Associate Data Engineer

Austin, TX (onsite) Associate Data Engineer role supporting client data engineering work within CleanSlate Technology Group’s Data and AI Practice.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain defined components of data pipelines and platform elements for analytics, machine learning, and AI workloads using established designs and guidance from experienced engineers.
• Complete assigned data ingestion, transformation, and orchestration tasks using documented requirements, team review, and established patterns.
• Support solution design and technical discussions by asking questions, documenting decisions, and completing follow-up tasks with guidance from senior team members.
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code aligned with team standards.
• Execute assigned tests and data validation checks; document results and assist with deployment, monitoring, and troubleshooting of production data solutions under team guidance.
• Escalate unexpected results and issues to the appropriate team member.
• Collaborate with CSTG team members and client stakeholders by sharing task updates, documenting questions and requirements, and promptly raising blockers with the delivery team.
• Participate in code reviews, design discussions, and agile team ceremonies; incorporate feedback and ask questions to strengthen understanding of team practices.
• Follow engineering standards, patterns, and best practices.
• Pursue ongoing learning and development in data engineering skills.

Requirements

• Foundational hands-on experience building data pipelines, processing data, or working with data platforms via employment, internships, apprenticeships, coursework, or personal projects.
• Foundational programming skills in Python, Java, or Scala, demonstrated through scripts or projects that process, transform, or move data.
• Working knowledge of SQL, including filtering, joining, aggregating, and transforming data in relational tables.
• Foundational understanding of data integration and pipeline concepts, with exposure to one or more: Spark, Databricks, Snowflake, Redshift, Azure Fabric, AWS Glue, or Azure Data Factory (not required to know all).
• Familiarity with data modeling concepts and analytics-focused data structures.
• Understanding of data quality concepts such as validation and consistency.
• Foundational familiarity with AWS and/or Azure data services from hands-on projects, labs, coursework, internships, or professional experience.
• Ability to collaborate effectively and communicate technical concepts clearly.

Technologies

• Python
• Java
• Scala
• SQL
• Spark
• Databricks
• Snowflake
• Redshift
• Azure Fabric
• AWS Glue
• Azure Data Factory
• AWS
• Azure

Team and Role Overview

• Cross-functional, highly collaborative teams combining CSTG consultants with client stakeholders to address complex data challenges.
• Values engineers who are curious and pragmatic, with an interest in data engineering plus complementary understanding of AI and machine learning.
• Role focuses on completing defined development, testing, and documentation tasks with guidance from experienced engineers.
• Contributes to building and maintaining data pipelines and platform components for analytics, machine learning, and AI use cases.
• Emphasizes execution, learning, and growth through clearly scoped assignments and feedback.
• As experience grows, strengthens ability to complete defined pipeline tasks, validate data, troubleshoot common issues, and explain work with increasing independence.

Preferred Qualifications

• AWS or Azure certifications; willingness to pursue certifications encouraged.
• Databricks or Snowflake certifications; willingness to pursue certifications encouraged.
• Exposure to agentic tooling like AWS Quick, Claude Work, Claude, Copilot, or OpenClaw.
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines or infrastructure-as-code concepts through projects, coursework, or professional experience.
• Exposure to NoSQL databases or distributed data systems through coursework, labs, projects, or professional experience.
• Exposure to AI-powered software development tools (such as Claude Code, Cursor, Kiro, or similar).
• Exposure to consulting, client-facing work, or collaborative projects requiring communication of technical information to others.