Lead Data Engineer, Investment Data Platform

Castleton Tower; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Castleton Tower is seeking a senior, hands‑on data engineering lead to build a modern investment data platform for a prominent asset allocator. You will design the warehouse and lakehouse, develop production pipelines in Python and SQL, and raise the bar for data quality and engineering discipline.

You will lead a small team, mentor engineers, and partner with investment, operations, and reporting stakeholders to deliver durable data products.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands-on data engineering or analytics engineering focused on data platforms.
• 3+ years leading technical work as a tech lead, principal, staff engineer, or engineering manager who still builds.
• Expert SQL and Python, with deep data modeling and architecture judgment beyond a single tool.
• Production experience with modern warehouse and lakehouse platforms (Snowflake, Databricks) and orchestration tools.

Responsibilities

• Architect the warehouse and lakehouse, data models, orchestration, and semantic layers for the investment organization.
• Deliver production-grade Python, SQL, dbt, and orchestration work, including batch and near-real-time pipelines.
• Bring software engineering discipline to data: code reviews, testing, CI/CD, documentation, observability, and data quality controls.
• Lead and mentor engineers through design reviews and pairing, set the technical direction, own outcomes end to end.
• Collaborate with investment, operations, finance, and reporting stakeholders to turn needs into durable data products.
• Leverage AI-enabled tooling to move faster without compromising quality or controls.

Skills

Data engineering

Python

SQL

Data modeling

Snowflake

dbt

Dagster/Airflow

Leadership

Cloud platforms

Tools

Snowflake

Databricks

Airflow

dbt

Job description

The Firm

Castleton Tower is a boutique consulting firm founded by executives who have built and led quantitative research, data science, and technology teams at top-tier hedge funds and asset managers. We work exclusively with investment management firms, including asset allocators, asset managers, hedge funds, family offices, and RIAs, helping them modernize data infrastructure and build AI-ready foundations.

Our engagements combine senior strategy with hands‑on implementation. We assess technical and business strategy, design the architecture, and build the data and AI infrastructure needed to support better investment decisions.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a senior, hands‑on data engineering lead to help a prominent asset allocator client build a modern investment data platform. The firm has outgrown a collection of disconnected applications and spreadsheets and is building a unified data foundation across its investment, operations, and reporting functions.

This is a builder’s role. The right person has deep technical expertise, writes and reviews production code, and holds a high bar for quality. They know what good data engineering looks like, and when work falls short of it they fix it and help the team raise its standards. You will lead technical work across a small, growing team and partner directly with the head of the function.

What You Will Own

• Platform architecture: Design and build the warehouse and lakehouse, data models, orchestration, and semantic layers that the investment organization runs on.

• Hands‑on delivery: Build production‑grade Python, SQL, dbt, and orchestration work yourself, including batch and near‑real‑time pipelines.

• Engineering standards: Bring software engineering discipline to data: code review, testing, CI/CD, documentation, observability, and data quality controls.

• Technical leadership: Lead and mentor engineers through design reviews and pairing, set the technical direction for your area, and own outcomes end to end.

• Business partnership: Work with investment, operations, finance, and reporting stakeholders to turn their needs into durable data products.

• AI‑enabled engineering: Use tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Copilot to move faster without compromising quality or controls.

Core Responsibilities

• Architect and build core investment data domains such as security and entity reference data, positions and transactions, performance, risk, and private‑markets fund data.

• Design data models that are correct, reconcilable, and point‑in‑time aware, with tests and controls that catch problems before users do.

• Own reliability, performance, and cost of the platform, including monitoring, alerting, and incident follow‑through.

• Review others’ work closely, send it back when it isn’t right, and make the next version better.

• Evaluate tooling and vendors across Snowflake, dbt, Dagster/Airflow, and Azure, and make pragmatic build‑versus‑buy calls.

Qualifications

Required

• 8+ years of hands‑on experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, or software engineering focused on data platforms.

• 3+ years leading technical work, as a tech lead, principal or staff engineer, or engineering manager who still builds.

• Expert SQL and Python, and deep data modeling and architecture judgment that goes beyond any single tool.

• Production experience with modern warehouse and lakehouse platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, or similar), dbt, and orchestration tools (Dagster, Airflow, or similar).

• Strong software engineering practice: version control, code review, automated testing, and CI/CD applied to data.

• Track record of shipping and operating systems you built, described in terms of what you delivered.

Strongly Valued

• Experience with investment management systems and data: security master, IBOR/ABOR, OMS, risk, performance, fund accounting, or client reporting.

• Private markets data, including entity mapping across sources without universal identifiers.

• Azure data services (Azure Data Factory, Azure DevOps pipelines, Synapse) and Power BI.

• Experience in asset allocators, asset managers, hedge funds, private markets firms, or financial data providers.

Personal Attributes

• Craftsman mindset: you care about the parts of the system nobody sees.

• High standards for yourself and the people around you, delivered constructively.

• Ownership: you see problems through to resolution without being asked.

• Clear communicator with both engineers and investment professionals.

Location and Placement

Location: Hybrid, Northeast U.S.

This role is intended for full‑time placement at a prominent asset allocator client. The successful candidate will work closely with the client’s engineering leadership and investment, operations, and technology stakeholders, and spend regular time in the office.

Compensation: Competitive total compensation commensurate with experience.