Senior Data Engineer
Howard Martínez
Building the pipelines that make data products possible. 7+ years engineering healthcare data infrastructure at scale — orchestrating with Airflow, transforming with dbt, and deploying on Kubernetes.
About me
Where DataOps meets infrastructure thinking
I'm a data engineer with 7+ years at Abarca Health LLC, where I've grown from building SSIS pipelines to architecting cloud-native data platforms on Snowflake and Kubernetes.
My work lives at the intersection of data engineering and DevOps — I don't just write pipelines, I build the systems and toolchains that make data products reliable, observable, and maintainable at scale.
Currently focused on Apache Airflow 3.x modernization, dbt-on-Kubernetes execution patterns, and scaling pharmaceutical analytics infrastructure to serve enterprise health plan clients.
PCAP-31-03 certified Python developer. Published IEEE researcher. Masters in Computer Engineering (GPA 4.00) from UPR Mayagüez.
// current_stack.py
stack = {
"orchestration": "Airflow 3.x",
"transform": "dbt",
"warehouse": "Snowflake",
"infra": "Kubernetes + Docker",
"lang": "Python + T-SQL",
}
Data Platform Engineering
Snowflake-native design with Time Travel, Streams, RBAC, and dynamic SQL stored procedures for audit-safe healthcare rollbacks.
Pipeline Orchestration
Architected 40+ production DAG migrations to Apache Airflow 3.x TaskFlow API. Dynamic DAG factories cutting client onboarding from days to hours.
Infrastructure & DevOps
Containerized dbt transformation runs via @task.kubernetes_cmd — isolated, reproducible Kubernetes pod execution per transformation step.
Healthcare Data Domain
7+ years in pharmacy benefit management (PBM). Deep understanding of pharmaceutical analytics, healthcare compliance, and client SLAs.
Technical Expertise
The stack behind the pipelines
Orchestration
Transformation & ETL
Data Platform
Infrastructure
Languages
Domain
Work History
7+ years building healthcare data at scale
Senior Data Engineer
CurrentAbarca Health LLC · San Juan, PR
- ›Architected migration of 40+ production DAGs from Stonebranch to Apache Airflow 3.x TaskFlow API, eliminating legacy scheduler dependency and improving end-to-end pipeline observability.
- ›Engineered containerized dbt transformation runs via @task.kubernetes_cmd, enabling isolated, reproducible Kubernetes pod execution per transformation step.
- ›Built dynamic DAG factory pattern for pharmaceutical data synchronization, cutting new-client pipeline onboarding from days to hours.
- ›Led Blue Shield of California (BSC) platform deployments: ETL design, Snowflake schema validation, and cross-functional alignment from raw ingestion through reporting layer.
- ›Designed Snowflake stored procedures with Time Travel recovery logic for audit-safe healthcare data rollbacks.
- ›Earned PCAP-31-03 certification (December 2025); applied advanced Python patterns to standardize DataOps tooling across the team.
BI Specialist III — Team Lead
Abarca Health LLC · San Juan, PR
- ›Led a 4-person BI team through the active migration from SSIS to dbt, driving adoption of version-controlled, modular SQL models.
- ›Championed the transition from SQL Server to Snowflake; designed initial star schema models, reducing core PBM dashboard query time by 40%.
- ›Maintained T-SQL and SSIS workloads in parallel during transition, ensuring zero disruption to client reporting SLAs.
- ›Established dbt coding standards, testing patterns, and code review practices that became the team baseline for all new pipeline development.
BI Specialist II — Team Lead
Abarca Health LLC · San Juan, PR
- ›Developed T-SQL stored procedures and SSIS pipelines ingesting pharmaceutical claims data from multiple payers, processing 1M+ records per daily cycle.
- ›Initiated early evaluation of dbt and Snowflake; built proof-of-concept models that informed the platform migration roadmap.
- ›Promoted to team lead; mentored 2 analysts on T-SQL optimization, SSIS package design, and data modeling fundamentals.
BI Specialist I
Abarca Health LLC · San Juan, PR
- ›Built T-SQL queries, stored procedures, and SSIS ETL packages for the pharmacy analytics platform, supporting monthly reporting for 5+ client accounts.
- ›Automated recurring manual reporting workflows via SSIS, saving ~12 analyst hours per week.
Junior BI Specialist
Abarca Health LLC · San Juan, PR
- ›Designed and implemented the company's first Master Data Services (MDS) solution, addressing a critical gap in reference data governance.
- ›Developed T-SQL scripts and SSIS packages for pharmacy benefit data extraction, supporting the go-live of two enterprise health plan clients.
Professional in Systems
Coosalud EPS-S · Cartagena, COL
- ›Developed internal database systems and technical solutions supporting health insurance operations for a national Colombian health provider.
Young Researcher
University of Cartagena · Cartagena, COL
- ›Conducted research on cloud computing and big data architectures; co-authored published IEEE conference paper on smart grid brokerage systems.
Background
Education & Credentials
Degrees
Master of Business Intelligence
Online Business School & Universitat de Barcelona
Master of Engineering in Computer Engineering
University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
Systems Engineer
University of Cartagena
Certifications
PCAP-31-03 · Certified Associate in Python Programming
Python Institute
December 2025
Publications
Cloud-based and Big Data-enabled Brokerage System for Smart Grids
IEEE BigData Congress 2017 · 6th International Congress on Big Data
Languages
Get in touch
Let's build something together
Open to interesting conversations about data engineering, platform architecture, or just connecting with people who care about building things right.