Associate Director, Data Engineer

SickKids Foundation; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 99,000 - 143,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits

Tuition reimbursement

Flexible work arrangements

Pension plan

Parental top-up

Job summary

SickKids Foundation is seeking an Associate Director, Data Engineer to design, build, and operate enterprise-grade data platforms that deliver trusted data across the Foundation. You will help establish a production-grade cloud platform using medallion architecture principles, focusing on reliability, data quality, cost efficiency, and scalable delivery.

As a senior hands-on technical contributor, you will set engineering standards, enable self-serve analytics, and provide technical guidance to

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5-7 years of hands-on data engineering or platform engineering experience.
• Deep technical expertise with modern cloud data platforms and medallion/lakehouse architecture.
• Strong data modelling and database design for analytics and self-serve BI.
• Hands-on experience building production-grade ETL/ELT pipelines with data quality and governance.
• Experience establishing observability, performance monitoring, and incident-response practices.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate enterprise-grade data platforms using modern cloud technologies.
• Establish platform observability, cost attribution, and SLO/SLA monitoring.
• Define coding standards, CI/CD patterns, and Infrastructure-as-Code practices.
• Partner with stakeholders to translate requirements into reliable platform capabilities.
• Enable AI and advanced analytics use cases with AI-powered data products.

Skills

Cloud data platforms

ETL/ELT pipelines

Medallion architecture

Snowflake

Databricks

Microsoft Fabric

Data modelling

CI/CD

Python/SQL

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or related

Tools

Microsoft Fabric

Snowflake

Databricks

Job description

SickKids Foundation, with over 50 years of philanthropic impact is Canada's largest charitable funder of child health research, learning and care, raising over $200 million last year. As a national charity, SickKids Foundation invests in national and international initiatives to benefit children in Canada and around the world. As the fundraising partner to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), we are aligned in supporting Precision Child Health (PCH), the future of tailoring medicine to each child's unique traits so SickKids can diagnose faster, treat smarter, and predict better.

We are driven by our core values of integrity, collaboration, excellence, innovation, and inclusion, with goals of delivering a superior donor experience, investing in our people and culture, driving innovative and sustainable fundraising, and disrupting the market through data and technology.

SickKids Foundation is committed to an inclusive culture by embedding equity, diversity and inclusion in our policies, practices, and behaviours. We aim to build awareness and skills in this area, both internally and with our partners. Our commitment extends to creating a safe, positive work environment. For details on our Equity, Diversity & Inclusion commitment, please click here.

We’re committed to attracting and retaining passionate individuals to help create a healthier future. That’s why SickKids Foundation is looking for a new Associate Director, Data Engineer.

Description of the Position

Reporting to the Director, Data Science & Engineering, the Associate Director, Data Engineer designs, builds, and operates enterprise-grade data platforms that deliver trusted, well-governed data across SickKids Foundation. The role will help establish and evolve a production-grade cloud platform using medallion architecture principles, with a focus on reliability, data quality, cost efficiency, and scalable delivery.

As a senior hands-on technical contributor, you will set engineering standards, support platform incident response, enable self-serve analytics and AI-powered data products, and provide specialized technical guidance to data and analytics partners across the Foundation.

You will

• Design, build, and operate enterprise-grade data engineering platforms using modern cloud technologies such as Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, and Databricks, aligned to bronze, silver, and gold medallion architecture principles.


• Build and maintain robust, idempotent ETL/ELT pipelines with embedded validation, data quality checks, clear lineage, and repeatable delivery workflows.


• Design data models and semantic layers that make trusted data accessible for analytics, reporting, and self-serve business intelligence.


• Establish platform observability through query profiling, cost attribution, utilization metrics, alerting, and SLO/SLA monitoring; lead day-to-day response to data availability and performance incidents.


• Define and enforce coding standards, CI/CD patterns, and Infrastructure-as-Code practices to support consistent, secure, and scalable platform deployment.


• Partner with business stakeholders, Data & Analytics, IT/Infrastructure, and Security teams to translate requirements into reliable platform capabilities and support appropriate access, governance, and compliance.


• Enable AI and advanced analytics use cases, including natural-language querying and AI-powered data products, by partnering with stakeholders to identify and deliver high-value opportunities.


• Stay current with developments in cloud data platforms, AI, and emerging engineering practices, bringing relevant advancements into the platform roadmap and providing technical guidance to analysts, BI developers, and engineering partners.

Qualifications

While we know that for any job posting no one candidate will possess the qualifications being sought in equal measure, below is an outline of the qualifications we believe are important for a candidate to bring to the position or for the successful candidate to develop while in the role:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.


• 5-7 years of hands-on data engineering or platform engineering experience, ideally spanning the full lifecycle of architecting, building, and operating production data platforms.


• Deep technical expertise with modern cloud data platforms such as Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, or Databricks and strong knowledge of medallion/lakehouse architecture.


• Strong data modelling and database design skills for analytics and business consumption, including dimensional modelling and semantic layers for self-serve BI.


• Hands-on experience developing production-grade ETL/ELT pipelines and working with data quality, governance, CI/CD, and Infrastructure-as-Code practices.


• Experience establishing observability, performance monitoring, reliability standards, and incident-response practices in production data environments.


• Working knowledge of AI and advanced analytics tooling, including approaches that support natural-language querying and AI-powered data products.


• Strong technical judgment, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively across technical and non-technical stakeholder groups.


• Knowledge of foundational data domains, business processes, and enterprise applications is an asset.

We’re looking for a passionate individual who is interested in moving the dial and making a difference. We are an environment that looks to attract hardworking and committed people; people who want to challenge themselves and grow with a globally recognized brand that continues to change the world. If this describes you, consider joining our team. We look forward to reviewing your application.

Total Compensation Package

Expected Hiring Salary Range: $99,297 - $124,121; with the ability to progress to a maximum of $142,739 with demonstrated experience and proficiency. To ensure fair and equitable pay at SickKids Foundation, placement on the salary range will be based on your years of experience, skills, and qualifications relevant to the Associate Director, Data Engineer role.

To help you lead in the fight for kids’ health and to support your health, wellness, and career growth, in addition to competitive compensation, we offer a comprehensive benefit package (includes a flex benefit plan), tuition reimbursement, flexible work arrangements, pension plan and birth parent/parental top up – to name a few!

Position Status: Permanent Full-Time.

Hours: Hybrid work model: minimum two days per week in-office (Tuesday and Wednesday).

Available To: Internal and External Candidates

Available: Immediately; this posting is for an existing vacancy.

Date Posted: October 5, 2026

Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. We encourage interested candidates to apply early.

Please note that automated tools, including artificial intelligence, may be used to support the pre-screening of applications as part of our recruitment process.

SickKids Foundation is committed to its people and the talents, capabilities, and perspectives they bring to our mission. We live that commitment by being open and accessible to all, by valuing and respecting every individual, and by equally supporting every employee. As an organization proud to have joined the BlackNorth Initiative’s CEO pledge, we uphold our commitment by inviting and encouraging individuals from diverse lived experiences from Black, Indigenous, communities of colour, people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ community and all candidates who may contribute to the further diversification of the Foundation’s community.