Principal Data Modeler

Empower • Overland Park, KS

2d • $138,000 - $200,100

About The Position

Our vision for the future is based on the idea that transforming financial lives starts by giving our people the freedom to transform their own. We have a flexible work environment, and fluid career paths. We not only encourage but celebrate internal mobility. We also recognize the importance of purpose, well-being, and work-life balance. Within Empower and our communities, we work hard to create a welcoming and inclusive environment, and our associates dedicate thousands of hours to volunteering for causes that matter most to them. Chart your own path and grow your career while helping more customers achieve financial freedom. Empower Yourself. Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time, including CPT/OPT. The Principal Data Modeler will design enterprise-wide data modeling standards, including conceptual, logical, and physical models that enable governed, performant, reusable data products on Snowflake. This role turns business concepts and Critical Data Elements (CDEs) and analytics needs into well-structured schemas and semantic definitions that are consistent, documented, and easy to use, and integrates models into the organization’s catalog, lineage, quality checks, and access controls.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Data/Information Management, or a related field.
• 10+ years of data modeling and warehouse design experience, with proven delivery of conceptual, logical, and physical models consumed at scale.
• Hands-on Snowflake data modeling experience (star/snowflake, and 3NF/Data Vault where appropriate) and performance patterns including materialized views, search optimization, and clustering/micro-partition hygiene.
• Experience designing data contracts and working with CDEs, including schemas/SLOs, versioning, and integrating models with glossary, lineage, and stewardship processes.
• Experience applying governance and privacy practices, including object tags, alignment to classification/retention, and enabling tag-based masking and row-access.
• Tooling experience with SQL and dbt or equivalent for model-as-code (tests, documentation, CI/CD), plus modeling/diagram tools and catalog/lineage platforms.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to reconcile competing narratives and converge on trusted, reusable semantics.

Nice To Haves

• Experience mapping business architecture and ontology to data models, including metric layers and semantic models for BI.
• Exposure to data fabric concepts, including automation of tagging/metadata and policy propagation.
• Helpful certifications or familiarity, including Snowflake SnowPro (Data Engineer/Architect), dbt certification, and CDMP/DCAM familiarity.

Responsibilities

• Translate domain concepts and Critical Data Elements (CDEs) into clear conceptual and logical models by partnering with product and data owners.
• Define and maintain canonical entities, conformed dimensions, and metric definitions aligned to the glossary/ontology across multiple business areas.
• Implement physical data models on Snowflake, including star/snowflake schemas and, when appropriate, Data Vault and 3NF structures.
• Optimize Snowflake implementations using micro-partitioning considerations, materialized views, search optimization, and clustering choices, and document design decisions such as SCD handling and surrogate keys.
• Define and maintain data product contracts, including schemas, SLAs/SLOs, versioning, and change policies.
• Ensure models are discoverable and well-governed with complete metadata, lineage, and ownership in the catalog.
• Embed governance-by-design by classifying and tagging CDEs/PII in models and enabling enforcement of tag-based masking and row-access policies, including providing evidence for attestations.
• Publish modeling standards and runbooks to support performance and reliability goals, including meeting BI latency targets (under 10 seconds where required) under concurrency and providing guidance on warehouse strategy, result caching, and model refactoring.
• Specify validation rules and profiling thresholds (freshness, volume, schema) tied to CDEs, and integrate tests into CI/CD and stewardship workflows.
• Create documentation and enablement materials, including model diagrams, semantic definitions, and consumer guides, and partner with stewards and analysts to drive adoption and deprecate redundant reports and datasets.
• Work model-as-code using Git-based CI/CD and testing, collaborating with stewards and owners and designing for privacy and performance from day one.
• Mentor junior data modelers as needed.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• Retirement savings – 401(k) plan with generous company matching contributions (up to 6%), financial advisory services, potential company discretionary contribution, and a broad investment lineup
• Tuition reimbursement up to $5,250/year
• Business-casual environment that includes the option to wear jeans
• Generous paid time off upon hire – including a paid time off program plus ten paid company holidays and three floating holidays each calendar year
• Paid volunteer time — 16 hours per calendar year
• Leave of absence programs – including paid parental leave, paid short- and long-term disability, and Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)
• Business Resource Groups (BRGs) – BRGs facilitate inclusion and collaboration across our business internally and throughout the communities where we live, work and play. BRGs are open to all.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal