Snowflake Lead Developer (Onsite)

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation; Buffalo (NY); On-site; USD 100,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance

Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off

401(k) plan and contributions

Long-term/Short-term Disability

Paid Parental Leave

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking a Senior Data Engineer (Snowflake Lead) in Buffalo to design, implement, and optimize scalable data pipelines using Snowflake, Python, and SQL. You will own ingestion, transformation, and production support for large data volumes, applying strong data-quality and security practices.

The role emphasizes hands-on coding, performance tuning, CI/CD integration, and mentoring junior engineers, with a competitive compensation package and full benefits.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in data engineering, ETL/ELT, data warehousing.
• Strong hands-on Snowflake development.
• Advanced Python for data processing and automation.
• Advanced SQL skills, including joins, CTEs, window functions, stored procedures.
• Experience implementing data-quality, monitoring, and exception-handling frameworks.
• Primary Skills : Snowflake, Python, SQL, ETL/ELT, Data Warehousing.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable ETL/ELT data pipelines using Python, SQL, and Snowflake.
• Build ingestion and transformation processes for data from Oracle, SQL Server, APIs, flat files, and cloud storage.
• Develop and optimize Snowflake objects including databases, schemas, tables, views, stages, streams, tasks, and stored procedures.
• Write complex and performance-optimized SQL queries for data transformation and analytics workloads.
• Work with structured and semi-structured formats including CSV, JSON, Parquet, and XML.
• Perform Snowflake performance tuning through query analysis and data-processing optimization.
• Implement data-quality controls and exception handling.
• Design logging, error handling, retry, monitoring, and alerting mechanisms for production pipelines.
• Troubleshoot data discrepancies, failed pipelines, and production incidents.
• Apply Snowflake security concepts including RBAC, roles, privileges, secure views, and data-access controls.
• Mentor junior engineers and provide guidance on Python, SQL, Snowflake.

Skills

Snowflake

Python

SQL

ETL/ELT

Data Warehousing

Tools

Git

CI/CD

REST APIs

Job description

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, dedicated to helping the world's leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.). Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 1000, and the Fortune 500 and we are among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world.

Job Title: Senior Data Engineer – Snowflake & Python

Job Summary:

We are seeking an experienced Snowflake Lead Developer with strong expertise in Snowflake, Python, SQL, and modern data engineering practices. The ideal candidate will design, build, optimize, and support scalable data pipelines and cloud-based data solutions, working with large volumes of structured and semi-structured data.

The role requires hands-on experience with ETL/ELT development, Snowflake data warehousing, Python automation, data quality, performance optimization, CI/CD, and production troubleshooting.

Key Responsibilities

Design, develop, and maintain scalable ETL/ELT data pipelines using Python, SQL, and Snowflake.

Build ingestion and transformation processes for data from sources such as Oracle, SQL Server, APIs, flat files, and cloud object storage.

Develop and optimize Snowflake objects including databases, schemas, tables, views, stages, streams, tasks, and stored procedures.

Write complex and performance-optimized SQL queries for data transformation and analytics workloads.

Work with structured and semi-structured formats including CSV, JSON, Parquet, and XML.

Perform Snowflake performance tuning through query analysis, warehouse sizing, clustering strategy, and optimization of data-processing patterns.

Implement data-quality controls including source-to-target validation, reconciliation, duplicate checks, null checks, schema validation, and exception handling.

Design effective logging, error handling, retry, monitoring, and alerting mechanisms for production pipelines.

Troubleshoot data discrepancies, failed pipelines, performance bottlenecks, and production incidents.

Apply Snowflake security concepts including RBAC, roles, privileges, secure views, and data-access controls.

Participate in code reviews and ensure solutions meet engineering, security, scalability, and maintainability standards.

Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines using Git-based development and deployment practices.

Create and maintain technical documentation, data mappings, operational procedures, and implementation specifications.

Mentor junior engineers and provide technical guidance on Python, SQL, Snowflake, and data-engineering best practices.

Required Qualifications

7+ years of experience in data engineering, ETL/ELT, data warehousing, or related development.

Strong hands-on development experience with Snowflake.

Advanced proficiency in Python for data processing, automation, APIs, and pipeline development.

Advanced SQL skills, including joins, CTEs, window functions, stored procedures, query optimization, and large-volume data processing.

Strong troubleshooting and root-cause-analysis skills.

Experience implementing data-quality, reconciliation, monitoring, and exception-handling frameworks.

Primary Skills : Snowflake, Python, SQL, ETL/ELT, Data Warehousing

Secondary: Git, CI/CD, REST APIs

Snowflake: Streams, Tasks, Stages, Snowpipe, RBAC, Query Optimization, Warehouses

Python: Pandas, APIs, file processing, exception handling, logging, automation

Data: Oracle, SQL Server, CSV, JSON, Parquet, XML

Engineering: Data Quality, Reconciliation, Monitoring, Performance Tuning, Production Support

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate should be a hands-on senior engineer capable of owning a data pipeline from source ingestion through Snowflake transformation and production support. They should be comfortable solving complex Python/SQL problems, optimizing Snowflake workloads, investigating data-quality issues, and designing maintainable solutions rather than simply developing one-off ETL jobs.

Application Accepted: 11/26/2026

The annual salary for this position is between $100,000 - $135,000 depending on experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

Benefits:

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance
• Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off
• 401(k) plan and contributions
• Long-term/Short-term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Disclaimer: The salary, other compensation, and benefits information is accurate as of the date of this posting. Cognizant reserves the right to modify this information at any time, subject to applicable language

Our strength is built on our ability to work together. Our diverse backgrounds offer different perspectives and new ways of thinking. It encourages lively discussions, creativity, productivity, and helps us build better solutions for our clients. We want someone who thrives in this setting and is inspired to craft meaningful solutions through true collaboration.

If you are content with ambiguity, excited by change, and excel through autonomy, we’d love to hear from you!