Principal Analytics Engineer

Be yourself at Protolabs Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification.  We are an equal opportunity employer, and we are committed to building a diverse team that feels they are valued in the workplace.  So do you feel you do not meet every single requirement but still intrigued? We encourage you to still apply!  You can help make our company even better.  We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, age, mental or physical ability, or any way you represent yourself.  We strongly believe diversity makes for more successful teams. Why Protolabs? We are the leaders in digital manufacturing. We hire doers, makers, and creative thinkers who tackle our roles with an entrepreneurial spirit. Our culture is centered around meaningful work that brings new and innovative products to market at unprecedented speeds. We are a diverse team that comes from all walks of life and take pride in our team who is smart, genuine, humble, and passionate about what we do. It’s our people who fuel our creativity and make our culture feel like home. Join our team as a Principal Analytics Engineer! This is a fixed hybrid role on-site Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at HQ in Maple Plain, MN We are looking for a Principal Analytics Engineer to join our team. This role is responsible for building the trusted data foundations that power business decision-making across the company. Working at the intersection of business, analytics, and technology, you will translate complex data and business processes into scalable, well-governed data products. As a senior technical leader, you will partner closely with stakeholders across the business, Analytics, Data Engineering, Architecture, AI, and Software Engineering teams. A key focus will be leading the migration from legacy DOMO reporting to our modern Snowflake and dbt platform, ensuring business logic and reporting knowledge are transformed into sustainable, future-ready data models.The ideal candidate combines deep SQL and analytics engineering expertise with a strong understanding of business processes, metrics, and systems. You thrive in ambiguity, bridge the gap between technical and business teams, and help ensure data accurately reflects how the organisation operates. What You'll Do Lead the design, ownership, and continuous improvement of enterprise analytics data models across multiple business domains Drive the migration of legacy DOMO transformation logic to our modern Snowflake and dbt data platform Partner closely with business stakeholders to understand processes, metrics, operational workflows, controls, and decision-making needs Work with the Analytics team to ensure business definitions, metrics, and data models remain trusted, consistent, and aligned across the organisation Collaborate with software development teams and source system owners to understand how data is generated, structured, and maintained Translate complex and often ambiguous business requirements into scalable, maintainable, and well-documented data products Serve as a senior subject matter expert in analytics engineering, SQL, data modelling, metric definition, and business data interpretation Establish and promote best practices for data modelling, documentation, testing, and analytics engineering across the data platform Partner with the Principal Data Engineer and Data Architect to align data architecture, ingestion strategies, transformation frameworks, and consumption patterns Collaborate with the Analytics Quality Engineer to continuously improve data quality, testing, governance, validation, and reliability standards Work closely with AI teams to ensure analytical datasets and semantic models support AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics use cases Serve as a cross-functional subject matter expert, quickly developing expertise across new business domains while helping preserve and scale organisational knowledge through data products and documentation Mentor and support Analytics Engineers, fostering excellence in SQL, data modelling, stakeholder management, business analysis, and analytics engineering best practices Lead complex investigations across business processes, source systems, data pipelines, metrics, and reporting to identify root causes and drive resolution Champion trust in data by ensuring critical datasets and models are accurate, transparent, well-governed, and aligned with real-world business operation Create and maintain clear, comprehensive documentation covering business processes, metric definitions, transformations, data lineage, assumptions, and operational logic What It Takes 10+ years of experience in Analytics Engineering, Business Intelligence, Data Modelling, Data Warehousing, or related disciplines Significant experience partnering directly with business stakeholders to understand processes, metrics, operational workflows, and business challenges Significant experience designing and maintaining analytical data models across multiple functional domains Expert-level SQL skills with the ability to simplify, optimise, document, and explain complex business logic and transformations Deep understanding of analytical data modelling and data product development Strong business acumen and curiosity, with the ability to quickly understand new domains and connect business processes to data structures Strong experience working in ambiguous environments and bringing structure to complex data landscapes Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences Ability to work comfortably across multiple domains while maintaining an end-to-end understanding of how business processes connect across the organization Strong understanding of data quality, validation, testing, reconciliation, and root-cause analysis practices Experience establishing standards, best practices, and governance approaches across analytical environments Strong documentation and knowledge sharing practices Experience mentoring and influencing peers and teams without relying on direct authority Experience with Git-based development workflows and CI/CD practices What Sets You Apart Experience with dbt or equivalent modern SQL-based transformation frameworks Experience leading or contributing to migrations from legacy analytics environments into modern data platforms Experience with DOMO, including understanding of legacy reporting, ETL, and business logic implementations Experience working with Finance, Human Resources, or other highly governed and business-critical data domains Experience supporting enterprise reporting, KPI governance, semantic modelling, or data governance initiative Experience with BI platforms such as Power BI, Tableau, Looker, or similar technologies Exposure to data cataloguing, metadata management, lineage, observability, or governance platforms What's In It For You? We offer a competitive salary and annual bonus opportunity In addition, we offer amazing benefits including but not limited to: Health Insurance: Traditional OR High Deductible plan Flexible Spending Accounts Health Savings Account (including employer contributions) Dental and Vision Basic and Supplemental Life Insurance Short-Term and Long-Term Disability Paid caregiver leave You will receive PTO + Holiday Pay + Wellness Hours + Volunteer Hours 401k with company match and immediate vest Employee Stock Purchase Program at a 15% discounted rate Matching grants through Protolabs foundation And More! Proto Labs maintains ITAR-compliant operations in all of our United States based facilities. Due to ITAR regulations, this role is only open to U.S. Citizens, lawful permanent residents (green card holders) or foreign nationals granted refugee or asylee status. Individuals with temporary visas (e.g. E, F-1, H-1, H-2, L, B, J, TN or OPT) are not eligible for hire in this role. Proto Labs, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer Physical Demands: While performing the essential duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use a computer keyboard, monitor and mouse, telephone and printer; reach with hands, and arms, talk, see and hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, stoop or kneel and must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Work Environment: Indoors (A/C); nonsmoking; the majority of this job function is performed in an office setting requiring normal safety precautions. However, there may be job duties that require the employee to spend time in the manufacturing areas exposed to machinery and noise; eye protection occasionally required. Occasionally works in outside weather conditions. Occasionally works near moving mechanical parts and in high, precarious places and is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions, fumes or airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals, risk of electrical shock and vibration. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate.