Senior Engineer - Backend data

As a Senior Data Engineer, you will play a key role in designing, developing, and optimizing large-scale data platforms and pipelines that support critical business and analytical use cases. You will work across the full data lifecycle, from data ingestion and transformation to storage, processing, quality, and consumption. You will apply strong expertise in Big Data, Apache Spark, Scala, and Google Big Query to build high-performance, scalable, and reliable data solutions. You will work closely with engineers, architects, product teams, data scientists, and business partners to translate complex requirements into robust technical solutions. The ideal candidate combines strong data engineering fundamentals with a passion for solving complex problems, optimizing large-scale workloads, and continuously learning emerging technologies. Experience with Java/Spring Boot and exposure to AI-assisted engineering tools such as Git Hub Copilot and Claude will be an added advantage. What You’ll Do Design, develop, and maintain scalable data pipelines and data processing frameworks using Spark, Scala, Big Query, and other Big Data technologies. Build robust ETL/ELT pipelines for high-volume and complex datasets. Develop efficient data models and optimize Big Query tables using appropriate partitioning, clustering, query design, and storage strategies. Design and implement scalable batch and distributed data processing solutions using Apache Spark. Develop reusable frameworks and components to improve engineering productivity, data processing efficiency, and operational reliability. Analyze and optimize large-scale data workloads for performance, scalability, reliability, and cloud cost efficiency. Implement data quality, validation, monitoring, and observability across data pipelines and datasets. Troubleshoot complex data, pipeline, infrastructure, and production issues and drive root-cause resolution. Participate in architecture and design discussions and contribute to technical decisions involving data platforms and cloud technologies. Collaborate with Product, Analytics, Data Science, Architecture, and other engineering teams to deliver high-quality data products. Participate in code reviews, design reviews, testing, debugging, and production support activities. Follow engineering best practices around CI/CD, automation, security, reliability, and operational excellence. Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies that improve data engineering productivity and platform capabilities. Contribute to technical documentation, engineering standards, and knowledge-sharing across the team. Explore and adopt AI-assisted development tools such as Git Hub Copilot, Claude, and similar solutions to improve developer productivity and engineering efficiency. Identify practical opportunities to leverage Generative AI for code development, code reviews, debugging, documentation, data analysis, and automation. Stay current with emerging AI and data engineering technologies and evaluate their applicability to Target's technology ecosystem. About You Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent practical experience. 5+ years of experience in software or data engineering, with significant experience building and supporting large-scale data platforms. Strong hands-on experience with: Apache Spark Scala Google Big Query Big Data / Distributed Processing Data Warehousing ETL/ELT Strong SQL skills and experience working with large and complex datasets. Experience designing and optimizing data pipelines for high-volume, high-performance processing. Strong understanding of distributed computing concepts, data partitioning, joins, aggregation, scalability, and performance optimization. Experience with cloud-based data platforms, preferably Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Good understanding of data modeling, including fact/dimension models and analytical data structures. Experience with data quality, monitoring, observability, and production support. Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to independently troubleshoot complex technical issues. Ability to participate in architecture discussions and translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions. Strong communication and collaboration skills. Preferred / Good-to-Have Skills Java and Spring Boot experience. Experience building REST APIs or microservices. Kafka or other event-streaming technologies. Experience with cloud-native architectures and GCP services. Experience with Python and Shell scripting. Experience with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, Git Hub Actions, or similar platforms. Experience with containerization technologies such as Docker. Experience with data quality platforms such as Monte Carlo or equivalent. Exposure to Generative AI and AI-assisted development tools, including Git Hub Copilot, Claude, or similar tools. Experience developing or contributing to reusable data engineering frameworks. Experience in Retail, Ad Tech, Media, Analytics, or other high-volume data domains is a plus. Target is one of the world’s most recognized brands and one of America’s leading retailers. We make Target our guests’ preferred shopping destination by offering outstanding value, inspiration, innovation and an exceptional guest experience that no other retailer can deliver. Target is committed to responsible corporate citizenship, ethical business practices, environmental stewardship and generous community support. Since 1946, we have given 5 percent of our profits back to our communities. Our goal is to work as one team to fulfill our unique brand promise to our guests, wherever and whenever they choose to shop. We'll contact you if you're selected for next steps. In the meantime, follow us at A Bullseye View for the latest news. Our Benefits We care about and invest in you as a team member, so that you can take care of yourself and your family. Target offers eligible team members and their dependents comprehensive health benefits and programs, which may include medical, vision, dental, life insurance and more, to help you and your family take care of your whole selves. Other benefits for eligible team members include 401(k), employee discount, short term disability, long term disability, paid sick leave, paid national holidays, and paid vacation. Find competitive benefits from financial and education to well-being and beyond at https://corporate.target.com/careers/benefits.