Senior Distinguished Data Engineer

Company: Capital One
Location: Mc Lean
Posted on: April 2, 2026

Job Description:

Senior Distinguished Data Engineer Distinguished Data Engineers are individual contributors who strive to be diverse in thought so we visualize the problem space. At Capital One, we believe diversity of thought strengthens our ability to influence, collaborate and provide the most innovative solutions across organizational boundaries. Distinguished Engineers will significantly impact our trajectory and devise clear roadmaps to deliver next generation technology solutions. About the Team: You will join the Data Pipelines team within Enterprise Data, serving as a Senior Director-level Individual Contributor (IC). This role demands a visionary and hands-on leader to drive the technical strategy for data pipelines leveraged by all lines of business inclusive of both internal and external data availability. Your focus is on driving innovation, best practices, engineering / delivery acceleration, platform scalability, Operational Excellence, Performance, Resiliency, and being a beacon for other ICs. We require deep expertise in AWS infrastructure, Lakehouse architecture, Kafka, Flink, Spark, Snowflake, and Databricks mature these enterprise-scale systems and execute technical strategy. You will be both visionary, influential, and hands-on writing Python, SQL, Java, and/or Scala code. Our Sr. Distinguished Engineers Are: Deep technical experts and thought leaders that help accelerate adoption of the very best engineering practices, while maintaining knowledge on industry innovations, trends and practices Visionaries, collaborating on Capital One’s toughest issues, to deliver on business needs that directly impact the lives of our customers and associates Role models and mentors, helping to coach and strengthen the technical expertise and know-how of our engineering and product community Evangelists, both internally and externally, helping to elevate the Distinguished Engineering community and establish themselves as a go-to resource on given technologies and technology-enabled capabilities Responsibilities: Build awareness, increase knowledge and drive adoption of modern technologies, sharing consumer and engineering benefits to gain buy-in Strike the right balance between lending expertise and providing an inclusive environment where others’ ideas can be heard and championed; leverage expertise to grow skills in the broader Capital One team Promote a culture of engineering excellence, using opportunities to reuse and innersource solutions where possible Effectively communicate with and influence key stakeholders across the enterprise, at all levels of the organization Operate as a trusted advisor for a specific technology, platform or capability domain, helping to shape use cases and implementation in an unified manner Lead the way in creating next-generation talent for Tech, mentoring internal talent and actively recruiting external talent to bolster Capital One’s Tech talent Basic Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree At least 9 years of experience in data engineering At least 5 years of experience in data architecture At least 3 years of experience in building applications in AWS At least 3 years of experience with Python, Scala, Java, or SQL At least 3 years of experience with Flink or Spark At least 3 years of experience with Kafka At least 3 years of experience with Delta Lake or Iceberg At least 3 years of experience building performant, resilient Big Data solutions Preferred Qualifications: Masters’ Degree 10 years of experience in data engineering 3 years of data modeling experience 2 years of experience with ontology standards for defining a domain 3 years of experience deploying machine learning models 1 year of experience deploying Agentic AI solutions 3 years of experience implementing big data processing solutions on AWS or other cloud providers 3 years of experience with Snowflake or Databricks 3 years of experience with Data Observability tooling (lineage, data quality, monitoring or alerting) Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this positio The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked. McLean, VA: $314,800 - $359,300 for Sr Distinguished Data Engineer New York, NY: $343,400 - $392,000 for Sr Distinguished Data Engineer Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate’s offer letter. This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan. Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. Learn more at the Capital One Careers website . Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level. This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days. No agencies please. Capital One is an equal opportunity employer (EOE, including disability/vet) committed to non-discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Capital One promotes a drug-free workplace. Capital One will consider for employment qualified applicants with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable laws regarding criminal background inquiries, including, to the extent applicable, Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law; San Francisco, California Police Code Article 49, Sections 4901-4920; New York City’s Fair Chance Act; Philadelphia’s Fair Criminal Records Screening Act; and other applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding criminal background inquiries. If you have visited our website in search of information on employment opportunities or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Capital One Recruiting at 1-800-304-9102 or via email at RecruitingAccommodation@capitalone.com . All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations. For technical support or questions about Capital One's recruiting process, please send an email to Careers@capitalone.com Capital One does not provide, endorse nor guarantee and is not liable for third-party products, services, educational tools or other information available through this site. Capital One Financial is made up of several different entities. Please note that any position posted in Canada is for Capital One Canada, any position posted in the United Kingdom is for Capital One Europe and any position posted in the Philippines is for Capital One Philippines Service Corp. (COPSSC).

Keywords: Capital One, Reston , Senior Distinguished Data Engineer, IT / Software / Systems , Mc Lean, Virginia