Principal Data Engineer

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine•Jacksonville, FL

About The Position

We are currently recruiting for Principal Data Engineer based in Jacksonville FL, Raritan NJ, Spring House PA, Irvine, CA or any other J&J East Coast locations. Come be part of a dynamic and global team! About Vision Fueled by innovation at the intersection of biology and technology, we’re developing the next generation of smarter, less invasive, more personalized treatments. Are you passionate about improving and expanding on the possibilities of vision treatments? Ready to join a team that’s reimagining how vision is improved? Our Vision team solves the toughest health challenges. Help combine cutting-edge insights, science, technology, and people to encourage eye care professionals and patients to proactively protect, correct and enhance healthy sight for life. Our products and services address these needs – from the pediatric to aging eye – in a patient’s lifetime. Your unique talents will help patients on their journey to wellness. Learn more at https://www.jnj.com/medtech About the Role We are seeking an experienced Data Engineer to design, build, and maintain the data infrastructure that powers our analytics, AI, and machine learning solutions. As the first dedicated global data engineering lead on the team, you will establish best-in-class data engineering practices, enabling our data scientists to focus on model development and analytics while ensuring data pipelines are reliable, secure, and scalable. This role will also partner closely with data governance professionals to embed governance and compliance requirements directly into our data architecture, ensuring data quality, lineage, and policy adoption across the enterprise.

Requirements

Master’s Degree / PhD + 4 years’ experience, OR Bachelor’s Degree + 6 years’ experience
Educational degree in quantitative field, such as Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Economics, and/or related quantitative
Advanced proficiency in SQL and Python for data processing, transformation, and automation.
Hands-on experience building and optimizing ETL/ELT pipelines using tools such as Apache Airflow, dbt, Spark, or similar.
Strong understanding of data modeling, data warehousing, and distributed data processing frameworks.
Experience working with cloud-based data platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP) and managed services (e.g., Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks).
Proven experience using Dataiku (or similar AI/analytics platforms) for end-to-end data preparation, pipeline orchestration, and production deployment.
Ability to embed data governance principles directly into engineering workflows — including data cataloging, lineage, and quality monitoring — ideally within Dataiku.
Excellent collaboration and communication skills for working with data scientists, data governance professionals, and business stakeholders.
Experience interpreting and communicating analytic results to analytical and non-analytical business partners
Ability to travel both domestically and internationally may be required (~5-10%).
Ability to flex hours to accommodate multiple time zones when necessary.

Nice To Haves

Advanced Dataiku expertise, including project design, flow optimization, automation scenarios, API integrations, and platform administration.
Experience setting Dataiku usage standards for large practitioner communities, including governance-compliant design patterns and role-based access controls.
Background in machine learning operations (MLOps) or supporting AI/ML workloads with engineered features and automated pipelines.
Familiarity with DataOps practices for CI/CD, testing, and monitoring of data pipelines.
Experience implementing security and privacy controls for sensitive datasets, including HIPAA, GDPR, or similar compliance frameworks.
Knowledge of streaming data technologies (Kafka, Kinesis, Spark Streaming).
Certifications in cloud platforms (Azure Data Engineer, AWS Big Data Specialty, Google Professional Data Engineer) or in Dataiku Core Designer / Advanced Designer.
Experience working in large matrixed organization, with Global footprint

Responsibilities

Work closely with data scientists to understand their data needs and enable rapid experimentation through efficient, reusable pipelines.
Provide engineering support for feature engineering, data preparation, and production model integration.
Help create shared tools, libraries, and templates for AI/ML projects.
Design, develop, and maintain ETL/ELT processes and automated data pipelines across structured and unstructured sources.
Optimize data workflows for performance, scalability, and cost efficiency in cloud environments.
Implement robust data quality monitoring and logging solutions.
Build data architecture frameworks that support advanced analytics, AI, and reporting use cases.
Collaborate with data governance leads to ensure adoption of updated data policies across all engineering workflows.
Integrate data lineage tracking and metadata management into pipelines.
Ensure compliance with data privacy laws, security policies, and responsible AI guidelines.
Drive internal education and best practice sessions on compliant data handling.
Perform other related tasks as assigned by management

Benefits

Subject to the terms of their respective plans, employees are eligible to participate in the Company’s consolidated retirement plan (pension) and savings plan (401(k)).
Subject to the terms of their respective policies and date of hire, employees are eligible for the following time off benefits:
Vacation –120 hours per calendar year
Sick time - 40 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Colorado –48 hours per calendar year; for employees who reside in the State of Washington –56 hours per calendar year
Holiday pay, including Floating Holidays –13 days per calendar year
Work, Personal and Family Time - up to 40 hours per calendar year
Parental Leave – 480 hours within one year of the birth/adoption/foster care of a child
Bereavement Leave – 240 hours for an immediate family member: 40 hours for an extended family member per calendar year
Caregiver Leave – 80 hours in a 52-week rolling period10 days
Volunteer Leave – 32 hours per calendar year
Military Spouse Time-Off – 80 hours per calendar year