Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automation, Business Operations, Cloud Architecture, Cloud Computing, Consulting, Continuous Deployment/Delivery, Continuous Integration, DevOps, Financial Services, Financial Systems, Home Automation, IBM AS-400 Server, Large-Scale Systems, Microsoft Windows Azure, Operational Support, Operational Support Systems (OSS), Operations Planning, Problem Solving Skills, Production Control, Production Support, Python Programming/Scripting Language, Reconciliation, Reporting Dashboards, Sustainability, Telemetry, Transaction Processing/Management
Principal Data Engineer - W2 (Remote)
contract-to-hire, longer-term, around 1 year
We are seeking a highly skilled Principal Data Engineer / AI Solutions Architect to support a large-scale payment systems modernization initiative involving migration from IBM i (AS/400) to Microsoft Azure. This role is focused on ensuring migration quality, operational sustainability, automation, reconciliation accuracy, and production stability for high-volume transactional systems processing millions of daily transactions.
The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in enterprise data engineering, AI-driven automation, observability, operational intelligence, and large-scale financial systems.
Key Responsibilities - Design and implement AI-driven operational frameworks to support payment platform migration and long-term production sustainability.
- Develop automated reconciliation processes between legacy and modernized systems using Python and Databricks.
- Build certification and validation frameworks to ensure migration integrity, operational accuracy, and production readiness.
- Create intelligent monitoring, telemetry, alerting, and issue-triaging solutions with minimal manual intervention.
- Develop dashboards and operational controls to support system health, reconciliation tracking, and production support activities.
- Architect scalable automation solutions enabling supportability with a lean engineering footprint.
- Collaborate with engineering, infrastructure, DevOps, and migration teams to validate deliverables and production controls.
- Support CI/CD integration and cloud-native deployment strategies within Azure environments.
- Drive operational excellence for high-volume transaction processing platforms handling millions of daily transactions.
Required Qualifications - Strong experience with large-scale transactional or operational systems in enterprise environments.
- Proven expertise in Data Engineering and AI solution architecture/building.
- Hands-on experience with Databricks and Python development.
- Experience building automation frameworks, reconciliation engines, and operational dashboards.
- Strong understanding of telemetry, monitoring, observability, and issue triaging.
- Experience supporting modernization or migration initiatives from legacy platforms to cloud-native architectures.
- Solid knowledge of enterprise production support and operational sustainability practices.
Preferred Qualifications - Experience with payment systems or financial services platforms.
- Experience migrating applications from IBM i / AS400 or other legacy platforms to Azure.
- Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices.
- Experience designing AI-assisted operational support frameworks.
- Exposure to Azure cloud services and enterprise-scale data platforms.
Technical Skills - Python
- Databricks
- Azure
- CI/CD
- AI/ML Automation
- Monitoring & Telemetry
- Dashboard Development
- Data Reconciliation
- Enterprise Transaction Processing
- Cloud Migration
- Operational Intelligence
- Production Support Automation