Lead Data Engineer

3M is hiring a Lead Data Engineer for a remote role open to applicants in United States. It pays $188k-$230k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on 3M.

Level's read on this job

Little AI ●○○○ is how Level rates this data engineer role: aI is not part of the work.
The listed pay starts 30% above the typical data engineer posting on Level.
The posting lists this role as remote.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Databricks and MLOps.
Level lists 752 other open roles at 3M.

AI in this role

Databricks

ml-ops

Job Description:

Lead Data Engineer

Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World

Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers.

This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.

The Impact You’ll Make in this Role:
We are seeking a Lead Data Engineer with strong experience in AI/ML data pipelines, feature engineering, and scalable data architectures. This role will lead the design, development, and optimization of data platforms that power advanced analytics and machine learning applications across the organization.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the architecture and development of scalable, secure data pipelines supporting AI/ML workloads.
Own end to end data engineering processes: ingestion, transformation, storage, quality, and monitoring.
Collaborate with data scientists and ML engineers on model features, training pipelines, and deployment.
Drive best practices in data modeling, orchestration, versioning, and performance optimization.
Mentor and guide junior engineers; contribute to technical roadmaps and solution patterns.
Ensure data governance, lineage, and compliance standards are met across platforms.
Support real time and batch processing frameworks in production environments.

Your Skills and Expertise
To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M requires (at a minimum) the following qualifications:

Bachelor's degree or higher in computer science (completed and verified prior to start)
Seven (7) years of data engineering experience, including leading technical initiatives in a private, public, government or military environment.

Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include:

Strong expertise in Python, SQL, and distributed data systems (e.g., Spark, Databricks, Synapse).
Experience building AI/ML ready data pipelines, including feature stores and model training data flows.
Hands on experience with cloud platforms (Azure preferred — Data Lake, Data Factory, Databricks, Cosmos DB).
Strong understanding of ML concepts, lifecycle, and MLOps practices.
Proven experience with workflow orchestration (Airflow, Data Factory, Synapse Pipelines, etc.).
Strong communication and ability to translate business needs into technical solutions.
Experience with streaming platforms (Kafka, Event Hub).
Familiarity with vector databases, embeddings, or LLM oriented data pipelines.
Background in DevOps, CI/CD, or infrastructure as code.
Experience designing data solutions for AI applications or intelligent platforms.

Work location: Remote in the US

Travel: May include up to 5% primarily domestic travel

Relocation: Not authorized

Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status).

Supporting Your Well-being

3M offers many programs to help you live your best life – both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope.

Chat with Max

For assistance with searching through our current job openings or for more information about all things 3M, visit Max, our virtual recruiting assistant on 3M.com/careers

Applicable to US Applicants Only:The expected compensation range for this position is $188,251 - $230,084, which includes base pay plus variable incentive pay, if eligible. This range represents a good faith estimate for this position. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant knowledge, training, skills, work location, and/or experience. In addition, this position may be eligible for a range of benefits (e.g., Medical, Dental & Vision, Health Savings Accounts, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, Disability Benefits, Life Insurance, Voluntary Benefits, Paid Absences and Retirement Benefits, etc.). Additional information is available at: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/.

Good Faith Posting Date Range 11/04/2026 To 12/04/2026 Or until filled

All US-based 3M full time employees will need to sign an employee agreement as a condition of employment with 3M. This agreement lays out key terms on using 3M Confidential Information and Trade Secrets. It also has provisions discussing conflicts of interest and how inventions are assigned. Employees that are Job Grade 7 or equivalent and above may also have obligations to not compete against 3M or solicit its employees or customers, both during their employment, and for a period after they leave 3M.

Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @3M.

Responsibilities of this position include that corporate policies, procedures and security standards are complied with while performing assigned duties.

Safety is a core value at 3M. All employees are expected to contribute to a strong Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) culture by following safety policies, identifying hazards, and engaging in continuous improvement.

Pay & Benefits Overview: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/

3M does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Please note: your application may not be considered if you do not provide your education and work history, either by: 1) uploading a resume, or 2) entering the information into the application fields directly.

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How we rate this

Lead Data Engineer at 3M rates 17 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Little AI. AI is not part of the work.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Lead Data Engineer is an open job at 3M.
Level rates this role AI Level 1 of 4: Little AI.
The listed salary is $188k-$230k a year.
The role is based in Remote - Minnesota and is marked remote.
The job was posted on November 4, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by 3M. Apply on 3M

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

ML OpsDatabricks

Also common in data engineer jobs at this level

AWS Google Cloud Snowflake Java Scala dbt

Pay

This job starts at: $188k
Typical data engineer job: $145k

This posting starts 30% above the typical data engineer job. See data engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

How do you monitor a model once it's live, and how do you know it needs retraining?
Walk me through how you've used Databricks in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: ML Ops and Databricks. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.

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