ABOUT THIS POSITION

We are seeking a Lead Data Engineer with extensive experience in data infrastructure to join our team. Unlike many modern roles that rely entirely on cloud-managed services, this position is looking for someone to manage our self-hosted and on-premise data stacks.

We need a proactive, solutions-oriented engineer who can rapidly master our current self-hosted systems, identify performance bottlenecks, and strategically guide our infrastructure into the future.

We are looking for someone who naturally takes ownership of projects, mentors junior team members, and can bridge the gap between technical execution and business strategy.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Infrastructure Ownership: Manage, maintain, and optimize self-hosted database solutions, focusing on performance tuning, hardware upgrades, and OS/environment monitoring for large-scale data warehousing.
• Pipeline Development: Design, develop, and maintain robust ETL/ELT pipelines for data ingestion and processing from varied, complex data sources.
• Technical Leadership: Lead technical project initiatives from conception to delivery, managing timelines and coordinating cross-functional team efforts.
• Mentorship & Culture: Mentor direct reports, conducting code reviews, and fostering engineering best practices.
• Data Governance & Security: Ensure infrastructure and pipelines strictly comply with government policies, data privacy, and GDPR regulations.
• Collaboration: Partner with data scientists, analysts, and business stakeholders to translate complex data requirements into scalable infrastructure.

REQUIREMENTS

Technical & Infrastructure Expertise:

• Deep Database Foundations: Extensive hands-on experience managing and optimizing database management systems, specifically PostgreSQL and MongoDB (both relational and NoSQL ecosystems).
• Self-Hosted Mastery: Proven experience setting up, maintaining, and tuning self-hosted/on-premise databases and data warehouses.
• System Environment: Strong proficiency in SQL and deep comfort working within Linux/Unix environments (command line, shell scripting, system performance tuning).
• Data Orchestration: Hands-on experience with modern ETL orchestration tools such as Dagster or Airflow.
• Data Modeling: In-depth knowledge of core data warehousing concepts and relational data modeling.

Leadership & Project Delivery:

• Demonstrated Leadership: Proven track record of taking informal or formal leadership on technical projects, setting milestones, and ensuring deliverables are met.
• Mentorship Mindset: Experience guiding, coaching, or mentoring junior/mid-level engineers (e.g., leading code reviews, onboarding team members, helping with career growth).
• Communication: Ability to adapt to organizational constraints and effectively communicate architectural decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

 "Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Canada at the time of application."

Please note that the salary range mentioned in this job description should serve simply as a guide. The final compensation offered may vary based on a variety of factors, including bonuses and/or incentives, or a candidate's experience, skills, budget and location. Digital Extremes is committed to providing a fair, equitable, and competitive package that reflects the value a candidate brings.

Salary Range: $115,000 - $125,000

Existing Vacancy: Yes – we're currently hiring candidates for an existing vacancy in this position

We believe in the power of human connection. At Digital Extremes, we do not use artificial intelligence (AI) to screen, assess, or select candidates. All applications are reviewed by human, qualified recruiters.

During your interview, our recruitment team will leverage  Gemini as a note-taker only. At Digital Extremes, a core value of our studio is that we do not leverage AI in any of our development processes; this is a strict company policy.  Please note that we permit the use of AI tools exclusively for administrative support, it is not used for candidate selection, screening, or any part of the decision-making process. All evaluations are conducted solely by our team to ensure our hiring remains a human-led process, just as our development remains the work of our artists and creators.