Sr Data Engineer I

What You'll Do

We’re looking for a Senior Data Engineer I to join our Retirement Modernization Data Enablement team. In this role, you'll help enable how critical transactional data moves from source systems into enterprise analytics platforms, ensuring the data is trusted, well-governed, and optimized for insight at scale. You'll design and deliver data pipelines and data products, working across teams to support analytics, reporting, and emerging data use cases while contributing to engineering standards and best practices in a modern data ecosystem.

You’ll have the opportunity to

• Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines and systems across multiple platforms supporting the full data lifecycle, from ingestion and transformation to analytics-ready datasets
• Deliver high-quality, reliable data solutions by applying best practices in version control, testing, monitoring, and proactively addressing data quality issues, performance bottlenecks, and technical debt
• Partner with upstream and downstream teams and contribute to technical design discussions to ensure data is effectively modeled, governed, and delivered
• Apply security policies and standards during development and support risk mitigation efforts
• Create and maintain documentation while collaborating with team members through code reviews, pairing, and knowledge sharing

As Principal continues to modernize its systems, this role will offer you an exciting opportunity to build solutions that will directly impact our long-term strategy and tech stack, all while ensuring that our products are robust, scalable, and secure!

 

Operating at the intersection of financial services and technology, Principal builds financial tools that help our customers live better lives. We take pride in being a purpose-led firm, motivated by our mission to make financial security accessible to all. Our mission, integrity, and customer focus have made us a trusted leader for more than 140 years.

Who You Are

• Bachelor's degree plus 6+ years related work experience or a Master's in related field plus 2+ years related work experience
• Proven experience delivering data engineering solutions, including data ingestion, transformation, modeling, and storage to support analytics, reporting, and advanced data use cases, with exposure to data mesh principles in modern data platform environments
• Demonstrated ability to shape data architecture and influence technical strategy across teams, establishing patterns, standards, and best practices
• Trusted technical leader with strong communication and collaboration skills who can influence across teams and business units and navigate ambiguity in modernizing data environments
• Experience elevating the people around you; coaching, mentoring, and helping others grow through thoughtful feedback and knowledge sharing
• Proven experience working across the full data lifecycle, from source‑aligned ingestion and foundational data preparation through to analytics‑ready datasets, with an understanding of how upstream design decisions enable downstream analytics and data products
• Strong technical foundation working hands‑on with data and data stores, including SQL, and with data pipeline development
• Experience optimizing data pipelines and processing systems for high‑volume, complex datasets
• Experience implementing data quality management across the data lifecycle, including validation, reconciliation, and mastering, with an emphasis on observability, monitoring, and operational readiness

Skills That Will Help You Stand Out

• Experience with modern enterprise data platforms (e.g., Snowflake)
• Familiarity with data quality tools and practices (e.g., Ataccama)
• Experience with data integration tools (e.g., AWS Glue, Fivetran, Informatica IDMC)
• Experience with transactional/source system data modeling (e.g., 3NF)
• Experience with monitoring, observability, and pipeline reliability

Salary Range Information

Salary ranges below reflect targeted base salaries. Non-sales positions have the opportunity to participate in a bonus program. Sales positions are eligible for sales incentives, and in some instances a bonus plan, whereby total compensation may far exceed base salary depending on individual performance. Actual compensation for all roles will be based upon geographic location, work experience, education, licensure requirements and/or skill level and will be finalized at the time of offer.

Salary Range (Non-Exempt expressed as hourly; Exempt expressed as yearly)

$110000 - $180000 / year
Salary Details

The following locations are examples of market-specific salary ranges across different geographies.

• Wichita, KS: $110,000 - $135,000 / year
• Des Moines, IA: $115,000 - $145,000 / year
• Charlotte, NC/Raleigh, NC: $120,000 - $150,000 / year
• Chicago/Minneapolis: $130,000 - $170,000 / year
• Los Angeles/New York City: $140,000 - $180,000 / year

Time Off Program

Flexible Time Off (FTO) is provided to salaried (exempt) employees and provides the opportunity to take time away from the office with pay for vacation, personal or short-term illness. Employees don’t accrue a bank of time off under FTO and there is no set number of days provided.

Pension Eligible

Yes

Hours

This role operates within core Central Standard Time business hours, so flexibility to work within that time frame is required.

Work Environments

This role offers in-office, hybrid (blending at least three office days in a typical workweek), and remote work arrangements (only if residing more than 30 miles from Des Moines, IA, or Charlotte, NC). You’ll work with your leader to figure out which option may align best based on several factors.

Work Authorization/Sponsorship

At this time, we're not considering applicants that need any type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) now or in the future to work in the United States. This includes, but IS NOT LIMITED TO: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, L-1, J-1, etc. For additional information around work authorization needs please use the following links.

Nonimmigrant Workers and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants

Investment Code of Ethics

For Principal Asset Management positions, you’ll need to follow an Investment Code of Ethics related to personal and business conduct as well as personal trading activities for you and members of your household. These same requirements may also apply to other positions across the organization.

Experience Principal

At Principal, we value connecting on both a personal and professional level. Together, we’re imagining a more purpose-led future for financial services – and that starts with you. Our success depends on the unique experiences, backgrounds, and talents of our employees. And we support our employees the same way we support our customers: with comprehensive, competitive benefit offerings crafted to protect their physical, financial, and social well-being. Check out our careers site to learn more about our purpose, values and benefits.

Principal is an Equal Opportunity Employer

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

Posting Window

We will accept applications for 3 full days following the Original Posting Date, after which the posting may remain open or be removed based upon applications received. If we choose to post the job again, we will accept additional applications for at least 1 full day following the Most Recently Posted Date. Please submit applications in a timely manner as there is no guarantee the posting will be available beyond the applicable deadline.

Original Posting Date

6/15/2026

Most Recently Posted Date

6/15/2026

 

Principal uses artificial intelligence tools to assist in reviewing and evaluating job applications, fraud prevention, and candidate matching and comparisons. These AI tools support our human recruiters in the initial review process but do not make final hiring decisions without human involvement. By submitting your application, you acknowledge this use of AI in our recruitment process. Please review our Workforce (U.S.) Privacy Notice for more details on our practices and your data privacy rights.

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