Sr Analytics Engineer

Avant, LLC; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Job summary

Avant, LLC, a Chicago-based fintech, seeks a Senior Analytics Engineer to design and build foundational data and analytics solutions powering our products and decisions.

You'll partner with Business Operations and Product teams, shape solution concepts, plan work, and implement on our Databricks/dbt/Spark stack, with a growing GenAI focus. This role is hybrid, in-office Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays at our Merchandise Mart office.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data or platform engineering.
• Strong data engineering and software development skills, with experience building data solutions on modern data platforms like Databricks.
• Stack is SQL and Python heavy; engineering principles valued over tool familiarity.
• Consultative, business-facing collaboration with non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Build and Evolve Our Data Platform.
• Design and implement end-to-end data lifecycle automation.
• Seamlessly integrate our ecosystem of systems, tools, and partner organizations.
• Develop data solutions that empower teams with self-service access to data and insights, ensuring governance.
• Evolve core data and analytics stack (Databricks, dbt, Spark, Kafka, Airflow) for broader access and genAI readiness.
• Partner with Business Operations and Product teams to understand needs, shape concepts, and build tools.

Skills

Data platform engineering

Software development

Communication

Problem solving

Agile mindset

Tools

Databricks

dbt

Spark

Kafka

Airflow

SQL

Python

Job description

Avant is a high-growth fintech company dedicated to creating rewarding financial products for the everyday consumer. As a profitable, scale-up organization, we are focused on accelerating our market share growth and expanding our suite of product offerings. We're looking for builders and problem-solvers to join our Chicago-based team and help us define the next chapter of our growth.

As a Senior Analytics Engineer, you will be at the heart of Avant's technical evolution. This isn't a maintenance role; you'll be a key player in designing and building the foundational data and analytics solutions that power our products and decision-making. Alongside that build work, you'll partner directly with Business Operations and Product teams - understanding their needs, shaping those needs into a solution concept, and planning the work before implementing it on our stack.

You will tackle the dual challenge of scaling our core systems for the future while pioneering the practical application of Generative AI to create real business differentiation.

You will join a focused, agile team with significant autonomy and a mandate to build and optimize. If you are a curious, hands-on engineer who thrives on variety and wants to shape how a successful fintech scales its most critical capabilities, this is the opportunity for you.

This role is based on our downtown Chicago Office, located in the Merchandise Mart. We highly value collaboration and our hybrid schedule (M, T, Th in-office) enables flexibility to balance work and individual priorities.

What you'll do at Avant:

• Build and Evolve Our Data Platform
• Design and implement solutions to automate the end-to-end data lifecycle.
• Seamlessly integrate our complex ecosystem of systems, tools, and partner organizations.
• Develop data solutions that empower teams with self-service access to data and insights, while ensuring rigorous adherence to data and process governance.
• Evolve and expand our core data and analytics stack - working with technologies like Databricks, dbt, Spark, Kafka, and Airflow - to make advanced capabilities accessible to everyone, with a growing emphasis on agentic development.
• Partner closely with Business Operations and Product teams: understand their needs and challenges, shape a clear solution concept, and build the tools that will accelerate their work.

Shape Our Approach to GenAI

• Move beyond the hype and contribute to the practical adoption of GenAI, focusing on solutions that deliver real business value.
• Help define patterns and practices for enabling reliable, observable, and cost-effective GenAI tooling for broad use across the organization.
• Empower analysts with agentic tooling that will help streamline and automate their daily operations.

Why you're at fit at Avant:

• Experience: 5+ years of experience in data or platform engineering.
• Technical Foundation: Strong data engineering and software development skills, experience building and deploying data solutions on modern data platforms like Databricks, and a solid understanding of data modeling and process automation. While our stack is SQL and Python heavy, we value engineering principles over specific tool expertise.
• Consultative Approach: Comfortable in a business-facing environment - you can work with non-technical stakeholders to understand their processes and challenges, and turn that understanding into a solution concept and technical specification.
• Problem-Solving Mindset: You can operate at multiple levels of abstraction, from high-level system design to hands-on coding. You approach unfamiliar tools and patterns with excitement and a desire to learn.
• Pragmatism and Agility: You are a practical thinker who can critically evaluate tools and ideas. You're comfortable building rapid prototypes and iterating on proofs-of-concept to find the best path forward.
• Clear Communicator: You can articulate complex technical ideas and proposals, fostering open and productive design discussions.

What Will Set You Apart

• Experience with our core stack: Databricks, dbt, Spark, Kafka, and Airflow.
• Familiarity with specific business domains (Accounting/Finance, Credit Risk Modeling, Marketing, etc.)
• Personal projects or a demonstrated interest in exploring GenAI or other emerging technologies.

Compensation Range:

The base salary range for this job is USD $90,000 - USD $110,000/ Year

Employees new to Avant typically come in below the midpoint of the pay range. The compensation range is based on the level outlined in the job posting, and compensation decisions are dependent on each applicant's experience, skills and abilities.

[If an outstanding applicant's experience and skill level is above or below the qualifications outlined in the job posting, we reserve the right to make an offer at a different level than the one listed in this job posting, which may have a different compensation range.]

This role is eligible for additional incentives, including an annual bonus. These rewards are allo