Senior Data Engineer - Data Insights

At Appfire, we believe that great work happens when people get to choose how they work. After 20 years of creating software that empowers teams to break silos and collaborate seamlessly, we've learned that one size does not fit all. We’re a team of 800+ employees, working remotely across 28 countries. Our flagship products include: Appfire Flow, JXL, Comala Document Management, 7Pace Time Tracker, Jira Misc Workflow Extensions, and BigPicture. Here you can read some of our customer stories: https://appfire.com/resources/resource-library/customer-stories About the role: Data is the fuel behind Appfire's global footprint. We’ve grown fast, and now our focus has shifted toward building the most mature, high-performing data platform in our industry. We are looking for a Senior Data Engineer to take ownership of our core infrastructure, champion engineering excellence, and help shape the future of our data ecosystem. Leveraging your expert Python, SQL, and cloud infrastructure skills, you will develop pragmatic architectures that ensure stability and performance across the organization. As a key member of our central data insights team, you will evolve our custom data lake ("firelake" built on AWS and Snowflake). To accelerate our platform optimization efforts, you will ruthlessly eliminate technical debt, resolve edge cases, and introduce modern, AI-driven development practices. This isn't just about maintaining pipelines; it's about architecting a highly secure, resilient, and scalable foundation that empowers company-wide decision-making. If you love solving complex data puzzles, driving overarching data strategy, and seeing the direct impact of your work across an entire organization, let's talk. What you’ll do: Data Delivery Solution Lifecycle Ownership: Own the complete solution development lifecycle, from driving initial requirements to building Proof of Concepts (POCs) and Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), and continuously iterating to improve and scale production solutions. Data Delivery & Pipelines: Work closely with internal and external partners to stand up and optimize robust data delivery solutions. Build, manage, and scale complex data pipelines (ETL and reverse ETL) utilizing expert-level Python and Airflow. Custom Integrations: Develop standard integration patterns as well as custom data pipelines that interface with atypical APIs to efficiently extend our data delivery capabilities. Data Platform & Infrastructure Pragmatic Architecture: Architect and maintain highly efficient, cost-effective scalable data solutions and cloud infrastructure from scratch. Platform Evolution: Be the key driver in the evolution of our custom data lake ("firelake" built on AWS/Snowflake), serving as the ultimate subject matter expert on our tech stack and data infrastructure. Ingestion & Data Quality: Manage Fivetran and custom pipeline operations, proactively handle schema drift, and implement rigorous data quality checks to ensure we have ingested a true and accurate representation of all source systems. AI & Modern Engineering AI-Driven Efficiencies: Spearhead AI adoption in our daily engineering workflows to automate Pull Requests, enforce new "definition of done" standards, and accelerate CI/CD, test coverage, and release management. AI Implementation: Drive the integration of AI capabilities directly into our data solutions by interfacing with LLMs and developing intelligent assistants and agents to solve complex business problems. Continuous Innovation: Stay on the forefront of the rapidly evolving data landscape and drive proof-of-concepts for new tools to ensure we leverage best-in-class technologies to scale quickly. Data Governance & Security PII & Security Management: Implement advanced PII management by leveraging automated data classification techniques, applying masking policies, and enforcing sophisticated row-level and column-level security practices. Proactive Governance: Develop and deploy robust monitoring solutions and governance strategies to ensure accurate, secure data is available on time and to the correct audience. Leadership & Collaboration End-to-End Ownership: Autonomously lead 3-5 concurrent cross-departmental data projects, driving everything from requirements gathering and UAT to production deployment. Strategic Communication: Partner seamlessly with business, analytics, and engineering teams, translating complex technical architectures into relatable concepts to influence stakeholders and align goals. Engineering Excellence & Mentorship: Champion best practices, systematically reduce technical debt, write clear documentation, and provide both technical and soft-skill mentorship to junior team members. What you'll need: Engineering Background: 5+ years in a data or software engineering role with a deep understanding of the full data lifecycle, modern data warehousing, and agile software development best practices. Proven Delivery: 5+ years of experience autonomously building scalable data products, pipelines, and solutions that support company-wide systems and overarching business goals. Project Leadership: Exceptional personal organization and multitasking skills, with the ability to work with minimal supervision while driving 3-5 concurrent cross-departmental projects. Technical Expertise Data Warehousing & SQL: 5+ years of advanced SQL optimization and complex ETL/ELT pipeline development, with extensive, hands-on experience in Snowflake. Advanced Python & Development: 5+ years of advanced Python programming. Cloud Infrastructure & IaC: 5+ years of experience designing and maintaining AWS cloud environments. Strong, hands-on proficiency with Terraform and Docker is required. Orchestration & Ingestion: Deep operational experience with Airflow for orchestration, dbt (3+ years) for transformation, and familiarity with managing Fivetran pipelines. Architecture & Practices Pragmatic Architecture: Proven ability to design pragmatic, cost-effective architectures from scratch that prioritize security, scalability, and high performance without over-engineering. Engineering Excellence: Incredibly strong troubleshooting skills with a ruthless dedication to reducing technical debt, optimizing CI/CD pipelines, and enforcing strict version control and testing standards. Data Governance: Solid understanding of modern data governance principles, including automated data classification, PII masking, and row/column-level access controls. Communication & Leadership Strategic Communication: Strong written and verbal skills, with a proven ability to translate and simplify complex technical architectures to both engineering peers and non-technical business stakeholders. Mentorship : A team-oriented mindset with a passion for coaching and providing constructive feedback to junior team members. Bonus Points (Standout Qualifications) MLOps Strategy: Experience in or foundational knowledge of MLOps. You can provide recommendations and establish best practices to guide our strategic expansion into this space. Applied AI: Experience interfacing with LLMs, creating AI agents, or leveraging AI tools to accelerate daily engineering workflows (e.g., automating code reviews, CI/CD enhancements). What we offer: Equity: every Appfire team member is eligible for company equity, fostering a genuine sense of ownership and shared success as we continue to grow. Paid Time Off: we believe in providing the flexibility needed to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Appfire offers: Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO) 10 paid company holidays annually Health & Wellness Benefits: Appfire provides a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employees and their families: Medical insurance fully covered by Appfire (100% employer-paid) Dental insurance with costs shared 50/50 between Appfire and employees Vision insurance Group Term Life Insurance Voluntary Life Insurance Critical Illness coverage Accident Insurance Long-Term Disability coverage Employee Assistance Program (EAP) In addition, employees are eligible for fitness and wellness reimbursements through our benefits provider. Learning & Development: grow your skills and advance your career through Appfire University, our custom on-demand learning platform designed to support continuous professional development. Community Impact & Volunteering: giving back is an important part of our culture. Every employee receives three fully paid volunteer days per year to participate in our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and support local communities. Additional Benefits: Appfire offers a range of programs to support employees both professionally and financially: Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) Monthly remote-work stipend Dedicated Amazon account for ordering approved equipment and peripherals Competitive 401(k) plan with company matching to help build long-term financial security Flexibility That Fits How You Work Best: this role is fully remote and can be performed anywhere within the United States. For those who prefer an office environment—or simply enjoy connecting with colleagues in person—Appfire also offers access to our offices in Boston, Burlington, and New York. Market recognition Appfire has been consistently recognized for company growth, culture, corporate social responsibility, and product excellence and has been included among the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, Inc. Best Workplaces, BuiltIn Best Places to Work, and Inc. 5000. Learn more about our accomplishments, which would not be possible without our team members, partners, and customers: https://appfire.com/awards . Equal Employer Opportunity (EEO) Appfire is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as defined by applicable law. Our commitment extends to all employment practices, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, compensation, benefits, and termination.