Director of Data Engineering

A privately held investment management business wants to bring in a Director of Data Engineering to head up the data function that sits underneath how the firm invests, advises, and runs day to day. It's a builder's role with a leadership remit: you'll be in the datasets, close to the people who use them, and accountable for whether the analytics land.

The platform decisions are mostly made so this isn't a greenfield rebuild. The open question is delivery: how curated, reliable data actually reaches the analysts, advisors and operations staff who need it, and in what form. That might be a semantic layer, a set of APIs, agent-accessible tooling, a vendor BI rollout, or something bespoke. Your judgement on which route fits each problem is the job.

• What you'll do
• You'll take full ownership of the dbt codebase, its model structure, test coverage, documentation and standards, and you'll set the direction for how data gets delivered across the firm. Practically, that means designing and shipping clean, analytics-ready tables in Snowflake, drawing custodian feeds, market data and third-party systems into one coherent model, and gradually retiring legacy stores through a demand-led migration rather than a big-bang cutover. You'll also design the Airflow orchestration and keep behaviour consistent between production and lower environments.

You'll weigh building against buying for BI and tooling decisions, leaning towards whatever gets a result fastest, and you'll set the quality and certification bar high enough that the data can safely feed AI applications, client-facing reporting and real investment decisions. Expect to spend time with portfolio analysts, advisors and operations leads, understanding what they're trying to answer and turning that into durable data products.

• What is Required
• Detailed experience in a technical lead role focused on data engineering.
• Deep, production-grade Snowflake and dbt, alongside strong Airflow (or a close equivalent) for scheduling and dependencies, and solid Python for automation and tooling.
• Experience building layered architectures before (bronze/silver/gold or your own equivalent) and be genuinely strong in SQL, tuning included.
• Minimum four three years around securities identifiers (CUSIP, ISIN, SEDOL), position and portfolio structures, fund accounting or market data. You'll also need experience exposing data beyond the SQL query, through APIs, data services, semantic layers or programmatic interfaces, and comfort with the usual engineering hygiene
• A history of shipping data products that changed a business or analytical outcome, not just pipelines that stayed up.

• Package & Environment
• Hybrid working
• Full health, dental and vision cover subsidised for you and dependents;
• 401(k), life cover and disability protection;
• One Medical membership, an employee assistance programme, gym reimbursement and other wellness benefits; pre-tax transit, parking, HSA and flexible spending options. Generous flexible time off, paid parental leave, and a sabbatical that unlocks with tenure.
• Base salary is expected to fall between $175,000 and $225,000, set against experience and market, with discretionary bonus and incentive compensation on top.

Apply here or send an email to [email protected]

Placed by SO Digital Recruitment - Specialist Search for Data & AI talent in Investment Management

Our client is an equal opportunities employer and actively promotes diversity and inclusion across their teams. Applications are welcome from all qualified candidates.