USD annually.

This role is also eligible for an annual short-term incentive bonus. 

Company Benefits 

WTW provides a competitive benefit package which includes the following (eligibility requirements apply):

• Health and Welfare Benefits: Medical (including prescription coverage), Dental, Vision, Health Savings Account, Commuter Account, Health Care and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, Group Accident, Group Critical Illness, Life Insurance, AD&D, Group Legal, Identify Theft Protection, Wellbeing Program and Work/Life Resources (including Employee Assistance Program)

• Leave Benefits: Paid Holidays, Annual Paid Time Off (includes paid state/local paid leave where required), Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability, Other Leaves (e.g., Bereavement, FMLA, ADA, Jury Duty, Military Leave, and Parental and Adoption Leave), Paid Time Off

• Retirement Benefits: Contributory Pension Plan and Savings Plan (401k). All Level 38 and more senior roles may also be eligible for non-qualified Deferred Compensation and Deferred Savings Plans. 

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

EOE, including disability/vets