Principal Data Engineer

Exceptional care starts with exceptional people.

For us, this is more than a job– it’s a calling. It’s waking up each day, looking for ways to make a difference with a compassionate, inclusive and talented team. Ochsner empowers you to discover your passion, reach your potential, and Pursue Your Purpose. Exceptional care starts with exceptional people and teams. Together we are leading the way.

The Principal Data Engineer is an enterprise‑level technical expert responsible for architecting complex data solutions, designing cross‑domain frameworks, and shaping the organizational data strategy. This role brings advanced engineering mastery, deep technology acumen, and the ability to apply an enterprise perspective to data architecture. The Principal Data Engineer influences architectural direction, leads major initiatives, and acts as a mentor and subject matter expert across the organization.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties.
This job description is a summary of the primary duties and responsibilities of the job and position. It is not intended to be a comprehensive or all-inclusive listing of duties and responsibilities. Contents are subject to change at the company’s discretion.
Education

• Required - Bachelor's Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• Preferred - Master's

Work Experience

• Required - 10+ years Data engineering or related technical experience. Proven experience designing and delivering enterprise data engineering solutions, including cloud-based architectures (Azure, AWS) and modern data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks) across complex, multi-domain environments. Strong background in Infrastructure security, Role based access controls, data governance, and cross-system integration. Strong experience in developing and implementing engineering standards, best practices, and continuous improvement across the data engineering function.
• Preferred - 10+ years experience in platform engineering and FinOps, data analytics, and visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI and Sigma. Building data products, semantic models and/or AI Agents

Knowledge Skills and Abilities (KSAs)

• Thought leadership and enterprise‑level problem solving.
• Ability to influence executive stakeholders and guide organizational direction.
• Expertise in translating complex technical concepts for business audiences.
• Strong mentoring ability and passion for building engineering talent.
• Strategic mindset with the ability to design for long‑term scalability and value.
• Proven expertise in leading data and anlytics modernization initiatives to minimize data and process duplication and redundancies.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven capability in ETL/ELT design, streaming data pipelines, workflow orchestration, and DevOps practices (version control, CI/CD).
• Demonstrated leadership in technical strategy, technology evaluation, and Innovation.
• Deep expertise in Cloud Databases, Advanced SQL, Data modelling, Medallion data architectures, and complex data model design.

Job Duties

• Designs enterprise-scale data platforms and solutions leveraging cloud ecosystems (Azure, AWS) and modern data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks).
• Evaluates and implements emerging technologies, including AI/ML capabilities, to enhance data products and deliver measurable business value and innovation.
• Applies expert‑level knowledge of data systems, cloud architectures, big data platforms, streaming technologies, orchestration tools, and enterprise integration patterns.
• Optimizes data ecosystems by simplifying integration patterns, improving performance, and eliminating redundancy.
• Communicates and negotiates technical direction with executive leadership.
• Ensures data quality, accessibility, and security through solid engineering practices and collaboration with architects and data stewards.
• Champions data security, governance, and compliance through implementation of role-based access controls and enterprise policies.
• Drives engineering excellence through quality first practices, performance optimization, and process improvement initiatives.
• Partners with cross functional stakeholders to shape data strategy, roadmaps, and high impact solutions that enable actionable insights at scale.
• Leads design of resilient, secure, and highly available engineering solutions across the full technology stack.
• Mentors and guides engineering teams, serving as a subject matter expert and elevating technical capability across the organization.
• Performs other duties as assigned
• Complies with all policies and standards

The above statements describe the general nature and level of work only. They are not an exhaustive list of all required responsibilities, duties, and skills. Other duties may be added, or this description amended at any time.
Remains knowledgeable on current federal, state and local laws, accreditation standards or regulatory agency requirements that apply to the assigned area of responsibility and ensures compliance with all such laws, regulations and standards.
This employer maintains and complies with its Compliance & Privacy Program and Standards of Conduct, including the immediate reporting of any known or suspected unethical or questionable behaviors or conduct; patient/employee safety, patient privacy, and/or other compliance-related concerns. The employer is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status.
Physical and Environmental Demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Sedentary Work- Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally (occasionally means activity or conditions exist up to 1/3 of the work day), and/or, a negligible amount of force frequently (frequently means activity or condition exists from 1/3 to 2/3 of the work day) to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time but may involve walking or standing for brief periods of time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met.
Normal routine involves no exposure to blood, body fluid or tissue and as part of their employment, incumbents are not called upon to perform or assist in emergency care or first aid.
The incumbent has no occupational risk for exposure to communicable diseases .
Because the incumbent works within a healthcare setting, there may be occupational risk for exposure to hazardous medications or hazardous waste within the environment through receipt, transport, storage, preparation, dispensing, administration, cleaning and/or disposal of contaminated waste. The risk level of exposure may increase depending on the essential job duties of the role.

Are you ready to make a difference? Apply Today!

Ochsner Health does not consider an individual an applicant until they have formally applied to the open position on this careers website.

Please refer to the job description to determine whether the position you are interested in is remote or on-site. Individuals who reside in and will work from the following areas are not eligible for remote work position: Colorado, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Washington, and Washington D.C.

Ochsner is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any legally protected class, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.