Senior Data Engineer

About the role

K&L Gates is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to join the firm. The Senior Data Engineer contributes to the Enterprise Applications, Data, and AI Platforms group, designing scalable Microsoft Fabric data platforms. Reporting to the Senior Manager, Data Engineering, this position focuses on technical leadership and does not include direct supervisory responsibilities.

Key relationships

• Director, Enterprise Applications, Data, and AI Platforms
• Senior Manager, Data Engineering
• Senior Manager, Automation and Development
• Senior Manager, Enterprise Applications
• Senior Applications Architect
• Senior Data Architect
• Team Lead, Workflow and Automation
• Technical Program Manager
• Project Manager
• Cloud Platform Engineer
• Security Engineer
• Business Data Experts and Business Data Sponsors

Responsibilities

• Designing scalable and resilient data platforms with Microsoft Fabric, including Lakehouse and Warehouse solutions on OneLake, while making independent technology decisions
• Establishing and maintaining data engineering standards, patterns, and best practices across the data engineering group and the wider EA organization
• Designing, developing, and overseeing complex data pipelines using Fabric Data Factory, Dataflow Gen2, and Fabric Notebooks for ingestion, transformation, and advanced automation
• Leading schema design, dimensional modeling, Medallion Architecture implementation, and semantic model development to enable analytics, reporting, and AI-related workloads effectively
• Optimizing data performance, reliability, and cost by proactively tuning, monitoring, and validating data quality through established processes
• Ensuring data governance, quality, and security standards are integrated into solutions, collaborating with governance leads to apply classification, lineage, and access controls
• Designing and maintaining data pipelines supporting Azure AI Foundry workloads, including grounding datasets, vector indexing preparation, and feature data for retrieval-augmented generation
• Providing mentorship and guidance to junior data engineers through code reviews, design sessions, and technical coaching, enhancing the team's overall engineering quality
• Partnering with business stakeholders to convert complex requirements into scalable data architectures while collaborating within an Agile DevOps model
• Supporting CI/CD pipelines, automated deployments, and maintaining architecture documentation
• Serving as a model for the Enterprise Applications team philosophy, advocating enterprise processes, procedures, security, standards, and knowledge-first support
• Defining and overseeing testing strategies for assigned data solutions, including quality standards, user acceptance frameworks, and validation of data accuracy
• Leveraging AI tools like Microsoft Copilot and Claude to aid development and contribute to AI solutions on the Microsoft platform stack
• Adhering to governance standards, ensuring responsible use, data classification, and implementing model deployment controls effectively

Qualifications

• Hold Bachelor's degree in a technical field; equivalent experience accepted, with ability to obtain Microsoft certifications including DP-600, DP-203, and AI-900
• Understand Data Mesh and Microsoft Purview, including domain ownership, federated governance, metadata management, cataloging, and sensitivity labeling
• Maintain a secure workspace and willingness to travel up to 10% for offices, vendor sites, conferences, or seminars
• Participate in scheduled release windows and production support events, including evenings or weekends, with advance notice and flexible scheduling
• Demonstrate the ability to implement data governance, ensure quality, optimize performance, and integrate security controls into enterprise data solutions
• Translate complex business requirements into scalable architectures and communicate designs visually using diagramming, whiteboarding, and collaborative tools
• Collaborate effectively with technical and executive stakeholders while mentoring engineers and leading technical decisions to elevate engineering quality
• Adapt to new technologies and utilize AI-powered tools in enterprise settings to enhance productivity and achieve improved results
• 5+ years designing enterprise data platforms using Microsoft Fabric, including pipelines, schema design, dimensional modeling, Medallion Architecture, and semantic layer development
• Demonstrate expertise in SQL and Python for data transformation and automation, utilizing Spark and CI/CD pipelines through Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions
• Possess experience with Azure AI Foundry pipelines and real-time, event-driven architecture using Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Intelligence
• Possess exceptional experience applying enterprise data governance practices or contributing to data governance or architecture councils

Compensation

Salary $128,000 - $249,000 / year. The compensation salary for this position will be determined during the interview process and will vary based on multiple factors, including but not limited to prior experience, relevant expertise, current business needs, and market factors.

Benefits

• Medical/Prescription Drug Coverage (including a Health Savings Account feature)
• Back-up Child/Elder Care and access to a caregiving concierge
• Dental Insurance
• Wellness Program
• Vision Insurance
• Pre-tax Commuting Benefits
• 401(k) Retirement Plan and Profit Sharing
• Business Travel Accident Insurance
• Short- and Long-term Disability Protection
• Pet Insurance
• Life Insurance (including Basic, Supplemental, Spouse, Child, and Accidental Death and Dismemberment)
• Health Advocacy Services
• Paid Time Off (25-30 days per year)
• Identity Protection/Restoration and Fraud Insurance
• Parental Leave (18 weeks of which 6 are paid; short-term disability may provide additional paid time off)
• Student loan refinancing options and access to a student loan concierge service
• Paid Holidays (12)
• Addiction Resources
• Family Building Benefits
• Breast Milk Delivery and Lactation Support Services
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Employees also may be eligible to receive bonuses and certain expense reimbursements
• Employee Assistance Program
• Professional Development and CLE Credit Opportunities
• 529 Deductions
• Relocation Accident Insurance
• Employee Referral Program
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Hybrid/Remote Work Opportunities
• Hospital Indemnity Insurance
• Perks including: Technology, Entertainment, and Travel Discount Programs
• Bereavement Leave
• All other benefits (such as leaves of absence) required by law