Data Engineer

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A great job-and a great future-awaits you at Smithfield Foods. We are an American food company with a leading position in packaged meats and fresh pork products. We’re looking for motivated people who want to join our team and grow lasting and meaningful careers with us. Apply Now!

THE VALUE YOU’LL BRING:

The position summary states the general nature and purpose of the job. Overall accountabilities are defined in this section.

As a Data Engineer, you will be at the heart of transforming raw data into powerful insights that drive strategic decisions across the business. You will architect and optimize data pipelines, build scalable infrastructure, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to unlock the full potential of our data ecosystem. This is your opportunity to shape how data flows, is stored, and is leveraged—making a tangible impact every single day.

You will work with cutting-edge technologies in a fast-paced, innovation-driven environment where your ideas matter and your skills shine. You will solve complex problems, automate processes, and ensure data integrity at scale—all while growing your expertise and influencing the future of data engineering. If you're passionate about building elegant solutions and turning data into action, this is the role where you’ll thrive.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

The below statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. May perform other duties as assigned.

Data Architecture & Pipeline Development

• Design, build, and maintain robust, scalable data pipelines and ETL processes to support analytics and operational needs.

• Develop and optimize data models and storage solutions across structured and unstructured data sources.

• Ensure data quality, integrity, and consistency through automated validation and monitoring systems.

Collaboration & Strategy

• Partner with data scientists, analysts, and business stakeholders to understand data requirements and deliver impactful solutions.

• Translate business needs into technical specifications and data architecture strategies.

• Contribute to the evolution of our data platform by evaluating new tools, frameworks, and best practices.

Performance & Governance

• Monitor and tune data systems for performance, reliability, and scalability.

• Implement and enforce data governance, security, and compliance standards.

• Document data flows, processes, and system configurations to support transparency and maintainability.

WHAT WE’RE SEEKING:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals to perform the essential functions.

• Bachelor’s Degree from a regionally accredited four-year college or university and 5+ years of relevant experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience, required.

• Minimum of 3+ years experience in a Business Intelligence, Data Architecture or Data Engineering role or equivalent.

• Advanced knowledge of data management, data integration and data platform development techniques required

• Advanced knowledge of dimensional data modeling techniques for analytics required

• Advanced knowledge of SQL programming, including demonstrated experience with a combination of 4 or more of the following: functions, stored procedures, cursors, common table expressions, dynamic SQL, data pivoting, query optimization, correlated subqueries, windowing functions, error handling and merge operations required

• Advanced knowledge and experience with one or more computer programming languages such as, but not limited to C#, DAX, .NET, Python, SQL required

• Demonstrated ability to design complex data solutions and collaborate with other team members for successful implementation

• Demonstrated ability to teach complex topics to less technical team members

• Demonstrated experience utilizing Python and SQL on the Apache Spark platform is preferred

• Advanced knowledge of one or more data visualization tools including Power BI, Tableau, Qlik or similar is preferred

• Demonstrated experience deploying data solutions using a modern data engineering stack composed of data lake, dimensional data warehouse and Apache Spark-based compute platform, preferred

• Experience using code version control, CI/CD, error handling and lineage/audit capabilities in analytics data pipelines preferred

• Experience with Microsoft Azure technologies strongly preferred

• Ability to quickly learn and adopt new technology

• Considers the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one; acts decisively and swiftly

• Ability to communicate technical concepts in plain language

• Strong attention to detail

• Ability to investigate, understand and deploy new technologies with minimal guidance

• Strong verbal and written communication skills

• Strong team collaboration skills

• Ability to develop excellent relationships with business stakeholders

• Knowledge of business aspects protein industry strongly preferred

• High proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio)

EEO Information

Smithfield is an equal opportunity employer committed to workplace diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, gender identity, protected veterans status, status as a disabled individual or any other protected group status or non-job characteristic as directed by law.

If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment selection process, please call us at 757-357-1595.