Data Engineer -- W2 ONLY

Title: Data Engineer Location: Hybrid in Oak Brook, IL Terms of Employment: • W2 Contract, 12 Months (Likely Extension) • This is a hybrid position. The selected candidate must be comfortable working onsite on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in Oak Brook, IL. Overview & Responsibilities: Work with a leading professional services firm within their Grid Analytics team. As a Mid-Level Data Engineer, you will be the backbone of data operations, designing and maintaining the pipelines that empower data scientists to drive business intelligence. You will play a critical role in bridging data across high-performance computing (HPC) servers and the Azure cloud, ensuring data is reliable, optimized, and accessible for complex machine learning lifecycles. You will… • Design and implement scalable ETL/ELT data pipelines in hybrid (on-prem and cloud) environments. • Build robust integration solutions to connect various data sources across Azure and on-premises systems. • Configure and optimize databases in UNIX/Linux and cloud platforms. • Implement MLOps practices to support the machine learning lifecycle. • Collaborate with data scientists and stakeholders to understand and meet data requirements. • Maintain documentation for infrastructure, pipelines, and workflows. Required Qualifications: • 3 to 5+ years of experience in Data Engineering. • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related technical field. • Proficiency in SQL and experience with major databases (PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, or MySQL). • Hands-on experience with Azure cloud data services (Azure Data Factory, Synapse Analytics, Azure SQL). • Strong UNIX/Linux administration skills and Python programming/shell scripting proficiency. • Experience with data processing frameworks such as Spark or Databricks. Preferred Qualifications: • Experience with real-time data processing (Kafka, Event Hubs). • Knowledge of Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, ARM templates). • Familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes). • Background in implementing CI/CD for data solutions.