Senior Data Engineer

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Company; Toronto; On-site; CAD 103,000 - 153,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Defined benefit pension

Company-paid extended health and denti

Wellness programs

Job summary

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to design and build scalable data foundations on AWS, including AI-ready pipelines and Snowflake. You’ll work with data scientists and engineers to deliver trusted data assets that power analytics and AI initiatives across the pension platform.

You will shape lakehouse architectures, establish modern data practices, and ensure secure, scalable solutions while mentoring teammates and driving technical excellence.

Qualifications

• Post-secondary degree in computer science or engineering or related field.
• Experience with AWS data stack and Snowflake for data warehousing.
• Proven ability to design scalable data pipelines and collaborate with AI teams.

Responsibilities

• Build data foundations transforming structured and unstructured data for AI use cases.
• Develop scalable cloud-native pipelines on AWS and manage data lakehouse strategies.
• Establish testing, IaC, and CI/CD practices for reliable data workloads.
• Collaborate with data scientists and engineers to deploy AI-ready assets.

Skills

AWS data stack

Snowflake

SQL

Python

Spark

Unstructured data

Embeddings / Vector search

Lakehouse architectures

Terraform / CloudFormation

Git / CI-CD

Communication skills

Mentoring engineers

Education

CS/Engineering degree

Tools

S3

Glue

Lambda

Athena

Step Functions

EventBridge

Snowpark

Cortex AI

Job description

Why you’ll love working here

• high-performance, people-focused culture
• commitment that equity, diversity, and inclusion are fundamental to our work environment and business success, which helps employees feel valued and empowered to be their authentic selves
• learning and development initiatives, including workshops, Speaker Series events and access to LinkedIn Learning, that support employees’ career growth
• membership in HOOPP’s world class defined benefit pension plan, which can serve as an important part of your retirement security
• competitive, 100% company-paid extended health and dental benefits for permanent employees, including coverage supporting our team's diversity and mental health (e.g., gender affirmation, fertility and drug treatment, psychological support benefits of $2,500 per year, parental leave top‑up, and a health spending account)
• optional post‑retirement health and dental benefits subsidized at 50%
• yoga classes, meditation workshops, nutritional consultations, and wellness seminars
• the opportunity to make a difference and help take care of those who care for us, by providing a financially secure retirement for Ontario healthcare workers

Job Summary HOOPP's Information Technology teams deliver innovative technology solutions to help build a stronger financial future for the healthcare community. As a Senior Data Engineer, you will design and build the data foundations (spanning structured and unstructured data on AWS) that turn raw information into trusted insight and AI-ready assets to support our teams in delivering on the pension promise. Our Enterprise Data Platform team builds and operates the cloud data platform that powers analytics, reporting, and AI across HOOPP. As a Senior Data Engineer, reporting to the Senior Director, Enterprise Data Platform, you will build scalable pipelines on AWS across both structured and unstructured data, stand up the ingestion and retrieval patterns behind our emerging AI use cases, and set the engineering standards the broader data team builds on. We cultivate a culture that emphasizes innovation, collaboration, practicality, and the courage to challenge the status quo. This role is well suited to someone who combines technical depth with curiosity, sound judgment, product thinking, systems thinking, and a willingness to test new ideas. You will look beyond immediate symptoms, identify underlying needs, and develop solutions that are secure, sustainable, and valuable in delivering the pension promise. Success in this role requires the ability to navigate ambiguity, ask thoughtful questions, and turn emerging technologies into practical solutions that deliver measurable business impact.

What you will do

• Build the data foundations that power HOOPP’s AI ambitions by transforming structured data, documents, text, and other unstructured content into trusted, accessible assets that fuel AI models, search, and retrieval capabilities
• Take AI and analytics ideas from whiteboard to production with data scientists, AI engineers, and the business. We prototype fast, prove what works, and retire what doesn’t
• Use Snowflake as a core data warehouse and AI platform, applying capabilities such as Cortex AI to support scalable analytics and emerging AI use cases
• Architect cloud-native pipelines on AWS that move structured and unstructured data at scale
• Shape our lakehouse on Amazon S3 by using open table formats, thoughtful data models, and metadata that makes the platform genuinely easy for others to build on
• Set the engineering standards the broader data team builds on, and raise the bar through design reviews, code reviews, and mentorship
• Bring engineering rigor to data through automated testing, infrastructure-as-code, and CI/CD that make releases boring and reliable
• Build quality, lineage, and observability into every pipeline from day one, so trust in the data is the default

What you will bring

• 7+ years of data engineering experience, combined with 3+ years building production data solutions on AWS
• Hands‑on depth with the AWS data stack — for example S3, Glue, Lambda, Athena, Step Functions, and EventBridge
• Hands‑on experience with Snowflake, including its AI and generative AI capabilities (such as Cortex AI, Snowpark, and vector search)
• Strong SQL and Python, with experience building distributed data processing at scale (Spark preferred)
• Demonstrated experience working with unstructured data (documents, text, images, or audio) in support of AI or machine learning use cases
• Exposure to AI and generative AI data patterns such as embeddings, vector stores, and retrieval‑augmented generation
• Experience with lakehouse architectures and open table formats (Iceberg, Delta, or Hudi), as well as dimensional modelling for analytics
• Working knowledge of infrastructure‑as‑code (Terraform or CloudFormation), Git, and CI/CD for data workloads
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, ask thoughtful questions, and turn emerging technologies into practical, measurable outcomes
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical trade‑offs to non‑technical partners and mentor other engineers
• Post‑secondary education in computer science, engineering, or a related field; AWS Data Engineer or Solutions Architect certification is an asset

The expected annual base salary range for this role is: $103,000 - $153,000 CAD. The actual base salary offered to the successful candidate may vary based on multiple factors including, but not limited to, individual's expertise and level of experience applicable to the role they are being offered. This role is eligible to participate in discretionary incentive plan(s), subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable incentive plan text.

This job is for an existing vacancy. HOOPP may use artificial intelligence tools to assist in screening, assessing and selecting applicants for this position. These tools support our recruitment process but do not replace human judgment and decision‑making.

About HOOPP

Founded in 1960 by the Ontario Hospital Association, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) is one of Canada’s strongest and most stable defined benefit pension plans. For over 65 years, HOOPP has delivered on its pension promise to Ontario’s healthcare workers, now serving more than 504,000 members and 870 employers across the province. With offices in Toronto and London, HOOPP manages a global, diversified multi-asset portfolio. One of Canada’s Maple 8 pension plans, HOOPP oversees $132billion in assets and remains fully funded, supported by strong risk‑adjusted returns, stable contribution rates for more than 20 years and independent governance. Our strength is powered by our people who bring HOOPP’s mission, vision and values to life and play a crucial role in helping us succeed. We are a purpose‑driven organization committed to building an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace where different perspectives drive better outcomes. We look for talented, forward‑thinking individuals who want their work to have real impact on the lives of others. We believe an equitable, diverse and inclusive (EDI) workplace is integral to cultivating a positive culture. We integrate fair and inclusive practices into our programs and processes, creating equal opportunity and establishing a consistent employee experience across our organization.

If you need accommodation at any point in our recruitment process, please advise your recruiter or email us at [e-mail] and we will be happy to consult with you so that arrangements can be made for reasonable accommodation.