Senior Data Engineer

Heidrick & Struggles; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Heidrick & Struggles is seeking a Senior Data Engineer with 4–5 years of hands-on experience to shape a scalable data foundation in support of the firm’s data‑driven leadership initiatives.

You will own complex data pipelines and data models, mentor junior engineers, and partner with data science, analytics, product, and business stakeholders to deliver trusted analytics and AI capabilities across the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience in a related field.
• 4–5 years building and maintaining data lake/warehouse solutions and pipelines.
• Expert-level SQL with complex queries, optimization, and stored procedures.
• Hands-on Snowflake experience for data modeling and cost management.
• Python for data processing and automation; experience with ETL/ELT.
• Experience mentoring juniors and contributing to technical decisions.
• Solid understanding of data warehousing concepts and data modeling.
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices and Git workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable data pipelines and data models.
• Own end‑to‑end data solutions from requirements to deployment and iteration.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business problems into data solutions.
• Promote best practices in data engineering, testing, observability, and CI/CD.
• Mentor junior data engineers through code reviews and guidance.
• Optimize performance, cost, and reliability of Snowflake and pipelines.
• Document data models, data dictionaries, and metadata for governance.
• Implement data capture, ETL/ELT, validation, and automated quality checks.

Skills

SQL proficiency

Snowflake

Python

ETL/ELT pipelines

CI/CD

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Snowflake

Git-based workflows

FiveTran / data tools

Job description

Heidrick & Struggles is a premier provider of global leadership advisory and on-demand talent solutions, serving the senior-level talent and consulting needs of the world's top organizations. In our role as trusted leadership advisors, we partner with our clients to develop future-ready leaders and organizations, bringing together our services and offerings in executive search leadership assessment and development, organization and team acceleration, culture shaping and on-demand, independent talent solutions. Heidrick & Struggles pioneered the profession of executive search more than 70 years ago. Today, the firm provides integrated talent and human capital solutions to help our clients change the world, one leadership team at a time.®

Additional information on the firm can be found at www.heidrick.com.

The Role

We are seeking a highly skilled, hands‑on Senior Data Engineer with 4–5 years of experience to help shape and scale our data foundation in support of Heidrick & Struggles’ mission to transform executive search and leadership advisory through data‑driven insights. As a senior member of the data engineering team, you will own complex data solutions, drive best practices, and mentor junior engineers while ensuring our data platform is scalable, governed, and reliable.

You bring a builder’s mindset and strong sense of ownership, connecting deeply to business needs to design robust pipelines, standardize structures, optimize performance, and enable trusted, self‑service analytics and AI across the firm. This role sits at the intersection of engineering and business strategy, requiring close collaboration with data science, analytics, product, and business stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable, secure data pipelines, data models, and warehouse/lake environments, primarily on Snowflake.
• Own end‑to‑end data solutions from requirements gathering and design through implementation, testing, deployment, and iteration.
• Partner closely with cross‑functional stakeholders to translate business problems into robust data solutions, ensuring data is accessible, trustworthy, and actionable.
• Promote and contribute to best practices in data engineering (coding standards, testing, observability, documentation, and CI/CD).
• Mentor and support junior data engineers through code reviews, pairing, and guidance on design and implementation.
• Perform performance tuning, cost optimization, and reliability improvements in Snowflake and associated data pipelines.
• Contribute to documentation of data models, dictionaries, data flow maps, and metadata to support transparency and data governance.
• Collaborate with technical teams and stakeholders to implement data capture, ETL/ELT, validation, and QA, including automated quality checks and monitoring.
• Support the development and enforcement of data governance, access controls, and security policies in partnership with data governance and security teams.
• Stay up to date on emerging technologies, tools, and best practices in data engineering and bring forward recommendations that evolve our data platform.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Data & Analytics, Data Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4–5 years of experience building and maintaining data lake/warehouse solutions and production‑grade data pipelines.
• Expert‑level proficiency in SQL, including complex queries, optimization, and stored procedures for data processing (expected “10/10” SQL capability).
• Hands‑on experience with Snowflake (data modeling, performance tuning, and cost management).
• Proficiency in Python for data processing, orchestration, and automation.
• Experience designing, implementing, and operating ETL/ELT pipelines using modern pipeline tools and orchestration frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring or guiding junior engineers and contributing to team‑level technical decisions.
• Solid understanding of data warehousing concepts, data modeling, and best practices for structured and semi‑structured data.
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices and tools (e.g., Git‑based workflows, automated testing, deployment pipelines).
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non‑technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with modern data stack tools such as FiveTran, or similar technologies.
• Exposure to data governance, data quality frameworks, and master or reference data management initiatives.
• Experience working in agile environments and leading workstreams or key stories within a cross‑functional team

Pay Range Guidelines for this Position:

The salary range for this position is 120000 USD to 130000 USD. Compensation is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience and skills. In addition to your salary, Heidrick & Struggles offers discretionary bonuses (subject to eligibility requirements) and a comprehensive benefits package including:

• discretionary bonuses (subject to eligibility requirements)
• medical
• dental
• vision
• disability leave
• parental leave
• paid time off
• 401k contribution

(all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements).

Note: we have a location based compensation structure; there may be a different range for candidates in other locations.

Heidrick & Struggles is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring qualified protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, veteran or military status, or citizenship status.