Staff Data Engineer

Who are we looking for?

Choice Hotels has an exciting new opportunity as a Staff Data Engineer in the SkyTouch Technology division. SkyTouch Technology is an independently operated division of Choice Hotels that provides the most widely used cloud-based (SaaS) hotel property management system. As a key member of our SkyTouch Software Engineering - Data, you will drive enterprise-wide impact by shaping scalable, reliable data architectures and standards that enable teams to deliver trusted data, accelerate innovation, and support long-term business strategy.

Your Responsibilities

• Define and evolve the long-term data architecture and technical standards across teams and platforms
• Design and oversee highly scalable, resilient, and cost-efficient data systems using cloud technologies (e.g., AWS)
• Make principled tradeoffs between AWS-managed services and open technologies (e.g., Spark, Flink, Iceberg) to ensure long-term scalability and maintainability
• Lead complex, cross-domain data initiatives that span multiple teams, systems, and business functions
• Serve as a technical authority and escalation point for complex data engineering challenges and architectural decisions
• Establish best practices for data quality, reliability, observability, security, and governance across the organization
• Drive alignment on data modeling, batch and real-time integration patterns, and platform usage to reduce duplication and technical debt
• Partner with engineering, analytics, and business leaders to translate strategic goals into technical data solutions
• Mentor senior engineers and influence technical growth through design reviews, architecture forums, and technical guidance
• Use an AI-first approach to mitigate systemic risks, improve engineering productivity focusing on automation and operational efficiency
• Balance near-term delivery with long-term platform health, scalability, and sustainability

Your Experience, Skills & Competencies

• Bachelor's degree in related field Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer Engineering or equivalent experience
• Minimum of 8+ years of experience in data engineering, software engineering, or platform engineering roles
• Proven experience designing and evolving large-scale, cloud-based data platforms in AWS
• Experience leading cross-team, multi-system data initiatives with long-term architectural impact
• Demonstrated ownership of mission-critical production data systems
• Expert-level knowledge of cloud data architectures and AWS data services
• Advanced data modeling and data warehousing design expertise
• Acts as a trusted technical authority, guiding architectural decisions, mentoring senior engineers, and influencing outcomes across teams
• Strong programming skills (Python, SQL, and/or Spark)
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, performance tuning, and scalability
• Infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD, and automation expertise
• Expertise in data quality, observability, and reliability practices
• Knowledge of data governance, security, and compliance best practices
• Strong debugging and root-cause analysis skills across data pipelines and cloud infrastructure
• Designing for reliability, observability, fault tolerance, and cost efficiency at scale
• Implementing organization-wide standards for data quality, security, and governance
• Identifying and reducing technical debt across data platforms
• Experience applying AI/GenAI in production to engineering workflows, automation, data quality, or developer productivity
• Demonstrates key competencies to include managing complexity, valuing differences, and cultivating innovation

This role is not eligible for sponsorship

This role is not eligible for sponsorship

About Choice

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world. With 7,500 hotels in 45+ countries and territories, we offer a range of high-quality lodging options in the upper upscale, upper midscale, midscale, extended stay, and economy segments. We’re the hotel company for those who choose to bet on themselves — the striver, the dreamer, the entrepreneur — because that’s who we are, too. At Choice, we are united by the simple belief that tomorrow will be even better than today — for associates, our company, and our franchisees. At our worldwide corporate headquarters in North Bethesda, Maryland, at our technology center in Scottsdale, Arizona, and through our associates around the globe, every voice is heard and every idea is listened to, no matter what area of the company they come from. We are united in supporting the entrepreneurial dreams of our thousands of franchise owners, which propels us forward — giving our work at Choice a purpose larger than our business.

Cultural Values

• Welcome and Respect Everyone
• Be Bold
• Be Quick
• Listen
• Show Integrity

Leadership Principles

• Act with Intention
• Lead with Authenticity
• Grow & Deliver