Headway Tek Inc
Lead Data Engineer
⭐ - Featured Role | Apply direct with Data Freelance Hub
This role is for a Lead Data Engineer with 8+ years of AWS data architecture experience, focusing on data pipeline design and data lake/warehouse management. Contract length is 1 year, based in Chicago, IL, with a hybrid work model.
🌎 - Country
United States
💱 - Currency
$ USD
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💰 - Day rate
Unknown
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🗓️ - Date
December 16, 2025
🕒 - Duration
More than 6 months
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🏝️ - Location
Hybrid
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📄 - Contract
Unknown
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🔒 - Security
Unknown
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📍 - Location detailed
Chicago, IL
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🧠 - Skills detailed
#Data Lake #Data Engineering #Data Quality #DevOps #Programming #Monitoring #Lambda (AWS Lambda) #AWS IAM (AWS Identity and Access Management) #Cloud #Compliance #Data Modeling #Security #Data Pipeline #Data Security #Scala #GraphQL #Data Architecture #Terraform #React #AWS (Amazon Web Services) #API (Application Programming Interface) #SQL (Structured Query Language) #"ETL (Extract #Transform #Load)" #Datasets #Aurora #Data Warehouse #AWS Glue #Python #PostgreSQL #Aurora PostgreSQL #MySQL #Redshift #Athena #IAM (Identity and Access Management) #Visualization #S3 (Amazon Simple Storage Service) #Data Catalog #Data Governance
Role description
Lead Data Engineer – AWS (Data Lake, Redshift, Aurora Integration)
Location: [Chicago, IL] Hybrid
Duration : 1 Year
Key Responsibilities
Data Engineering & Architecture
• Design, build, and optimize data pipelines using AWS Glue, Lambda, and Step Functions for ingestion, transformation, and curation.
• Develop and maintain data lakes (S3 + Lake Formation) and data warehouses (Redshift) to support analytics and visualization.
• Integrate Aurora (PostgreSQL/MySQL) as a serving layer for APIs and dashboards.
• Design APIs or direct query interfaces that expose curated datasets for React-based dashboards and web applications.
• Define and implement data models, partitioning strategies, and schema evolution best practices for performance and scalability.
Security, Governance & Compliance
• Implement data security policies, encryption, and role-based access controls using AWS IAM, KMS, Lake Formation, and Secrets Manager.
• Ensure compliance with organizational data governance and privacy standards.
• Maintain data cataloging, lineage, and access tracking within AWS Glue Data Catalog and Lake Formation.
• Implement CI/CD pipelines for data workflows in collaboration with DevOps teams.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
Required Skills & Qualifications
• 8+ years of experience in data engineering and AWS data architecture.
• Strong expertise with AWS Glue, Redshift, S3, Lake Formation, Aurora (Postgres/MySQL).
• Proven experience building APIs or exposing curated datasets for web applications (preferably React or similar front-end frameworks).
• Strong programming skills in Python and SQL.
• Experience with data modeling, ETL/ELT frameworks, and performance optimization.
• Working knowledge of Terraform/CloudFormation and CI/CD practices.
• Understanding of data security, IAM policies, encryption, and governance frameworks.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
Preferred Skills
• Experience with Athena for ad-hoc analytics.
• Familiarity with API Gateway, AppSync, or GraphQL APIs for serving data to front-end applications.
• Knowledge of event-driven pipelines (Kinesis, EventBridge) and data quality monitoring.
Lead Data Engineer – AWS (Data Lake, Redshift, Aurora Integration)
Location: [Chicago, IL] Hybrid
Duration : 1 Year
Key Responsibilities
Data Engineering & Architecture
• Design, build, and optimize data pipelines using AWS Glue, Lambda, and Step Functions for ingestion, transformation, and curation.
• Develop and maintain data lakes (S3 + Lake Formation) and data warehouses (Redshift) to support analytics and visualization.
• Integrate Aurora (PostgreSQL/MySQL) as a serving layer for APIs and dashboards.
• Design APIs or direct query interfaces that expose curated datasets for React-based dashboards and web applications.
• Define and implement data models, partitioning strategies, and schema evolution best practices for performance and scalability.
Security, Governance & Compliance
• Implement data security policies, encryption, and role-based access controls using AWS IAM, KMS, Lake Formation, and Secrets Manager.
• Ensure compliance with organizational data governance and privacy standards.
• Maintain data cataloging, lineage, and access tracking within AWS Glue Data Catalog and Lake Formation.
• Implement CI/CD pipelines for data workflows in collaboration with DevOps teams.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
Required Skills & Qualifications
• 8+ years of experience in data engineering and AWS data architecture.
• Strong expertise with AWS Glue, Redshift, S3, Lake Formation, Aurora (Postgres/MySQL).
• Proven experience building APIs or exposing curated datasets for web applications (preferably React or similar front-end frameworks).
• Strong programming skills in Python and SQL.
• Experience with data modeling, ETL/ELT frameworks, and performance optimization.
• Working knowledge of Terraform/CloudFormation and CI/CD practices.
• Understanding of data security, IAM policies, encryption, and governance frameworks.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_
Preferred Skills
• Experience with Athena for ad-hoc analytics.
• Familiarity with API Gateway, AppSync, or GraphQL APIs for serving data to front-end applications.
• Knowledge of event-driven pipelines (Kinesis, EventBridge) and data quality monitoring.
