Senior Data Engineer

CanCap Group Inc.; Canada; On-site; CAD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Impactful work driving decisions for millions

Innovative culture with emphasis on respect and growth

Opportunities for architectural ownership

Job summary

A progressive financial services company in Canada is seeking a Senior Data Engineer. You will set standards for data platforms and act as a technical anchor for scalable systems. Ideal candidates have 5+ years of experience along with advanced skills in SQL and Python. You will ensure data quality and optimize workflows while collaborating with teams to solve complex business problems. Join a culture driven by respect and innovation as we transform into a modern technology leader.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant experience in data engineering roles.
• Knowledge of data modeling for diverse access patterns.
• Experience optimizing complex queries for performance.

Responsibilities

• Design scalable ingestion patterns for data.
• Elevate the engineering standards of the data team.
• Design systems for real-time and strategic insights.

Skills

Advanced proficiency in SQL

Advanced proficiency in Python

Understanding of distributed computing (Spark)

Experience with Databricks

Experience with DataOps practices

Tools

Databricks

dbt

Job description

CanCap is a Canadian success story. We established our reputation as a significant player in the Canadian automotive lending space. Today, that foundation supports a broader ecosystem of financial services operating in the background.

Now, we are changing. We are evolving from a traditional financial institution into a product-led technology company. We are reimagining our operations with the speed and tooling of a modern tech firm.

A note on our current look: We are currently overhauling our entire brand and public presence. If you visit our website today, you will see our history. We are looking for the builders who will architect our future.

The Role: Architecting the Nervous System

We are seeking a Senior Data Engineer to set the technical standard for our data platform. At CanCap, we view data as a strategic product. In this role, you act as a technical anchor—designing scalable ingestion patterns, optimizing Lakehouse performance, and elevating the engineering standards of the team.

You won\'t just move files around. You will be the technical architect of data products that carry real business value. You will design systems that power everything from real-time credit adjudication to long-term strategic insights, ensuring our architecture is robust enough to handle the complexity of our evolving business.

What You Bring

• Technical Mastery: You possess advanced proficiency in SQL and Python. You understand the internals of distributed computing (Spark) and can optimize complex queries and transformation logic for both speed and cost.
• Architectural Vision: You think in systems. You understand the trade-offs between streaming and batch processing, you know how to model data for diverse access patterns (Star Schema vs. Data Vault), and you can design for long-term scalability.
• Modern Stack Leadership: You have deep production experience with Databricks (Unity Catalog, Lakehouse architecture) and dbt. You know how to implement rigorous DataOps practices (CI/CD, automated testing, observability).
• The "Data as Product" Mindset: You apply software engineering principles to data. You treat data quality, documentation, and lineage as first-class citizens, ensuring downstream users trust what they see.
• Mentorship: You lift the team up. You conduct thorough code reviews, mentor junior engineers on best practices, and foster a culture of technical excellence.
• Experience Guide: We prioritize your ability and the complexity of the data systems you have built over the exact number of years on your resume. We typically see successful Senior candidates with 5+ years of experience.

Your Mission

• Architect for Scale: Design and optimize our Databricks (GCP) environment. You will define the patterns for ingestion, storage, and access, ensuring we process data efficiently as volumes grow.
• Elevate Standards: You will own the health of our dbt repository and transformation logic. You will establish the standards for testing, documentation, and version control that the rest of the team follows.
• Solve Hard Problems: You will tackle the most complex challenges—whether that\'s integrating a difficult legacy data source, debugging a performance bottleneck in Spark, or designing a real-time streaming pipeline for credit scoring.

How We Work

We believe in clean architecture, thoughtful implementation, and massive leverage.

• Developer-Led Tooling: We invest heavily in the tools our engineers actually want to use. We actively experiment with and adopt the latest AI assistants (like Claude, Cursor, Antigravity, and Copilot) to reduce boilerplate and improve velocity. Our tooling strategy is driven by developer feedback and real-world utility.
• Modern Data Architecture: We are building a unified intelligence platform using Databricks. You will own the architecture that allows our software engineers to consume complex data models, rather than just treating the database as a simple storage bin.
• Technically Agnostic, but Opinionated: We value modularity and clear lineage in our pipelines. We prefer idempotent workflows over "black box" scripts and focus on the result: reliable, high-quality data.
• Autonomy: You will collaborate directly with operations and tech teams to solve actual business problems through data, rather than just fulfilling ticket requests.

Why Join CanCap Now?

• Impact: You will be part of the wave that transforms a legacy institution into a modern technology leader. Your pipelines will drive decisions for millions of Canadians.
• Culture: We are a company of innovators who treat each other with respect. We leave our egos at the door and focus on doing the "right thing" for our customers and our code.
• Growth: Because we are evolving so quickly, opportunities for architectural ownership and leadership are abundant.

Diversity and Inclusion

CanCap is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We are committed to building and evolving a team reflecting a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills.

To be considered for employment, you will need to successfully pass a criminal background check and validate your work experience.

Thank you to all interested applicants. Only candidates who possess the experience, skills, and qualifications outlined above will be contacted for next steps in the hiring process.