Senior Data Engineer

Sol Systems is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to design, build, and maintain the data foundation that fuels the company’s data analysis and decision-making. This role involves being the primary data engineering resource, working independently to establish data pipelines, integrate diverse data sources, and create enterprise data infrastructure. The person in this role will have significant influence over technical direction and architectural decisions, laying the groundwork for future growth and complexity.

The ideal candidate will have the skills and confidence to operate independently, define architectural approach, select tools, and set standards and practices. The candidate will also have excellent communications and collaboration skills to work closely with technical and business teams and stakeholders to set priorities and processes, determine integration points, manage change, and deliver business value. Over time, as the company’s needs mature, this individual will have the opportunity to guide future team members, scale the data environment, and shape company data strategy. The role is an excellent opportunity for those candidates excited about owning the data engineering life cycle, passionate about clean energy, and able to thrive in a hands-on, autonomous environment.

Sol Systems is a national clean energy firm focused on building domestic energy that benefits local communities. The Company is operating, building, and managing over 7 GW of projects across 38 States for Fortune 500 companies, municipalities, utilities, schools, and more than 40,000 customers across the United States. Sol Systems works with institutional clients, corporate partners, and foundations to create an energy future we can all believe in. The company was founded in 2008 and is led by its founder. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Data Infrastructure Development: Architect, build, and maintain end-to-end data pipelines, integrating structured and unstructured data from internal and external sources (e.g., documents, websites, APIs) into analytics-ready datasets.
• Foundational Data Architecture & Modeling: Establish initial data platform architecture, define schemas and models, and implement warehousing/lakehouse solutions that can scale as the organization’s data needs grow.
• ETL/ELT & Automation: Implement and optimize ETL/ELT processes using tools like Airflow, dbt, or Glue to ensure data quality, integrity, and reliability.
• Collaboration & Stakeholder Alignment: Engage directly with business users, analysts, and leadership to understand data requirements, rapidly prototype solutions, and provide data-driven insights that influence strategic decisions.
• Governance, Security & Compliance: Set baseline standards for data governance, privacy, and security, ensuring our data is well-managed and compliant with relevant regulations.
• Continuous Improvement & Technology Evaluation: Stay current on emerging tools and best practices, proactively recommend technologies that will improve efficiency, scalability, and performance as the data function grows.
• Future Team Building: As Sol Systems matures its data capabilities, help guide the onboarding of additional engineering talent, eventually transitioning from a solo contributor to a lead role in a larger team.

Successful candidates will possess the following skills and attributes:

• 5–7 years of experience in data and software engineering, data architecture, or a similar role, with a demonstrated ability to work independently.
• Strong proficiency in SQL, Python, data orchestration tools and cloud-based data services (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Experience with data warehousing (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery), data modeling, and ETL/ELT best practices.
• Comfortable working with unstructured data sources (e.g., OCR for documents, web scraping, NLP-based transformations).
• Proven track record of identifying strategic priorities, planning tactical work, and executing both strategically and hands-on and regularly delivering value.
• Ability to learn quickly, pivot strategies when needed, and maintain quality standards in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills for interacting directly with stakeholders, gathering requirements, and presenting insights in an understandable way.
• Ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences and influence technology decisions.
• A passion for renewable energy and sustainability, with a desire to use your data expertise to help drive meaningful environmental impact.

Location & Hours: This is a full-time role and will be based in our Washington, DC office.

Commitment & Compensation: Compensation will be commensurate with experience. In addition, Sol Systems provides health insurance, retirement benefits, partial gym reimbursement, education benefits, parental leave, paid vacation, sick and federal holidays, and the opportunity to work in a unique and dynamic environment.

To Apply: Please submit a resume, cover letter and salary requirements.

Deadline: We hope to hire for these positions immediately and will review applicants on a rolling basis.

Sol Systems is an equal-opportunity employer, and does not discriminate based on gender, race, ethnicity, orientation, creed, or other traits. Sol Systems supports and encourages candidates of all backgrounds to apply.