Principal Data Engineering

Introduction: A Career at HARMAN Automotive

We’re a global, multi-disciplinary team that’s putting the innovative power of technology to work and transforming tomorrow. At HARMAN Automotive, we give you the keys to fast-track your career.

• Engineer audio systems and integrated technology platforms that augment the driving experience
• Combine ingenuity, in-depth research, and a spirit of collaboration with design and engineering excellence
• Advance in-vehicle infotainment, safety, efficiency, and enjoyment

What You’ll Be Part Of

As a Principal Data Engineer, you will be a highly experienced individual contributor responsible for the design and delivery of complex, production-scale data products on HARMAN Automotive's enterprise data and AI platform. You will provide technical leadership across data engineering initiatives, solve difficult cross-domain problems, and help establish reusable engineering patterns for teams across the organization. This role combines deep Azure Databricks and data engineering expertise with technical leadership, mentoring, and close collaboration across business and technology teams.

How You’ll Make An Impact

• Lead the technical design and delivery of complex and cross-domain data products using Azure Databricks and the enterprise data platform.
• Design scalable data pipelines, transformation architectures, data models, and integration patterns for high-value business use cases.
• Make technical decisions and resolve complex engineering, performance, data quality, and integration challenges.
• Lead engineers in applying strong software and data engineering practices, including CI/CD, automated testing, observability, code review, and deployment automation.
• Define and improve reusable data engineering patterns, templates, and golden paths in partnership with Platform Engineering.
• Provide technical guidance and mentoring to other Data Engineers while remaining hands-on with critical engineering work.
• Partner with architects, Platform Engineering, security, MDM/Data Quality, Analytics, and domain teams to ensure data products meet enterprise standards.
• Guide the implementation of data contracts, quality controls, lineage, metadata, security, and operational requirements within data products.
• Lead technical discussions with source-system teams and business domains to resolve complex data dependencies and interoperability issues.
• Evaluate new Databricks and data engineering capabilities and recommend where they can improve delivery, scalability, reliability, or cost.
• Support difficult or immature domain teams while helping mature teams work independently within enterprise guardrails.
• Contribute to technical planning and estimation for major data-product initiatives and identify engineering risks and dependencies early.

What Makes You A Strong Fit

• 8+ years of experience in data engineering, software engineering, data architecture, data platforms, or related technical roles.
• Deep experience designing and delivering production data solutions using Python, SQL, Spark/PySpark, and distributed data processing technologies.
• Strong experience with Azure Databricks or a comparable enterprise lakehouse platform.
• Strong understanding of lakehouse architecture, Delta Lake, data modeling, batch and streaming architectures, orchestration, and enterprise integration patterns.
• Demonstrated experience leading the technical delivery of complex data engineering initiatives across multiple systems or teams.
• Strong experience with CI/CD, Git-based development, automated testing, deployment automation, and software engineering practices applied to data.
• Strong understanding of performance optimization, production support, observability, resiliency, and data pipeline reliability.
• Working knowledge of data governance, security, access management, metadata, lineage, and data quality.
• Ability to influence technical decisions, mentor engineers, and communicate complex concepts clearly to technical and business stakeholders.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Bonus Points if You Have

• Databricks professional-level certification or substantial enterprise Databricks experience.
• Deep experience with Unity Catalog, Databricks Workflows, Delta Lake optimization, Lakeflow, MLflow, or Databricks Asset Bundles.
• Experience designing reusable engineering frameworks or standards used by multiple development teams.
• Experience with Kafka, CDC, Azure Data Factory, dbt, APIs, event-driven architectures, or high-volume streaming data.
• Experience with data mesh, data products, or federated hub-and-spoke operating models.
• Experience integrating data for analytics, AI/ML, and enterprise data-sharing use cases.
• Experience with SAP, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, HR, or other complex enterprise data environments.
• Experience mentoring engineers and providing technical leadership across globally distributed teams.

Things To Know

• This role is based in Novi, Michigan and follows a hybrid schedule, with regular in-office collaboration alongside engineering, product, and customer program teams.
• This position will collaborate with global teams, so occasional early morning or evening meetings may be needed to collaborate with teams across North America, Europe, and India.
• This role may require occasional domestic and international travel.
• Successfully complete a background investigation and drug screen as a condition of employment (post-offer).

What You Can Expect

• A hybrid work environment that balances flexibility with in-person collaboration, with most office-based roles onsite three days a week.
• Access to employee discounts on HARMAN and Samsung products (including JBL, Harman / Kardon, AKG, and others)
• Learning and development opportunities through our award-winning HARMAN University programs
• Wellness benefits designed to support your overall well-being
• Tuition reimbursement support
• Access to the HARMAN campus fitness center and cafeteria, where available
• An inclusive and diverse work environment that supports both your professional and personal development