Principal Data Engineer – Python Backend
About this opportunity
Career Category
Strategy and Innovation
Job Description
Role Summary
We’re hiring a Data Engineer with Python backend development experience to build scalable data pipelines and services. The role combines data engineering with backend API development, including integrating data platforms with applications and AI agents.
The ideal candidate has hands-on experience with Python, SQL, Databricks, and Apache Spark. They should also understand REST APIs, relational and NoSQL databases, and how to improve Spark workloads for performance and scale.
Key Responsibilities
Design, build, and maintain data ingestion and ETL/ELT pipelines using Python, SQL, Databricks, and Spark/PySpark.
Integrate data from APIs, databases, files, and third-party systems.
Develop and maintain backend services and REST APIs using Python frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or Django.
Build API integrations that allow applications and AI agents to access approved data and services.
Design and work with relational and NoSQL databases, including schemas, data models, and queries.
Optimize Spark jobs and Databricks workloads for performance, scalability, and cost.
Apply distributed computing principles to process large datasets reliably.
Implement data validation, error handling, logging, and monitoring.
Troubleshoot pipeline, API, and database issues in development and production environments.
Write tests and documentation, and participate in Git, code reviews, CI/CD, and deployment workflows.
Collaborate with data, backend, AI/ML, product, and application teams.
Basic Qualifications and Experience:
Master's OR Bachelor's degree in IT/Computer Science/Engineering. and 12 to 17 years of work experience
Required Skills
Strong Python development skills.
Strong SQL skills and experience with relational databases.
Hands-on experience with Databricks and Apache Spark/PySpark.
Experience building data pipelines and integrating data from multiple sources.
Experience developing or integrating REST APIs.
Working knowledge of NoSQL databases.
Hands-on experience integrating APIs with AI agents or AI/ML applications.
Understanding of Spark performance optimization, scalability, and distributed systems.
Familiarity with Git, testing, debugging, and production support.
Strong problem-solving and communication skills.
Good to Have
Experience with FastAPI, Flask, or Django.
Experience with Delta Lake, Azure Data Lake, or Azure Data Factory.
Familiarity with Airflow, Kafka, Docker, or Kubernetes.
Experience with authentication and authorization for APIs.
Experience supporting GenAI or machine learning data pipelines.
Preferred Candidate Profile
We’re looking for someone who can work across the data and backend layers: ingest and transform data, store it in suitable relational or NoSQL systems, and expose it through APIs for applications or AI agents.
The candidate should be able to design, build, optimize, test, and support a solution such as:
Source systems → Databricks/Spark processing → relational or NoSQL storage → Python API → application or AI agent
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT
Amgen is an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider you without regard to your race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request an accommodation.
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Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Data & Digital role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 250 comparable Principal Data & Digital roles across 49 biopharma companies.
Salary context
75 of 250 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 250 comparable roles
+ 19 more countries
Seniority mix
250 of 250 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
5 of 250 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
Similar opportunities
The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.
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How we calculate "similar"
No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.
Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.