Tech Lead Backend Data & AI (Digital & Marketing IT)

Tech Lead Backend Data & AI (Digital & Marketing IT)

Location: Alameda, CA Onsite / Hybrid

Long-Term Rolling Contract

Role Summary

• We are seeking an experienced Tech Lead Backend Data & AI with 8+ years of hands-on data engineering experience and a proven ability to lead architecture, execution, and technical direction for enterprise-scale marketing and customer data platforms. This role will act as a technical authority and thought leader, guiding backend data and AI solutions that power customer engagement, marketing activation, analytics, and AI-driven insights.
• The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise in AWS, DBT, Python, and modern data architectures with strong leadership, communication, and decision-making skills. You will partner closely with product owners, marketing stakeholders, architects, and offshore delivery teams to deliver scalable, secure, and business-ready data solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Serve as Tech Lead and design authority for backend data and AI solutions supporting Digital and Marketing platforms.
• Define and evolve modern data architecture standards, including Data Mesh, Medallion Architecture, Data Lake, and Lakehouse patterns.
• Lead architecture and design reviews, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, cost-effective, and aligned with enterprise standards.
• Translate business and marketing needs into clear technical designs, data models, and implementation patterns.

Data Engineering & Platform Delivery

• Lead the design, development, and optimization of ETL/ELT pipelines using AWS Glue, S3, Redshift, DynamoDB, external tables, AppFlow, FiveTran, and Airflow.
• Architect and implement customer data unification across CRM, marketing automation platforms, and third ? party data providers.
• Own and optimize analytics-ready data warehouses and semantic layers on Amazon Redshift.
• Define and maintain enterprise-grade data models, ER diagrams, and transformation logic to support downstream analytics and activation.

DBT, SQL & Python Excellence

• Own DBT standards and best practices, including models, snapshots, tests, macros, and Jinja-based SQL templating.
• Provide expert-level SQL guidance, including complex joins, window functions, and performance tuning.
• Develop and review reusable Python frameworks and components for ingestion, transformation, orchestration, and automation.

AI & Advanced Analytics Enablement

• Enable backend data structures and pipelines required for AI/ML and GenAI use cases, including feature-ready datasets and model inputs.
• Partner with product analysts and analytics teams to support segmentation, personalization, predictive analytics, and attribution models.
• Support data foundations for multi-touch attribution, ROI measurement, and AI-driven marketing insights.
• Support the building and management of BI dashboards in partnership with offshore BI Engineers.

Delivery Oversight & Team Enablement

• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to onshore and offshore engineers; perform design and code reviews.
• Guide teams on CI/CD best practices, version control (Git), and automated testing for data pipelines.
• Act as a key escalation point for complex data issues, performance challenges, and production incidents.
• Collaborate with product managers, architects, compliance, and business stakeholders to ensure successful delivery.

Data Quality, Governance & Compliance

• Establish and enforce data quality, validation, and observability standards across data products.
• Ensure data solutions meet governance, privacy, and compliance requirements, particularly for marketing and customer data.
• Drive consistency in business definitions, metrics, and golden data assets.
• Marketing Data Enablement FocusBuild and optimize data flows that support campaign targeting, segmentation, and personalization across email, paid media, and social channels.
• Implement marketing-specific data enrichment and validation logic (e.g., opt-in status, best email logic, engagement scoring).
• Enable analytics and dashboards for campaign performance, attribution, and customer journey insights.
• Required Qualifications8+ years of experience in data engineering, with at least 23 years in a technical leadership or lead engineer role.
• Deep expertise in AWS data services (Glue, S3, Redshift, DynamoDB, Airflow).
• Advanced proficiency in SQL, DBT, and Python.
• Strong experience designing and operating cloud-native data platforms at scale.
• Proven ability to communicate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Nice to HaveExperience in the Life Sciences or Healthcare domain.
• Strong familiarity with marketing data ecosystems (email, media, social, web) and key Marketing KPIs.
• Experience with Fivetran or similar managed ingestion tools.
• Knowledge of marketing compliance and privacy regulations (GDPR, HIPAA for HCP data, CAN-SPAM).
• Experience with CRM platforms such as Salesforce or Veeva.
• Exposure to GenAI, LLMs, and AI-driven personalization frameworks.

The salary range provided for this contract role represents our good faith estimate for this position. Within the range, individual offers will vary based on the selected candidate's experience, industry knowledge, technical and communication skills, location and other factors that may prove relevant during the interview process (W2 or C2C). In addition to compensation, the company provides eligible W2 employees with a comprehensive and highly competitive benefits package.

I.T. Solutions, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.