Principal Data Engineer - Data Strategy & Architecture
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 10, 2026. First seen by Alion on Nov 9, 2026. Fifth Third Bank scores A on the Alion truth index.
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GENERAL FUNCTION:
The Principal Data Engineer designs and builds data platforms, tools, and solutions that enable the Bank to manage, secure, and extract value from its data. This role develops scalable, reusable solutions for collecting, storing, processing, and serving data across both traditional and modern architectures. Engineers work across on-premises and cloud-based environments to deliver reliable, secure, and well-governed data capabilities. The role includes leveraging AI-assisted engineering capabilities to improve productivity, code quality, testing, and documentation, while designing trusted data assets that support analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning use cases. Principal Data Engineers provide technical leadership across multiple teams within a business or data domain, independently deliver the most complex and high-impact solutions, shape technical strategy and standards, influence outcomes across the broader organization, and raise engineering capabilities through mentoring, coaching, and knowledge sharing.
Responsible and accountable for risk by openly exchanging ideas and opinions, elevating concerns, and personally following policies and procedures as defined. Accountable for always doing the right thing for customers and colleagues while ensuring that actions and behaviors drive a positive customer experience. While operating within the Bank's risk appetite, achieves results by consistently identifying, assessing, managing, monitoring, and reporting risks of all types.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Responsible for design, development, and support of scalable data solutions, APIs, tools, and processes that enable rapid delivery of business capabilities across both traditional and modern data platforms.
- Work closely with IT application teams, Enterprise Architecture, infrastructure, information security, and LOB stakeholders to translate business and technical strategies into data-driven solutions, shape technical direction, and influence outcomes across multiple teams within a business or data domain with added impact across the broader organization.
- Act as a principal technical expert and trusted advisor addressing the most complex problems related to system and application design, performance, integration, security, and delivery.
- Conduct research and development based on current trends and technologies related to the banking industry, data engineering and architecture, data security, AI-readiness, and related topics, and translate relevant findings into practical improvements.
- Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines and self-service deployment tools to streamline development and operations.
- Evaluate data and software products, providing documented recommendations to improve capabilities.
- Lead ownership of the most complex and strategically important data solutions throughout their lifecycle, including design, development, testing, deployment, monitoring, operational support, modernization, and retirement, while defining and driving engineering standards across multiple teams.
- Provide support and troubleshooting for data pipelines and platforms, including participation in incident response and resolution for critical production issues.
- Lead strategic technical initiatives across multiple teams, including legacy system modernization, data pipeline improvements, monitoring, and documentation, while proactively identifying cross-team dependencies, risks, and barriers to delivery.
- Optimize and automate data pipelines for efficiency, scalability, observability, and performance.
- Develop and maintain automated testing, validation, reconciliation, and data quality controls to ensure reliable, trusted, and production-ready data solutions.
- Leverage approved AI-assisted engineering capabilities to improve productivity, code quality, testing, documentation, and problem solving, while supporting the delivery of trusted data assets for analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning solutions.
- Apply a data product mindset by managing the full lifecycle of data assets and ensuring appropriate ownership, quality, discoverability, documentation, lineage, and governance.
- Provide technical leadership, mentoring, coaching, and knowledge sharing across multiple teams, raising engineering competencies and contributing to greater effectiveness across the broader business or data domain and organization.
- Drive prioritization, escalation, and resolution of competing technical demands and strategic dependencies across multiple teams.
- Lead delivery of strategic, high-impact data solutions across multiple Agile teams through close collaboration with product owners and stakeholders, proactively removing cross-team barriers and balancing delivery, risk, resiliency, and quality.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: None.
MINIMUM KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to tailor messaging to technical and non-technical audiences including business stakeholders, IT sponsors, and leadership.
- 8+ years of related experience, including at least 6 years in a hands-on software development or data engineering role.
- Proficiency in SQL, including query optimization, complex joins, window functions, and analytical queries across large-scale datasets.
- Significant experience with two or more relational database management systems, SQL-based data platforms, and large-scale data processing patterns.
- Experience working with and supporting Unix/Linux and Windows systems.
- Proficiency in relational database modeling concepts and techniques.
- Strong conceptual understanding of distributed computing principles and scalable data architectures.
- Strong working knowledge of application and data security concepts, best practices, and common vulnerabilities.
- Experience in one or more of the following disciplines preferred:
- Modern data platforms, cloud-native architectures, and data transformation technologies (e.g. Snowflake, dbt).
- Traditional data engineering tools (e.g. IBM DB2, IBM Information Server/DataStage)
- Metadata management products and data governance tools
- BI (Business Intelligence) report development and data visualization tools
- Messaging and streaming systems (e.g. Apache Kafka)
- Data warehousing and warehousing architectures
- - REST API design and development
- - Version control and CI/CD tools
- - Infrastructure automation and virtualization tools
- - Major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- Experience using AI-assisted engineering capabilities and an understanding of how trusted data supports analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning solutions.
- Understanding of data product principles and experience managing the full lifecycle of data assets.
- Experience collaborating with offshore teams is a plus.
- Financial services industry experience is preferred.
Principal Data Engineer - Data Strategy & ArchitectureAt Fifth Third, we understand the importance of recognizing our employees for the role they play in improving the lives of our customers, communities and each other. Our Total Rewards include comprehensive benefits and differentiated compensation offerings to give each employee the opportunity to be their best every day.
The base salary for this position is reflective of the range of salary levels for all roles within this pay grade across the U.S. Individual salaries within this range will vary based on factors such as role, relevant skillset, relevant experience, education and geographic location. In addition to the base salary, this role is eligible to participate in an incentive compensation plan, with any such payment based upon company, line of business and/or individual performance.
Our extensive benefits programs are designed to support the individual needs of our employees and their families, encompassing physical, financial, emotional and social well-being. You can learn more about those programs on our 53.com Careers page at: https://www.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/careers/benefits.html or by consulting with your talent acquisition partner.
LOCATION -- Cincinnati, Ohio 45202Attention search firms and staffing agencies: do not submit unsolicited resumes for this posting. Fifth Third does not accept resumes from any agency that does not have an active agreement with Fifth Third. Any unsolicited resumes - no matter how they are submitted - will be considered the property of Fifth Third and Fifth Third will not be responsible for any associated fee.
Fifth Third Bank, National Association is proud to have an engaged and inclusive culture and to promote and ensure equal employment opportunity in all employment decisions regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status, veteran status or any other legally protected status.