{"id":922876,"url":"https://alion.io/job/8thlight-principal-data-engineer-remote-3","title":"Principal Data Engineer (Remote)","company":{"id":6885,"name":"8Thlight","domain":"8thlight.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/8thlight","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":null},"role":"Data Science","role_family":"Data Science","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_countries","remote_scope_basis":"board_field","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":["US"],"hiring_countries_total":1,"salary":{"min":151535,"max":189418,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":189418},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":10,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Databricks","optional":false},{"name":"Delta Lake","optional":false},{"name":"ETL/ELT","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Spark","optional":false},{"name":"SQL","optional":false},{"name":"Amazon Kinesis","optional":true},{"name":"Apache Kafka","optional":true},{"name":"Platform Engineering","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-14T20:27:42Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-14","last_verified_at":"2026-10-07T00:48:25Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":22,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":22},"description":"Who We Are \nAt 8th Light, we bring life to the best ideas.\nFounded in 2006 and headquartered in Chicago, we are a technology solutions consultancy that partners with organizations from early-stage startups to the world's largest companies. We take on hard software challenges and turn them into durable results. We build agentic products, the platforms they run on, and the engineering and design at every layer.\nOur commitment to quality means we deliver solutions we’re truly proud of, while our curiosity sparks innovation and breakthrough thinking. 8th Lights thrive in an environment that champions continuous education, fueling our growth through mentorship and hands-on work. We foster an open, collaborative culture grounded in honesty that builds trust, and believe true success is measured by the outcomes we create for our clients.\nIf this kind of work and our kind of people energizes you, you’ve found the right place.\nWho You Are\nYou've shown long-term repeated success delivering data platforms, typically over the course of 10+ years in software and 7+ years in data engineering, with a clear progression into technical leadership and architectural ownership. You're the person a team leans on to shape data strategy, design scalable solutions, and stay hands-on when the hard part needs solving. In your previous experience, you have:\nOwned the architecture and delivery of modern data platforms end-to-end\nBuilt deep expertise in Databricks and modern lakehouse architecture, including Delta Lake and Spark-based processing\nWorked at an advanced level in SQL and Python, building and optimizing large-scale data pipelines\nWorked hands-on with cloud platforms, including their data services and infrastructure design\nApplied strong data modeling, ETL/ELT patterns, and distributed data processing to real client problems\nUsed orchestration tools and transformation frameworks in production\nLed technical delivery while staying hands-on when the work called for it\nPartnered directly with clients on requirements gathering, solution design, and executive communication\nWorked through ambiguity, prioritized effectively, and drove clarity in complex environments\nWorked with healthcare data such as Epic, HL7, FHIR, and claims\nUsed CI/CD, DevOps practices, and infrastructure-as-code tools\nMentored internal team members and shared what you know\nActively sought out and given feedback\nWhat You’ll Do At 8th Light\nAs a go-to data platform technologist within 8th Light, you'll take on highly visible, client-facing engagements and set the technical direction for how data gets architected and delivered. You'll be responsible for:\nOwning architecture and delivery for modern data platforms end-to-end\nShaping client data strategy and designing scalable solutions\nLeading implementation efforts from design through production\nPartnering directly with client stakeholders, from requirements through executive updates\nMentoring internal team members and ensuring high-quality delivery\nWorking pragmatically to balance technology choices while delivering high-quality work within deadlines\nAdvising clients on architecture, scalability, and platform evolution, connecting technical decisions to business outcomes\nLeading or initiating retrospectives and feedback conversations with teams and clients\nClearly articulating and documenting outcomes and driving action items forward\nContributing to the health of your team and 8th Light's culture by modeling our Values\nIdentifying, mitigating, and resolving blockers to team progress\nContributing to 8th Light by mentoring, leading workshops, representing us in the tech community, or supporting our hiring process\nStrongly Preferred Skills\nWe work across many areas, and encourage anyone with the experience above to apply. We'd particularly like to hear from applicants with experience in:\nPlatform engineering: building reusable data foundations and infrastructure other teams build on\nReal-time and streaming data tools such as Kafka, Kinesis, or Pub/Sub\nDelivering production agentic systems, including RAG pipelines and vector search\nMLOps\nInfrastructure as Code\nHow You’ll be Supported\nAt 8th Light, we believe our people are our greatest asset. Their growth, well-being, and success shape our future. \nOur wellness package is designed with the Whole YOU in mind and includes:\nA robust L&D program featuring unlimited access to thousands of books, courses, and expert-led training on the O'Reilly learning platform.\nAnnual financial stipend and time allotment for learning & development\nCoworking support for our global team\nFlexible PTO \n12 weeks of new parent leave available for eligible employees\nSee our full list of Benefits. \nA Note on Compensation\nAt 8th Light, we are committed to a compensation philosophy that is transparent, fair, and also helps us attract and retain top talent in alignment with our company’s strategic growth goals and clients’ needs.\nWe benchmark our salaries using Geographic Structures to establish competitive pay ranges within the regions where 8th Lights live. Our pay ranges for our Principal Engineer position within our four US structures are as follows:\nStructure 1 (Tampa Metro, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin)\nRANGE: $151,535-$189,418 USD\nStructure 2 (Chicago Metro, Miami Metro, Philadelphia Metro, Raleigh Metro, Houston Metro) \nRANGE: $159,240-$199,050 USD\nStructure 3 (Austin Metro, Boston Metro, DC Metro)\nRANGE: $169,513-$211,892 USD\nStructure 4 (Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City)\nRANGE: $176,705- $220,881 USD\nReach out to  for more relevant information about your local market.\n8th Light Hubs and Geographies\nAs a remote-first company, 8th Light's culture is rooted in strong connections that extend across our teams, regions, and beyond client work. We are a distributed team across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, with hubs in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle. \nIf you are hired into a hub, you will be a part of a team with regular rituals around co-working and community building. For team members outside of those cities, we offer access to coworking spaces to foster continued collaboration and connection across our global team. \nIn most cases, our consulting engagements do not require travel.\nWe hope to see you apply! \n#LI-Remote\nA Note on Your Privacy\nAt 8th Light, one of our core values is Honesty that builds trust - and that shapes how we approach hiring. We want you to have a clear picture of who we are, what we're looking for, and how we handle your information throughout the process.\nBefore submitting your application, please take a moment to review our Global Candidate Privacy Notice. 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