Lead Data Engineer, AI at Salesforce in Chicago, IL

Lead Data Engineer, AI Location: California - San Francisco To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts. Job Category Software Engineering Job Details About Salesforce Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all. Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce. Salesforce is looking for a Data Engineer to join the Data & Analytics organization and help power the future of intelligent, agentic Customer Success. In this role, you'll build and scale the data infrastructure that grounds our AI agents in accurate, real-time, high-context data — bridging raw data systems with the agentic layer driving business impact. You'll serve as the lead technical individual contributor and primary architect for our retrieval systems, partnering across engineering, data science, and product to define and execute the technical vision for agentic data delivery. What You'll Do Design Search & Retrieval Systems — Build robust search indices that enable AI agents to perform complex, high-precision retrievals across the Salesforce data ecosystem. Architect the Agentic Retrieval Layer — Serve as primary architect for the semantic layer and embedding pipelines that ground Agentic AI in Customer Success data. Build Inference Infrastructure — Partner with Decision Scientists to develop specialized infrastructure for attribution and causal modeling. Drive Operational Excellence — Set and enforce rigorous standards for data quality, latency, and index freshness so agents deliver reliable, real-time insights. Lead AI Integration & Automation — Automate the data delivery pipeline, ensuring seamless integration across internal databases, third-party APIs, and the AI orchestration layer. Define the Technical Roadmap — Collaborate with product managers and engineering leaders to shape the long-term vision for agentic retrieval, aligned with the broader migration to Data Cloud. Mentor & Elevate the Team — Act as a technical pillar for a specialized team of data and AI engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous growth. Enable Cross-Functional Impact — Translate complex business needs from Decision Scientists, Data Scientists, PMs, and Engineering Leaders into scalable, production-ready solutions. Required Qualifications 8+ years of experience in data engineering or a closely related role. Proficiency in Python, SQL, and distributed processing frameworks (e.g., Spark). Hands-on experience with ETL/ELT tools such as Airflow, dbt, or Informatica. Strong foundation in data modeling, database concepts, and data warehousing (SQL and NoSQL). Experience with cloud data platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud). Experience with the Salesforce ecosystem, including Data Cloud. Proven ability to communicate technical concepts clearly and collaborate across cross-functional teams. A related technical degree required. Preferred Qualifications Experience building semantic search indices, embedding pipelines, or retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems. Familiarity with vector databases and AI/ML infrastructure. Experience supporting or partnering with Decision Science or Data Science teams on causal or attribution modeling. Track record of mentoring engineers and driving technical standards at a team or org level. Unleash Your Potential When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance andbe your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you cando your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world. Accommodations If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form. Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options. Posting Statement Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education. In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions. The typical base salary range for this position is $172,500 - $260,100 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $207,800 - $285,800 annually. The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable. Additional Locations: Illinois - Chicago, Washington - Seattle, Washington - Bellevue