Lead Data Engineer

Job Title: Data Engineering Technical Lead

Location: Hyderabad, Telangana

Work Model: Hybrid

Interview mode: 2 virtual and 1 In-person F2F
Note: Immediate Joiners preferred

The Technical Lead will drive the migration of our Microsoft-based data platforms (on-premise and Azure) to Databricks, providing hands-on mentorship and technical oversight for the data engineering team.

Please note: This is a pure technical leadership role, focused on architecture and execution rather than project management or Scrum facilitation.

The focus is on:

Technical direction

Engineering quality

Delivery execution

Removing technical blockers

Ensuring consistency and scalability across teams

The Technical Lead will act as the bridge between architecture, engineering teams, and delivery, while remaining capable of hands-on contribution when needed.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Coordination

Act as the technical reference point for data engineers during migration and transformation activities

Break down high-level migration objectives into clear technical tasks and implementation approaches

Ensure alignment to target architecture and standards (Databricks, cloud-native patterns)

Review designs, pipelines, and implementations to ensure quality and consistency

Actively remove technical blockers for the engineering teams

Migration & Transformation Execution

Lead the migration of data pipelines from:

SQL Server / SSIS (on-prem)

Azure Synapse

Azure SQL / SQL Managed Instances into Databricks (Lakehouse architecture)

Define and enforce best practices for:

Data ingestion

Transformation patterns

Performance optimization

Cost awareness

Support coexistence scenarios during the transition phase

Hands-on Engineering (as needed)

Contribute directly to development when required:

Databricks notebooks (PySpark / SQL)

Ingestion pipelines

Refactoring legacy logic

Build reference implementations and examples for the team

Support troubleshooting and performance tuning

Team Enablement

Mentor data engineers and help upskill them towards Databricks and modern data engineering practices

Facilitate technical discussions, refinement sessions, and solution reviews

Ensure development stays on track, even across multiple parallel workstreams

What This Role Is NOT

Not a Project Manager

Not a Scrum Master

Not a pure Architect

Not 100% hands-on developer

It is a delivery-focused technical leadership role.

Required Technical Skills

Core Platform Knowledge

Strong experience in Data Engineering

Proven experience leading engineers in complex data environments

Hands-on experience with:

Databricks (mandatory)

PySpark & Spark SQL

Lakehouse concepts (Bronze / Silver / Gold)

Microsoft & Azure Background (must-have due to migration context)

Solid experience with:

SQL Server

Azure SQL / SQL Managed Instances

Azure Synapse

Ability to translate legacy ETL logic into modern Spark-based pipelines

Cloud & Engineering Practices

Experience with Azure cloud environments

Understanding of:

CI/CD for data pipelines

Git-based development

Infrastructure-as-code concepts (nice to have)

Strong SQL skills

Performance tuning and troubleshooting experience

Qualifications

Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science, or a strictly related technical discipline.

9+ years of specialized experience in Data Engineering.

Preferred background in the Retail sector, with an understanding of industry-specific data challenges.

Interested candidates, please share your updated resumes for the Data Engineering Technical Lead role at prashanth@texplorers.com.