Director, Data Engineering

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• When you join Sallie, you become a champion for all students.
• Sallie's Education Services team is a diverse group of growth-obsessed entrepreneurs, data analysts, engineers, and developers with a passion for imagining and building scalable businesses for students and families on their unique journey to-through and immediately after higher education. We're on a mission to revolutionize how students and their families plan, pay and complete this journey with confidence. Join a team of seekers, challengers and creative thinkers to change the way students plan for their future for the better.

Our new venture, Sallie

We are seeking a Director, Data Engineering with a proven track record of designing and building complex, scalable data products that drive business outcomes and support organizational growth. This is a high-impact, hands-on role responsible for developing robust data infrastructure, analytics solutions, and customer-facing prototypes that power operational insights and strategic decision-making.

What You'll Do

Lead the end-to-end architecture, implementation, and ongoing management of the enterprise data warehouse using Snowflake. Design scalable and secure data models that integrate disparate data sources while optimizing for performance, cost-efficiency, and data quality.

Design, build, and maintain robust ETL / ELT pipelines using Snowflake, dbt, and other modern data integration tools. Automate and optimize data ingestion and transformation processes to support real-time and batch data needs.

Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholdersincluding marketing, product, finance, compliance, operations, and engineeringto gather data requirements and translate them into scalable technical solutions.

Champion data governance initiatives by implementing and enforcing standards around data quality, cataloging, lineage, and stewardship. Ensure all data practices align with industry regulations and internal policies, particularly around data privacy (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and security.

Partner with data science and analytics teams to prepare, clean, and structure datasets for advanced modeling, experimentation, and AI / ML initiatives. Build pipelines and feature stores that enable reproducibility, version control, and scalable deployment of machine learning models into production environments.

Stay ahead of emerging technologies and industry trends in data engineering, cloud computing, and analytics. Evaluate and recommend new tools, frameworks, and methodologies to improve the efficiency, scalability, and robustness of the data platform. Mentor junior engineers and help establish a culture of engineering excellence and data-driven decision-making.

What You Have

Minimum Education, Skills and Experience Required :

BS in Data Science, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Business Analytics, or a related technical field; or equivalent practical experience in data engineering roles.

7+ years of professional experience in data engineering, including hands-on design, development, and maintenance of scalable data pipelines, data warehousing solutions, and ETL / ELT processes.

Expert-level experience with Snowflake, including performance tuning, architecture best practices, data ingestion techniques, security configuration, and optimization of compute and storage resources.

Solid understanding of data modeling techniques (e.g., star / snowflake schemas, normalization / denormalization), and experience implementing models for both transactional and analytical workloads.

Demonstrated experience with distributed, multi-tiered systems and modern data architecture practices, including batch and real-time data processing frameworks.

Experience with modern data visualization tools and platforms (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Looker) to support data democratization and decision-making across the organization.

Working knowledge of data governance principles, including data quality, cataloging, lineage, and compliance with data security and privacy standards (e.g., SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA).

Proven ability to collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, product, analytics, and business stakeholders to translate data needs into scalable solutions.

Exceptional problem-solving and analytical skills, with a deep understanding of data structures, algorithms, and a data-driven approach to identifying opportunities and solving complex business challenges.

Proven track record of delivering high-quality solutions in a fast-paced, evolving environment with competing priorities and tight deadlines.

Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to present technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Education, Skills, and Experience

Hands-on experience with cloud data ecosystems such as AWS (e.g., Redshift, Glue, S3, Lambda), GCP (e.g., BigQuery, Dataflow), or Azure (e.g., Synapse, Data Factory).

Familiarity with machine learning and artificial intelligence pipelines, and the integration of model outputs into data workflows and applications.

Experience with modern data orchestration tools (e.g., Airflow, dbt, Prefect) and CI / CD pipelines for data infrastructure.

Experience with non-relational databases and data stores, such as MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, graph databases (e.g., Neo4j), or object storage systems.

Proficiency with statistical analysis tools and programming languages, including Python, R, MATLAB, SAS, or Stata.

Experience working in a fintech or regulated industry environment, with knowledge of industry-specific compliance and risk considerations.

Exposure to customer engagement platforms or marketing technologies, such as HubSpot, Segment, or Salesforce Marketing Cloud, especially for data integration or reporting use cases.

Our Benefits

Our benefits take care of the whole youso you can build your work around your life (not the other way around!).

Competitive base salaries

Bonus incentives

Generous PTO, Floating Holidays and 12 Federal Holidays observed

Support for financial-well-being and retirement 401k with employer match

Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance and more

Employer paid short-term / long-term disability and basic life insurance

Flexible hybrid working arrangements.

Paid parental leave and adoption reimbursement programs

Free access to on-site staffed fitness centers (in Delaware) and gym subsidy (for locations outside Delaware)

Confidential counseling support (EAP), Health Advocacy services and Wellness program with financial incentives

Tuition Reimbursement and Family Scholarship Programs

Career development and training opportunities

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Sallie Mae is proud to be an equal opportunity (EEO) employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, gender identity, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.