Senior Site Reliability / DataOps Engineer

Apex Systems; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 55,000 - 83,000; Part time

Job summary

Apex Systems is seeking a Senior Site Reliability / DataOps Engineer in Toronto (Hybrid). The role supports a large data modernization project, migrating 300 TB from Netezza to Azure Databricks, and advancing DevOps/DataOps practices across production environments.

You will build data pipelines, automate deployments, and implement observability and runbooks while collaborating with cross-functional teams in a fast-paced financial services setting.

Qualifications

• Strong experience in Site Reliability Engineering, DevOps, DataOps, Application Operations, or Production Engineering.
• Hands-on experience with Azure Databricks in enterprise data environments.
• Strong Python and/or PySpark development skills.
• Strong SQL knowledge with large-scale data pipelines.
• Experience building or supporting CI/CD and automated deployment pipelines.
• Hands-on experience with Azure DevOps and/or Jenkins.
• Strong understanding of Microsoft Azure and cloud architectures.
• Experience supporting 24x7 production environments.
• Experience with production incident, problem, release, and change management.
• Ability to identify operational toil and develop automation to improve reliability.
• Experience with observability and monitoring tools such as Splunk, Dynatrace, or Azure Monitor.

Responsibilities

• Migrate data warehouse from Netezza to Azure Databricks; design migration approach for ~300 TB.
• Build, deploy, automate data pipelines in Azure using PySpark, Python, SQL.
• Develop and maintain data processing and transformations; implement medallion architecture.
• Leverage ADF for orchestration and data movement.
• Integrate Databricks with downstream reporting (Power BI).
• Design automated deployment processes across environments.
• Create CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub.
• Automate manual operations to reduce toil.
• Develop runbooks and document operational procedures.
• Monitor production health with dashboards and alerts (Splunk, Dynatrace, Azure Monitor).

Skills

SRE/DevOps

Azure Databricks

Python

PySpark

SQL

CI/CD

Azure DevOps

Jenkins

Observability

Production Support

Tools

Azure DevOps

Jenkins

GitHub Enterprise

Artifactory

Power BI

ADF

Databricks

Job description

Job Description:

Job# 3054487

Job Description

Senior Site Reliability / DataOps Engineer

Client: Major Canadian Financial Institution

Location: Toronto, ON, Hybrid

On-Site Requirement: Wednesdays and the third Friday of each month

Contract: 6 months with strong potential for extension

Position Overview

• Apex Systems is seeking a Senior Site Reliability / DataOps Engineer to support a large-scale data modernization initiative within a major Canadian financial institution.
• This individual will join an Application Operations team evolving toward a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) model, with an increased focus on automation, observability, DevOps/DataOps practices, deployment reliability, and production support.
• The primary focus of this role will be supporting the migration of a critical credit card data warehouse from Netezza to Azure Databricks . The environment contains approximately 300 TB of historical data , creating a need for a senior engineer who can help determine the migration approach and then build, deploy, automate, and support the required data pipelines.
• The ideal candidate combines Azure Databricks/data engineering experience with a strong DevOps and production operations background . This person should be comfortable working in an evolving environment, solving ambiguous technical problems, and independently driving solutions from design through production implementation.

Data Migration & DataOps

• Support the migration of a large-scale enterprise data warehouse from Netezza to Azure Databricks .
• Help evaluate, design, and recommend an appropriate approach for migrating approximately 300 TB of historical data.
• Build, deploy, maintain, and automate data pipelines within Azure.
• Develop data processing and transformation solutions using PySpark, Python, and SQL .
• Work with Azure Databricks medallion architecture , including bronze, silver, and gold data layers.
• Leverage Azure Data Factory (ADF) where appropriate for orchestration and data movement.
• Support connectivity and data flows between Databricks and downstream reporting solutions, including Power BI .

DevOps & Deployment Automation

• Design and improve automated deployment processes across enterprise environments.
• Build automation and orchestration solutions that leverage REST APIs and other integration mechanisms.
• Work with Azure DevOps, GitHub Enterprise, Jenkins, Artifactory , and related CI/CD tooling.
• Identify manual operational processes and develop sustainable automation to eliminate repetitive hands-on work.
• Develop automation using technologies such as:
  • Python
  • PowerShell
  • Bash
  • JavaScript
• Support Infrastructure as Code and automated deployment practices.
• Execute and support production deployments, release activities, and enterprise change processes.

Site Reliability & Production Support

• Support highly available, business-critical applications across UAT, PTE, and Production environments .
• Participate in support of 24x7 production environments and on-call rotations .
• Triage system-generated incidents and coordinate recovery activities with infrastructure and technical teams.
• Lead or contribute to incident calls and drive technical actions through resolution.
• Perform root cause analysis, post-incident reviews, and implementation of corrective actions.
• Develop and maintain application health dashboards, service monitoring, and alerting strategies.
• Build and maintain monitoring solutions using:
  • Splunk
  • Dynatrace
  • Azure Monitor
• Create and maintain operational runbooks and supporting technical documentation.

Change, Release & Environment Management

• Create and manage change records and implementation plans.
• Support CAB processes and production deployment activities.
• Review implementation plans and assess operational risks.
• Coordinate infrastructure changes, patching, application configurations, and release activities.
• Help enable reliable, repeatable deployments aligned with a two-week sprint delivery model.

Security & Compliance

• Support enterprise management of:
  • Certificates and TLS
  • Secrets and keys
  • Functional/service accounts
  • CyberArk or equivalent privileged access management solutions
• Maintain certificate lifecycle processes, including expiration tracking and renewal deployments.
• Ensure automation and operational processes meet enterprise audit, security, access attestation, and governance requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Strong experience in Site Reliability Engineering, DevOps, DataOps, Application Operations, or Production Engineering .
• Hands‑on experience with Azure Databricks in enterprise data environments.
• Strong scripting/development skills with Python and/or PySpark .
• Strong SQL knowledge and experience working with large-scale data pipelines.
• Experience building or supporting CI/CD and automated deployment pipelines .
• Hands‑on experience with Azure DevOps and/or Jenkins.
• Strong understanding of Microsoft Azure and cloud-based application architectures.
• Previous experience supporting 24x7 production environments .
• Experience with production incident, problem, release, and change management.
• Ability to identify operational toil and develop automation to improve scalability and reliability.
• Experience with observability and application monitoring tools such as Splunk, Dynatrace, or Azure Monitor .
• Strong understanding of:
  • Linux
  • Networking fundamentals
  • DNS
  • Load balancers
  • Certificates/TLS
  • REST APIs
• Ability to independently investigate complex technical problems and drive solutions to completion.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate across development, infrastructure, architecture, security, and business teams.

Preferred / Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience migrating data from Netezza to Azure Databricks or comparable legacy-to-cloud data warehouse migrations.
• Experience with Azure Data Factory (ADF) .
• Knowledge of Databricks medallion architecture .
• Power BI integration experience.
• Experience with OpenShift and containerized environments.
• Experience with GitHub Enterprise and Artifactory .
• Infrastructure as Code experience.
• Experience with CyberArk or another PAM platform.
• Experience with Microsoft Power Platform / Power Apps .
• Pega application or operational support experience.
• Experience working within a highly regulated financial services environment .

Ideal Candidate Profile

• The strongest candidate will not simply be a traditional Data Engineer . They will have a foundation in DevOps, SRE, or production application support and have expanded into DataOps, Azure, and Databricks .
• They should be able to operate across both sides of the role:
• DataOps: Databricks, PySpark/Python, SQL, large-scale data migration, ADF, data pipelines
• DevOps/SRE: CI/CD, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, APIs, scripting, automation, monitoring, deployments, incident management, and production reliability
• Most importantly, this individual needs to be comfortable entering a project where the migration approach is still being developed and help define the solution rather than simply execute an established plan .

Hourly Range: $40.00/hr.-$60.00/hr.

Apex Systems is an equal opportunity employer.

We do not discriminate or allow discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, genetic information, registered domestic partner status, marital status, disability, status as a crime victim, protected veteran status, political affiliation, union membership, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Apex will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable law.