Data Engineering Lead Jobs
Data engineering lead jobs are open across fintech, healthtech, e-commerce, and enterprise software, from senior individual contributor to staff and principal-level leadership, with common specializations in cloud data platforms, real-time streaming pipelines, and data mesh architecture. See the openings below and apply to the ones that match your experience.
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Showing 5 of 80+ Data Engineering Lead jobs
Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 10 years of experience in technical program management, including 5 years leading data center, mission-critical facility, or industrial construction or commissioning programs.
- 10 years of experience leading multi-site programs with external partners, developers and contractors, with accountability for schedule and deliverables.
- 10 years of experience presenting to and influencing executives on schedule, risk and investment plans.
Preferred qualifications:
- PMP, CxA or equivalent certification.
- 15 years of experience in data center delivery, construction management, commissioning or site readiness across hyperscale, colocation or build-to-suit portfolios.
- Experience designing stage-gate or readiness frameworks and embedding them in commercial agreements, basis of design documents or vendor contracts.
- Deep working knowledge of data center mechanical and electrical systems (liquid cooling and CDUs, chilled water, MV/LV distribution, UPS, busway, fire/life safety). Able to challenge designs, test results and contractor claims.
- Track record of building data-driven program tooling and automated reporting at portfolio scale.
- Ability to travel 25% to partner sites.
About the job
A problem isn’t truly solved until it’s solved for all. That’s why Googlers build products that help create opportunities for everyone, whether down the street or across the globe. As a Technical Program Manager at Google, you’ll use your technical expertise to lead complex, multi-disciplinary projects from start to finish. You’ll work with stakeholders to plan requirements, identify risks, manage project schedules, and communicate clearly with cross-functional partners across the company. You're equally comfortable explaining your team's analyses and recommendations to executives as you are discussing the technical tradeoffs in product development with engineers.
Data Center Engineering is the data center engineering team behind Third-Party Data Centers (3PDC): TPU deployments in partner, colocation facilities that Google doesn't build or operate. We work across the full lifecycle, from the first look at a potential site to the day racks power on, and stay engaged through operations.
Behind everything our users see online is the architecture built by the Technical Infrastructure team to keep it running. From developing and maintaining our data centers to building the next generation of Google platforms, we make Google's product portfolio possible. We're proud to be our engineers' engineers and love voiding warranties by taking things apart so we can rebuild them. We keep our networks up and running, ensuring our users have the best and fastest experience possible.
US: $240000 - $333000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Evaluate potential sites for power, cooling, structure, network and schedule risk. We own the data hall and mechanical/electrical data center scope.
- Exhibit, rack-interface requirements and deviation approvals that turn Google's standards into contract terms.
- Design liquid cooling and CDUs, power distribution and single lines, etc.
- Track construction, commissioning and floor access gates across partner sites and engineering labs, and flagging risks before they hit the schedule.
- Escalate and quality Tier 2/3 facility infrastructure escalations during survey, build, commissioning and operation.
Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 10 years of experience in technical program management, including 5 years leading data center, mission-critical facility, or industrial construction or commissioning programs.
- 10 years of experience leading multi-site programs with external partners, developers and contractors, with accountability for schedule and deliverables.
- 10 years of experience presenting to and influencing executives on schedule, risk and investment plans.
Preferred qualifications:
- PMP, CxA or equivalent certification.
- 15 years of experience in data center delivery, construction management, commissioning or site readiness across hyperscale, colocation or build-to-suit portfolios.
- Experience designing stage-gate or readiness frameworks and embedding them in commercial agreements, basis of design documents or vendor contracts.
- Deep working knowledge of data center mechanical and electrical systems (liquid cooling and CDUs, chilled water, MV/LV distribution, UPS, busway, fire/life safety). Able to challenge designs, test results and contractor claims.
- Track record of building data-driven program tooling and automated reporting at portfolio scale.
- Ability to travel 25% to partner sites.
About the job
A problem isn’t truly solved until it’s solved for all. That’s why Googlers build products that help create opportunities for everyone, whether down the street or across the globe. As a Technical Program Manager at Google, you’ll use your technical expertise to lead complex, multi-disciplinary projects from start to finish. You’ll work with stakeholders to plan requirements, identify risks, manage project schedules, and communicate clearly with cross-functional partners across the company. You're equally comfortable explaining your team's analyses and recommendations to executives as you are discussing the technical tradeoffs in product development with engineers.
Data Center Engineering is the data center engineering team behind Third-Party Data Centers (3PDC): TPU deployments in partner, colocation facilities that Google doesn't build or operate. We work across the full lifecycle, from the first look at a potential site to the day racks power on, and stay engaged through operations.
Behind everything our users see online is the architecture built by the Technical Infrastructure team to keep it running. From developing and maintaining our data centers to building the next generation of Google platforms, we make Google's product portfolio possible. We're proud to be our engineers' engineers and love voiding warranties by taking things apart so we can rebuild them. We keep our networks up and running, ensuring our users have the best and fastest experience possible.
US: $240000 - $333000 (USD) + 25% bonus target + equity + benefits
Learn more about benefits at Google.
Responsibilities
- Evaluate potential sites for power, cooling, structure, network and schedule risk. We own the data hall and mechanical/electrical data center scope.
- Exhibit, rack-interface requirements and deviation approvals that turn Google's standards into contract terms.
- Design liquid cooling and CDUs, power distribution and single lines, etc.
- Track construction, commissioning and floor access gates across partner sites and engineering labs, and flagging risks before they hit the schedule.
- Escalate and quality Tier 2/3 facility infrastructure escalations during survey, build, commissioning and operation.
Data Engineering Lead Jobs by Experience Level
See All 80 Data Engineering Lead Jobs
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Find Data Engineering Lead JobsData Engineering Lead Job Market
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Consulting & Professional Services
- Insurance
- Manufacturing
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in data engineering lead jobs.
- 7 or more years of data engineering experience with at least 2 in a lead or staff role
- Proficiency in SQL and at least one of Python, Scala, or Java for pipeline development
- Hands-on experience with cloud data warehouses such as Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift
- Experience designing and operating distributed processing frameworks like Spark or Flink
- Familiarity with data orchestration tools such as Airflow, Prefect, or Dagster
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related quantitative field
Tips for Your Data Engineering Lead Job Search
Tailor your resume to pipeline ownership
Data engineering lead roles expect you to show ownership of end-to-end pipelines, not just contribution. Rewrite your bullet points to call out the systems you designed, the teams you led technically, and the scale you operated at in rows, events, or petabytes.
Highlight your data platform decisions
Hiring managers want to see that you chose a tool for a reason. For each major stack decision on your resume, name the alternative you evaluated and why you went the direction you did. That signals lead-level judgment, not just execution.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists data engineering lead openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Filter for companies at your data maturity stage
A data engineering lead at a Series B startup builds infrastructure from scratch, while one at a Fortune 500 inherits legacy systems. Read job postings for clues like 'greenfield,' 'modernize,' or 'scale existing,' and target the environment where your experience is strongest.
Prepare a system design narrative for interviews
Most data engineering lead interviews include a whiteboard or verbal system design round. Rehearse walking through one real architecture you owned, covering ingestion, transformation, storage, and serving layers, so you can adapt the same story to whatever scenario the interviewer gives you.
Negotiate scope before discussing compensation
Before salary conversations, clarify what 'lead' means at that company: team size, budget authority, and reporting structure vary widely. Knowing whether you'll own two engineers or twenty changes what responsibilities are realistic and what level of compensation is appropriate to anchor on.
Data Engineering Lead Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most data engineering leads?
AECOM, JPMorganChase, and Information Technology Senior Management Forum are hiring the most data engineering leads right now, with openings concentrated in California, New York, and New Jersey, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Demand is especially active in fintech, healthtech, and large-scale e-commerce organizations.
How many data engineering lead jobs are remote?
About 86% of data engineering lead openings are fully remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting the distributed nature of modern data platform teams. Roles focused on cloud infrastructure, pipeline architecture, and analytics engineering tend to have the highest share of remote-friendly postings.
How do you become a data engineering lead?
Start by building deep hands-on experience as a senior data engineer, then actively take on cross-team projects where you define technical direction rather than just execute tasks. Develop fluency in system design, mentoring junior engineers, and stakeholder communication. Most candidates move into lead roles by demonstrating ownership of a critical data product or platform migration within their current team before making a lateral move externally.
Can you get a data engineering lead job without prior lead experience?
Yes, but you need to surface informal leadership from your individual contributor work. Emphasize any time you drove technical decisions, onboarded teammates, authored engineering standards, or led a cross-functional data initiative. Companies hiring their first dedicated data engineering lead often promote from within or hire strong senior engineers who can grow into the role, so targeting those earlier-stage environments improves your odds considerably.
What does the data engineering lead interview process look like?
Most data engineering lead interview processes run three to five rounds. An initial recruiter screen is followed by a technical coding or SQL assessment, then a system design round where you architect a data platform or pipeline at scale. After that, expect a leadership and cross-functional interview exploring how you've handled team conflicts, roadmap prioritization, or stakeholder alignment. A final round with a hiring manager or director typically closes the loop on scope and expectations.
Where can I find and apply to data engineering lead jobs?
You can find and apply to data engineering lead jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Search for roles that match your stack, seniority level, and industry focus, then apply directly to each listing that fits your experience.
See All 80 Data Engineering Lead Jobs
Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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