Manager, Analytics Engineering

Forward Financing; Boston (MA); Hybrid; CAD 236,000 - 278,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

Flexible time-off

Professional development budget

Parental leave

401k match

Job summary

Forward Financing, a fintech company, seeks a Manager, Analytics Engineering to lead a high-performing team responsible for building an AI-ready data foundation and centralized semantic layer. You will write and review SQL/dbt code, define architecture, and partner across Sales, Finance, Risk, and Product to deliver scalable data products.

The role requires 7+ years in analytics engineering with strong SQL and dbt/Snowflake experience, plus 2+ years of people management.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in Analytics Engineering, Data Engineering, or BI with strong SQL and data modeling.
• 2+ years of people management leading senior ICs.
• Deep hands-on expertise with dbt and Snowflake, including incremental models and testing.
• Experience designing a semantic or metrics layer serving as trusted truth.
• Proven ability to partner with senior leaders to translate problems into durable data products.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for executives and non-technical partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop Lead and Senior Analytics Engineers to drive growth and performance.
• Hands-on SQL/dbt work; review code, design, and enforce craftsmanship and testing.
• Own your team's roadmap for the analytics platform and balance delivery with technical debt.
• Shape the semantic layer and metrics standards for a single source of truth across dashboards and AI agents.
• Translate business problems into well-scoped technical solutions and communicate tradeoffs clearly.
• Champion data quality, observability, governance, and incident response across the stack.
• Drive dbt project excellence: architecture, performance tuning, and CI/CD scaling.
• Help hire, interview, and onboard new Analytics Engineers.

Skills

SQL

dbt

Snowflake

Data modeling

Leadership

Tools

Looker

Tableau

Job description

Forward Financing is a financial technology company based in Boston, Massachusetts with team members throughout the United States, Dominican Republic, and Canada. The company is on a mission to unlock the capital that fuels small businesses across America.

Recognized as a Best Place to Work by Built In Boston and certified as a Great Place To Work®, Forward is investing in its employees, technology, and customer experience – with long-term success in mind every step of the way.

The Analytics Engineering team at Forward plays a central role in our Data ecosystem, partnering with technical and business stakeholders to convert raw data into trusted, AI-ready insights. Our team builds and optimizes data infrastructure, designs the data models and semantic layer that power Forward's source of truth, and develops the pipelines that fuel business intelligence, advanced analytics, predictive modeling, and the next generation of AI-driven experiences at the company.

We are seeking a Manager, Analytics Engineering to lead and grow a high-performing team of Lead and Senior Analytics Engineers and to take ownership of one of Forward's most strategic bets: building a centralized, AI-ready data foundation. This is a hands-on leadership role. You will set technical direction for a critical portion of our data platform, ship code alongside your team, and drive the build-out of our semantic layer so that a single source of truth powers our dashboards, models, and the next generation of AI experiences - including Snowflake Intelligence and other agent-based capabilities leadership is investing in.

You’ll partner with stakeholders across Sales, Underwriting, Account Servicing, Finance, Risk, and Product to turn complex business problems into trusted, scalable data products. Reporting to the Senior Manager of Analytics Engineering, you’ll be a key partner in evolving how Forward delivers insight - and intelligence - at scale.

In This Role You Will

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Lead and Senior Analytics Engineers - driving career growth, performance and a high-trust team culture.
• Stay deeply hands-on: write and review SQL/dbt code, drive technical design, and uphold a high bar for craftsmanship, testing and documentation across our Snowflake + dbt stack.
• Own the roadmap for your team’s portion of the analytics platform - prioritizing work that drives the most business impact and balancing delivery, quality and technical debt.
• Drive Forward’s data centralization vision by partnering with Business Intelligence and wider Analytics group to design and deliver scalable data models, marts, and a reliable semantic layer that serves as the company’s single source of truth.
• Lead the build-out of our semantic layer and metrics standards so key business KPIs are defined once, governed clearly, and consumed consistently across dashboards, models, AI agents, and downstream products.
• Translate ambiguous business problems from leadership and cross-functional stakeholders into well-scoped technical solutions, communicating tradeoffs clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Champion data quality, observability, and governance - including testing, lineage, cataloging, and incident response - so stakeholders can trust the numbers.
• Drive technical excellence in our dbt project: model architecture, performance tuning, incremental strategies and CI/CD practices that scale as data volume and team size grow.
• Help shape our hiring bar - recruit, interview and onboard exceptional Analytics Engineers as the team continues to grow.

Role Requirements:

• 7+ years of experience in Analytics Engineering, Data Engineering, or Business Intelligence with a strong foundation in SQL and dimensional/data modeling.
• 2+ years of people management experience leading senior individual contributors, including driving performance and career development.
• Deep hands-on expertise with dbt and a cloud data warehouse (Snowflake strongly preferred), including incremental models, testing strategies, and macros.
• Demonstrated experience designing and operating a semantic or metrics layer that serves as a trusted source of truth across an organization.
• Track record of partnering directly with senior cross-functional leaders (Finance, Risk, Operations, Product, etc.) to translate business problems into durable data products.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills - able to make complex technical decisions accessible to executives and non-technical partners.
• Proven ability to coach engineers, raise the technical bar, and deliver consistently against an ambitious roadmap.

Nice To Have

• Experience integrating AI or LLM-based capabilities into the analytics stack (e.g., Snowflake Intelligence).
• Experience in fintech, lending, or another regulated, data-intensive industry.
• Experience with streaming data or CDC pipelines (Streamkap, Fivetran, or similar) and real-time analytics use cases.
• Familiarity with BI tools such as Tableau, Looker, or similar.
• Python proficiency for data transformations or workflow tooling.

Compensation

Annual Targeted Salary: $170,000-$200,000 USD

Annual Target Bonus: 12%

At Forward Financing, we’re committed to fair and transparent compensation. We believe in providing a compensation package that recognizes your skills, experience, and the unique value you bring to our team. We take a market-based approach to pay, regularly reviewing benchmark data to ensure our compensation remains competitive, equitable, and aligned with our performance-driven culture.

Final offers are determined by a variety of factors, including the candidate's qualifications, relevant experience, specific skills, and internal equity. This approach ensures that our compensation is competitive and equitable. Your recruiter will provide specific details on the expected base and variable earnings as it pertains to this specific role.

Total Rewards

• medical, dental, vision, commuter benefits, a flexible time-off policy, paid parental leave, 401k match for US employees, wellness reimbursement, volunteering days, annual professional development budget, and charitable donation match.

Forward is proud to be a remote-first company, keeping workplace flexibility a top priority for our employees. As a business, we are focused on impact; we are more concerned with your contributions to the success of the company than where you get your work done. To help facilitate in-person collaboration, employees are welcome to work from one of our premiere office locations.

When we aren’t collaborating to drive business and support our customers, we’re finding virtual and in-person ways to get to know our colleagues, celebrate team wins, and have fun together!

Our Culture: The Forward Compass

• Back the Builders: We are wired to fuel customer progress, not just provide support.
• Rooted in People: We create an environment that balances deep connection with the extreme ownership and honesty required to reach our highest potential.
• Flying V: We move through coordinated effort with speed and urgency to achieve what no individual could do alone.
• Always Forward, Never Finished: We pursue growth with a relentless drive that keeps us ahead of the competition.

About Us

Forward Financing is a fintech company based in Boston, Massachusetts with team members throughout the United States, Dominican Republic, and Canada. The company is on a mission to unlock the capital that fuels small businesses across America. Whether facing challenges accessing traditional financing or simply needing a convenient, flexible solution, Forward is committed to funding more of the millions of small businesses nationwide. By simplifying the requirements, streamlining the process, and using advanced proprietary technology, Forward is often able to deliver approvals within hours and funds that same day – giving more businesses the financial opportunity they need to thrive. Plus, with their dedicated teams and award-winning service, customers get personalized support when they need it most.

Since 2012, Forward has expanded access to capital by providing over $4.8 billion in funding to more than 92,000 small businesses. The company is A+ rated by the Better Business Bureau with an Excellent / 4.7 stars rating on Trustpilot.com. Recognized as a Best Place to Work by Built In Boston and certified as a Great Place To Work®, Forward is dedicated to empowering both its team and the customers they serve, helping them succeed and thrive.

Equal Opportunity Employment Information

It is the policy of Forward Financing to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, religion, national origin, status, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other basis protected by law. We welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Please let us know should you require any accommodations. As part of our commitment to a streamlined and equitable hiring experience, we use AI tools to assist with candidate screening and assessment.