Lead Data Engineer: Snowflake & AI-Driven Data Platform

Walker Sands; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 155,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Health coverage (medical, dental, 2019

401(k) match

Paid holidays & PTO

Milestone Sabbatical

Performance coaching

Job summary

Walker Sands is seeking a Lead Data Engineer to drive our DATA practice, building the data infrastructure for client reporting, measurement, internal ops, and AI-driven work. You’ll lead technical portions of the data stack, partner with the SVP, DATA on architecture, and shape the roadmap with buy/build decisions.

You’ll grow the team over time, extending the platform and mentoring a data support group, while maintaining governance and scalable data delivery. Hybrid work in Chicago area offered.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in data or analytics engineering, including lead or senior ownership on a production data platform.
• Deep, hands-on Snowflake experience with dbt, SQL and Python.
• Experience integrating SaaS and marketing APIs (ad platforms, GA4, Salesforce, HubSpot) through ELT tools and custom pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain pipelines and dbt models in Snowflake that are tested, documented, and trusted.
• Integrate data from paid media, web analytics, SEO, CRM, and business systems using tools like Fivetran or Airbyte and direct APIs.
• Find and fix breaks at the root, before account teams or clients notice.
• Maintain data governance: access controls, privacy, and consent requirements.
• Structure and document data for AI usage with clear semantic layers and metadata definitions.
• Build governed access patterns so agents only query allowed data and source traces back.

Skills

Snowflake

dbt

SQL

Python

APIs

Leadership

Tools

Fivetran

Airbyte

Job description

Walker Sands is seeking a Lead Data Engineer to drive our DATA practice, building the data infrastructure for client reporting, measurement, internal ops, and AI-driven work. You’ll lead technical portions of the data stack, partner with the SVP, DATA on architecture, and shape the roadmap with buy/build decisions.

You’ll grow the team over time, extending the platform and mentoring a data support group, while maintaining governance and scalable data delivery. Hybrid work in Chicago area offered.