
Data Analyst & Validation Engineer -Redshift, Lake & QA
HCLTech • Seattle, Washington, United States
Salary: $69,000 - $128,000 / year
**Role & seniority: ** Data Analyst & Validation Engineer (ETL QA focus), 6–10 years experience; full-time
**Location & work type: ** US only (prefers US Citizens or GC holders); full-time
**Stack/tools: **
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AWS: Redshift, S3 data lakes, Athena, Lake Formation (also mentions Glue/Glue Orchestrator, Step Functions; IAM/Lake Formation access controls)
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SQL: advanced (CTEs, window functions, complex joins, profiling queries)
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Programming: Python (validation/automation scripts)
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Testing/QA frameworks: Great Expectations or dbt tests or Soda Core or equivalent custom frameworks
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Dev: Git, CI/CD quality gates; versioned validation suites
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Top 3 responsibilities:
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Define and govern data quality for ETL/ELT (acceptance criteria, DoD, quality gates, release entry/exit criteria, SLAs/SLOs)
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Validate pipelines end-to-end (source-to-target reconciliation; completeness/accuracy/consistency; detect anomalies/drift/silent failures)
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Build automated validation suites & reporting (shift-left tests, dashboards/alerts, runbooks, defect taxonomy and traceability)
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Must-have skills:
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ETL/ELT + data validation & QA methodology (test planning/design, defect lifecycle, acceptance criteria)
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Hands-on AWS querying/validation: Redshift, Lake Formation, Athena, S3-based lakes
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Python for validation automation; strong SQL (profiling + complex queries)
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Experience owning dat
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Full Description
Ful-time role only - Preferred only US Citizens or GC Holders HCLTech is looking for a highly talented and self- motivated Data Analyst & Validation Engineer (ETL QA Focused). Only US Citizens or GC holders required Full time role) to join it in advancing the technological world through innovation and creativity. Key Responsibilities Must have Skills - 6-10 years Data Validation& Validation & AWS Data services (Redshift, Lake Formation, Athena, and S3-based data lakes), Python, ETL ELT concepts, QA methodology (Test planning & design, Defect lifecycled.
Data Validation & Verification Validate transformation logic against business rules and documented specifications Perform source-to-target data reconciliation — verifying completeness, accuracy, and consistency Identify data anomalies, silent failures, and drift in pipeline outputs Build and maintain automated data validation suites that execute as part of pipeline runs Conduct periodic data audits beyond automated checks QA Process Definition & Governance Define acceptance criteria for each ETL pipeline and transformation step — establishing what "correct" means in measurable, testable terms Define Definition of Done (DoD) for all data deliverables — specifying when a pipeline output is considered production-ready Create and maintain data quality test plans covering functional correctness, edge cases, regression, and performance Design test cases for new transformations before they reach production (shift-left testing) Establish data quality SLAs — freshness, completeness, and accuracy thresholds Define entry and exit criteria for pipeline releases — what must pass before promoting changes Maintain a defect taxonomy — categorizing data issues (schema drift, logic errors, source issues, timing issues) for root cause tracking and trend analysis Define sign-off workflows — who approves what before data reaches the UI layer Test Strategy & Frameworks
Design the overall data testing strategy
- Unit tests for individual transformation logic
- Integration tests for end-to-end pipeline correctness
- Regression tests for ongoing stability
- Smoke tests for post-deployment verification
- Negative tests for resilience (nulls, duplicates, out-of-range values, schema violations)
- Build reusable, parameterized validation patterns applicable across multiple pipelines
- Implement data contract validation — ensuring upstream sources meet agreed schemas and value constraints
- Integrate quality gates into CI/CD pipelines for automated release blocking
- Documentation & Traceability
- Document expected behavior for each transformation (input, logic, expected output)
- Maintain data quality runbooks — investigation and resolution procedures for common issues
- Create traceability matrices linking business requirements to test cases to pipeline outputs
- Document known data limitations, assumptions, and technical debt
- Maintain a living catalog of data quality rules and their rationale
- Monitoring, Observability & Reporting
- Build data quality dashboards tracking pass/fail rates, trend analysis, and SLA compliance
- Configure alerting for data quality threshold breaches
- Track and report data quality metrics (DQ score, defect density, mean time to detect, mean time to resolve)
- Conduct data quality retrospectives — identifying gaps and improving coverage
- Collaboration
- Participate in pipeline design reviews — flagging quality risks early in development
- Work with product and business stakeholders to translate vague requirements into testable assertions
- Collaborate with data engineers on pipeline improvements driven by quality findings
- Support UI/frontend teams in verifying rendered data correctness
Required Qualifications Technical Skills Area Requirement
SQL Advanced — window functions, CTEs, set comparisons, complex joins, data profiling queries AWS Data Services Hands-on experience querying and validating data in Amazon Redshift, AWS Lake Formation, Athena, and S3-based data lakes Python (or equivalent scripting) Validation scripts, data comparison tools, automation frameworks ETL/ELT Concepts Deep understanding of extraction, transformation, and loading patterns, including common failure modes QA Methodology Test planning, test case design, acceptance criteria definition, defect lifecycle management Data Profiling Statistical profiling, distribution analysis, completeness and uniqueness checks Validation Frameworks
Hands-on experience with at least one: Great Expectations, dbt tests, Soda Core, or equivalent custom frameworks Version Control Git — managing test suites alongside pipeline code Experience 6-10 years of combined experience in data engineering, data QA, or analytics engineering Has owned data quality for at least one production system end-to-end (not just contributed) Has defined acceptance criteria and quality gates that blocked defective releases Has built automated validation suites that caught real production issues Comfortable reading and reasoning about pipeline code (transformation logic, orchestration DAGs) Experience working with curated/aggregated datasets that serve application UIs Familiarity with AWS Glue, Redshift Spectrum, and AWS data pipeline services
Preferred Experience Experience with BDD-style data testing (Given/When/Then for data transformations) CI/CD integration for data quality — automated gates in deployment pipelines Experience defining and tracking data SLAs/SLOs Knowledge of regulatory or compliance data requirements Performance testing for pipelines — verifying latency and throughput Exposure to chaos engineering for data — intentionally injecting bad data to test resilience Experience with pipeline orchestration tools (Glue Orchestrator, Step Functions, Airflow) Experience with IAM permissions and Lake Formation access controls for data governance
Pay Range Minimum: 69000
Pay Range Maximum: 128000 HCLTech is an equal opportunity employer, committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees regardless of race, religion, sex, color, age, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, physical disability or genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with federal, state, and/or local law. Should any applicant have concerns about discrimination in the hiring process, they should provide a detailed report of those concerns to secure@hcltech.com for investigation. A candidate’s pay within the range will depend on their skills, experience, education, and other factors permitted by law. This role may also be eligible for performance-based bonuses subject to company policies. In addition, this role is eligible for the following benefits subject to company policies: medical, dental, vision, pharmacy, life, accidental death & dismemberment, and disability insurance; employee assistance program; 401(k) retirement plan; 10 days of paid time off per year (some positions are eligible for need-based leave with no designated number of leave days per year); and 10 paid holidays per year How You’ll Grow At HCLTech, we offer continuous opportunities for you to find your spark and grow with us. We want you to be happy and satisfied with your role and to really learn what type of work sparks your brilliance the best. Throughout your time with us, we offer transparent communication with senior-level employees, learning and career development programs at every level, and opportunities to experiment in different roles or even pivot industries. We believe that you should be in control of your career with unlimited opportunities to find the role that fits you best.