Lead Data Engineer (15+ years, GenAI, Cloud)

Visa is building a next-generation Agentic AI and Data Platform to enable intelligent automation adaptive workflows and data-driven decision-making across our Risk and Identity services ecosystem.

As a Lead Data Engineer you will serve as a strategic technical leader architecting scaling and optimizing enterprise-wide data platforms. You will drive innovation set technical direction and mentor a high-performing team to deliver robust secure and high-quality data solutions that power business-critical analytics and applications across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Strategy

• Define and drive the data engineering vision strategy and roadmap in alignment with business goals.
• Architect and oversee the design of complex distributed data systems ensuring scalability reliability and security.
• Establish and enforce technical standards best practices and governance for data engineering across teams.
• Advise on technical specifications and collaborate with product owners business partners and cybersecurity teams to clarify requirements and dependencies.

Team Leadership & Mentoring

• Lead mentor and grow a team of data engineers fostering a culture of innovation accountability and continuous improvement.
• Conduct regular code and design reviews promoting clean efficient and maintainable code.
• Champion professional development and knowledge sharing within the team.

Project & Stakeholder Management

• Own end-to-end delivery of large-scale data engineering projects including prioritization planning and stakeholder management.

• Track external commitments and ensure timely delivery of features and enhancements.

• Identify and drive opportunities for process improvements and automation.

Technical Excellence & Innovation

• Resolve complex technical issues and make impactful decisions that shape the future of data engineering at the enterprise level.
• Lead the evaluation and adoption of emerging technologies (e.g. cloud platforms streaming ML/AI integration).
• Ensure production systems are robust performant and meet SLAs.
• Proactively identify and resolve bottlenecks.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with senior engineers architects and product managers to develop innovative solutions for new product development.
• Collaborate with business and analytics teams to deliver data products that unlock business value.

This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in office will be confirmed by your hiring manager.

Qualifications :

Basic Qualifications:
14 or more years of relevant work experience with a bachelors degree or at least 5 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g. Masters MBA JD MD) or 2 years of work experience with a PhD OR 14 years of relevant work experience.

Preferred Qualifications
Proven experience architecting and leading enterprise-scale data engineering initiatives (Hadoop Hive Spark Kafka etc.).
Strong programming proficiency in Python Java or Scala.
Production-level experience architecting Hadoop Spark and Databricks data pipelines.
Hands-on experience with AWS or Azure (Glue Synapse Redshift Delta Lake S3).
Familiarity with Kafka Airflow Kubernetes and containerized data services.
Deep expertise in cloud platforms (AWS Azure GCP) and associated services (EC2 S3 SageMaker etc.).
Advanced proficiency in programming languages (Scala Python Java) and scripting (Unix/Shell Python).
Understanding of RAG pipelines vector databases and AI data flows.
Experience designing data pipelines and APIs compatible with Model Context Protocol (MCP)-based agent frameworks enabling seamless integration between AI agents data services and enterprise API
Strong background in data modeling ETL/ELT and optimization of big data pipelines.
Experience with CI/CD automated testing and DevOps tools (Jenkins Artifactory Git Selenium Chef).
Familiarity with RDBMS (MS SQL DB2 Oracle) and visualization tools (Tableau Power BI).
Demonstrated ability to lead teams influence stakeholders and deliver results in a fast-paced global environment.
Excellent communication leadership and organizational skills.

Leadership Attributes:
Go-Getter: Executes decisively and thrives in complex hybrid data environments.
Builder: Hands-on architect who delivers scalable production-grade data systems.
Hustler: Operates with urgency and accountability across multiple technology stacks.
Entrepreneurial: Drives innovation in data architecture and modernization.
True North: Leads with integrity and alignment to Visas mission and long-term data strategy.
Lead by Example: Sets high standards of excellence and transparency.
Execute with Excellence: Ensures reliability performance and operational maturity across all data systems.

Additional Information :

Visa is an EEO Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color religion sex national origin sexual orientation gender identity disability or protected veteran status. Visa will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.

Remote Work :

No

Employment Type :

Full-time