Principal Software Engineer, Semantic Data Services

WEX

Principal engineer building WEX's semantic data platform, connecting enterprise data with business meaning. Enabling reusable data products, analytics, decisioning, and AI experiences.

Posted 8/21/2026full-timePortland • California, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $200,600 - $250,400 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in designing and building scalable data platforms, with a strong focus on semantic data technologies, data governance, and architectural standards. Proven ability to translate complex business requirements into reusable technical models and influence cross-team collaboration.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Semantic Data TechnologiesData GovernanceDistributed Systems ExpertiseLarge-Scale Data ProcessingArchitectural Standards

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Software EngineeringData EngineeringSemantic ModelingOntologyMetadata PlatformsKnowledge GraphsData QualityData LineageData SecurityData Privacy

Soft Skills

Strong Communication SkillsMentoring EngineersInfluencing Technical Direction

Tools & Technologies

SparkFlinkKafkaIcebergSnowflakeDatabricksCloud-Native Data ServicesGraph Databases

Industry Keywords

Data LakeData as a ServiceAI/MLGenerative AIContext Engineering

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudDistributed SystemsKafkaSpark

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Define and influence architecture and technical direction for WEX's Semantic Data Lake and next-generation Data as a Service
Design and build semantic business objects combining enterprise data, business context, relationships, metrics, derived attributes, rules, lineage, quality, and governance
Develop scalable patterns and frameworks for semantic objects across multiple lines of business
Build platform capabilities across semantic modeling, ontology, metadata, knowledge graphs, data quality, lineage, data contracts, and governance
Translate complex business concepts into durable technical models and reusable platform capabilities
Capture business context across databases, applications, workflows, documents, policies, and institutional knowledge
Enable AI and agentic applications to discover, understand, reason over, and safely act on trusted enterprise data
Design reusable APIs, services, frameworks, and developer experiences
Solve distributed systems, data processing, scalability, reliability, and performance challenges
Establish engineering patterns and architectural standards and influence adoption across teams
Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance
Remain hands-on with architecture, design, prototyping, code, and critical platform components
Partner with engineers, architects, Product, AI, Analytics, Risk, Finance, and business teams across WEX

Requirements

What you’ll need

10+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, distributed systems, data platforms, or related technology areas
Demonstrated experience operating at Staff, Principal, or equivalent technical scope
Deep software engineering and distributed systems expertise
Experience designing and building large-scale production platforms
Deep understanding of modern data architecture, including large-scale data processing, streaming, lakehouse architectures, data products, and distributed systems
Deep understanding of semantic data technologies and industry direction
Experience with semantic modeling, ontology, metadata platforms, knowledge graphs, data catalogs, enterprise data modeling, or closely related technologies
Ability to translate complex business concepts into scalable technical abstractions and reusable platform capabilities
Strong understanding of data quality, governance, lineage, security, privacy, and operational reliability
Experience building platforms or capabilities adopted by multiple engineering teams, business domains, or product organizations
Strong architectural judgment and ability to reason through complex tradeoffs
Ability to influence technical direction and drive alignment across teams and organizational boundaries
Strong communication skills
Preferred: experience building platforms supporting AI/ML, generative AI, RAG, or agentic applications
Preferred: experience with knowledge representation, semantic search, context engineering, graph technologies, or AI-ready enterprise data
Preferred: experience modernizing large enterprise data ecosystems
Preferred: experience with Spark, Flink, Kafka, Iceberg, Snowflake, Databricks, cloud-native data services, graph databases, or equivalent technologies
Preferred: experience defining reusable frameworks, APIs, standards, or platform capabilities broadly adopted beyond an individual team

Benefits

Comp & perks

Health insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Retirement savings plan
Paid time off
Health savings account
Flexible spending accounts
Life insurance
Disability insurance
Tuition reimbursement
Quarterly or annual bonus eligibility for non-sales roles