Remote AWS Data Engineer Freelance - Work Anywhere — Columbus
Traveler-Friendly Insight
This is a fully remote, project-based freelance role with no stated timezone restrictions — a strong fit for location-independent engineers. The engagement model is project-by-project, meaning you can structure your availability around travel plans as long as you can commit to delivery milestones and cutover dates.
Timezone flexibility: Mactores doesn't specify required hours or a timezone window, but their forward-deployed model involves close coordination with engagement teams. Expect some overlap with US business hours on most engagements, given AWS's primary customer base. Async communication appears to be part of the culture, but deadline-driven cutovers may require real-time availability during critical phases.
Visa considerations: As a freelance contractor role open globally, digital nomad visas are well-suited here. Consider:
- Portugal (NHR/Digital Nomad Visa): Lisbon costs ~$2,000–2,500/month for a comfortable lifestyle — very manageable on senior data engineering rates.
- Thailand (LTR Visa): Bangkok runs $1,200–1,800/month; strong coworking infrastructure and fast internet for pipeline debugging sessions.
- Colombia (Digital Nomad Visa): Medellín averages $1,000–1,500/month with a thriving tech community and reliable connectivity.
Travel-relevant perks: No equipment stipend or coworking allowance is mentioned. As a freelancer, budget for these independently. The role requires a robust local internet connection — prioritize destinations with fiber or reliable backup options, especially during cutover windows.
Mactores is the agent-native AWS modernization firm. Most modernization work doesn't ship — it stalls in pilots, slips a year, or lands at three times the budget. We exist to ship it: production systems running, legacy retired, outcomes measured. Our delivery is built on Aedeon, the agent platform built by Mactores' founders' sister company, which absorbs the repetitive 60–70% of engagement work — discovery, dependency mapping, validation, test generation — that traditional consulting bills human hours against. Forward-deployed engineers own the rest: architecture, judgment, and cutover, on dates we commit to in the contract.
This is a senior freelance role in our Data Platform Modernization pillar: consolidating and migrating customer data infrastructure on AWS in weeks, not quarters. Customers come to us after a data program has stalled — pipelines nobody trusts, warehouses nobody runs new workloads on, a modernization that produced diagrams instead of production systems.
Aedeon handles automated source discovery, schema mapping, lineage extraction, and parallel-run validation. You take the work that needs a senior engineer's judgment: pipeline builds on EMR and Glue, data models for Redshift, Snowflake, Athena, and Presto, Airflow orchestration, and the troubleshooting that gets a system stable enough to cut over. Freelance here means real delivery work on real engagements — not staff augmentation into someone else's backlog.
What You Will Do
- Build and maintain data pipelines on Amazon EMR or Amazon Glue that run in production.
- Design data models and end-user querying on Amazon Redshift or Snowflake, Amazon Athena, and Presto.
- Build and maintain pipeline orchestration with Airflow.
- Work with other teams to understand data needs and design solutions that meet them.
- Troubleshoot and optimize pipelines and data models until they hold up under real load.
- Write and maintain PySpark and SQL scripts to extract, transform, and load data.
- Document and communicate technical decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Track new AWS data technologies and judge their impact on the systems we run.
What We Are Looking For
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
- 3+ years of experience working with PySpark and SQL.
- 2+ years of experience building and maintaining data pipelines using Amazon EMR or Amazon Glue.
- 2+ years of experience with data modeling and end-user querying using Amazon Redshift or Snowflake, Amazon Athena, and Presto.
- 1+ years of experience building and maintaining pipeline orchestration using Airflow.
- Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting skills.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
- Ability to work independently and within a team environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- AWS Data Analytics Specialty Certification
- Experience with Agile development methodology
How We Work
We run a forward-deployed model: engineers embed with delivery teams, own their piece of the outcome, and ship against committed dates. This is a remote freelance engagement — you work project-by-project inside that model, with Aedeon absorbing the repetitive layer so your billed time goes to engineering judgment, not manual validation. You'll work independently, coordinate closely with the engagement team, and your output lands in production systems that customers sign off on.
Life at Mactores
We care about creating a culture that makes a real difference in the lives of every Mactorian. Our 10 Core Leadership Principles — honoring Decision-making, Leadership, Collaboration, and Curiosity — drive how we work:
- Be one step ahead
- Deliver the best
- Be bold
- Pay attention to the detail
- Enjoy the challenge
- Be curious and take action
- Take leadership
- Own it
- Deliver value
- Be collaborative
Read more about the work culture at https://mactores.com/careers
The Path to Joining the Mactores Team
At Mactores, our recruitment process is structured around three distinct stages:
- Pre-Employment Assessment: A series of evaluations of your technical proficiency and suitability for the role.
- Managerial Interview: The hiring manager engages with you in multiple discussions (30 minutes to an hour each), covering technical skills, hands-on experience, leadership potential, and communication.
- HR Discussion: A 30-minute session to discuss the offer and next steps with a member of the HR team.
Mactores provides equal opportunities in all employment practices. We don't discriminate based on race, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, military status, genetic information, or any other category protected by federal, state, and local laws. This applies to every part of the employment relationship: recruitment, compensation, promotions, transfers, disciplinary action, layoff, training, and social and recreational programs.
Note: Please answer as many questions as possible with this application to accelerate the hiring process.
Frequently Asked Questions
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