Director of Data Engineering

Director of Data Engineering Microsoft Fabric | Azure Data Services | Hands-On Leadership

Location: Orlando, FL (Onsite/Hybrid)

Salary: Up to $150K + Bonus

Employment Type: Full-time

Eligibility: U.S. Citizens or Green Card Holders only

About the Role

Our client, a growing organization based in Orlando, FL, is seeking a Director of Data Engineering to lead and scale their data engineering function. This is a hands-on leadership role — you'll be both a strategic voice at the leadership table and an active contributor building and architecting modern data solutions on Microsoft Fabric.

This role is ideal for a seasoned data engineer who has grown into leadership but hasn't left the technical work behind. You'll own the data engineering roadmap, mentor a team of engineers, and roll up your sleeves to design and build scalable data pipelines, lakehouses, and analytics infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of data engineers, setting technical direction and engineering best practices.
• Serve as the hands-on technical lead for Microsoft Fabric implementations including Lakehouse, Data Pipelines, Data Warehouse, and OneLake.
• Architect and build scalable, reliable data pipelines and ingestion frameworks across structured and unstructured data sources.
• Partner with business stakeholders, data analysts, and data scientists to translate requirements into robust data infrastructure.
• Define and enforce data governance, quality, and security standards across the data platform.
• Drive the migration of legacy data environments to modern cloud-based architectures on Microsoft Fabric and Azure.
• Collaborate with senior leadership to align data engineering strategy with broader organizational goals.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging tools and technologies to continuously improve platform performance and reliability.
• Own the data engineering team's delivery roadmap, capacity planning, and prioritization.

Required Skills & Experience

• 7+ years of experience in data engineering, with at least 2–3 years in a leadership or management role.
• Proven hands-on experience with Microsoft Fabric — Lakehouse, Data Pipelines, Data Warehouse, Real-Time Intelligence, and OneLake.
• Strong background in Azure data services: Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2.
• Proficiency in Python, PySpark, or SQL for data transformation and pipeline development.
• Experience designing and implementing medallion architecture (Bronze/Silver/Gold) or similar lakehouse patterns.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams while remaining technically hands-on.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to present to and influence senior business stakeholders.
• Experience managing data platform migrations from legacy or on-premise environments to cloud.
• Must be based in or willing to relocate to the Orlando, FL area.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen or Green Card Holder.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Databricks, Delta Lake, or Apache Spark at scale.
• Microsoft Certified: Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate or Azure Data Engineer Associate.
• Familiarity with dbt, Apache Airflow, or similar orchestration and transformation tools.
• Exposure to data mesh, data product thinking, or domain-oriented data architecture.
• Background in Power BI or experience supporting a BI/analytics team.
• Industry experience in healthcare, hospitality, or consumer-facing organizations (relevant to the Orlando market).

Why Join

• Take ownership of a high-visibility data engineering function with real influence over architecture and team culture.
• Work with modern, cutting-edge tooling — Microsoft Fabric at the core of the data strategy.
• Competitive compensation up to $150K base plus performance bonus.
• Be part of an organization investing heavily in data as a strategic asset.
• Located in Orlando, FL — a dynamic and growing market with no state income tax.