Snowflake Data Engineer

Data Movement Engineer (Snowflake) This is a contract to hire position and you must be a US citizen or GC holder. Our client is undertaking a major modernization of its core data platforms and is seeking a Data Movement Engineer to support and evolve its ETL ecosystem. This role will play a key part in designing, optimizing, and supporting Snowflake-based data solutions while ensuring reliable, high-performing data pipelines. The ideal candidate brings deep Snowflake expertise, strong data warehousing knowledge (including Data Vault 2.0), and the ability to lead initiatives and mentor team members. Key Responsibilities • Own the end-to-end lifecycle of Snowflake data operations, including monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance optimization of data pipelines. • Proactively identify and resolve issues related to data integrity, latency, and pipeline failures. • Translate business and stakeholder requirements into scalable Snowflake-based data movement solutions. • Design, develop, and optimize data pipelines, models, and warehouse configurations for performance, reliability, and scalability. • Implement best practices for data ingestion, transformation, storage, security, and modeling. • Support advanced data techniques such as Change Data Capture (CDC) and Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD Type 2). • Apply and support data modeling frameworks, including Data Vault and dimensional modeling. • Monitor ETL and Snowflake environments, troubleshoot failures, and conduct root cause analysis of data issues. • Provide production support for Snowflake, IBM DB2, and orchestration tools such as Airflow and ESP. • Ensure data quality through validation, reconciliation, and consistency checks across systems. • Contribute to data governance initiatives, including metadata management and lineage tracking. • Lead the design and ongoing maintenance of Snowflake processes and solutions. • Provide technical leadership through code reviews, mentoring, and best practice guidance. • Collaborate with stakeholders, architects, and engineering teams to deliver effective data solutions. • Communicate issue status, impact, and resolution timelines clearly and proactively. • Maintain thorough, version-controlled documentation for solutions, issues, and fixes. • Develop and maintain production support playbooks and incident response procedures. • Support estimation, planning, and architectural decision-making. • Deliver regular reporting on system health, issue trends, and improvement initiatives. • Participate in on-call rotations and provide after-hours support as needed. Qualifications & Skills • 5+ years of experience in data warehousing, business intelligence, or data engineering. • 3+ years of hands-on SQL development across platforms such as Snowflake, Oracle, SQL Server, or DB2. • Strong expertise in Snowflake, including development, data modeling, and security (certification preferred). • Experience with ETL tools such as Talend. • Proficiency in SQL and scripting languages (e.g., Python, Shell). • Experience working with cloud-based data platforms. • Familiarity with orchestration tools (Airflow, ESP) and version control systems (Git). • Experience with incident management tools (ServiceNow, Jira) and CI/CD practices. • Strong understanding of CDC and SCD Type 2 implementations. • Solid knowledge of data architecture, dimensional modeling, and frameworks such as Data Vault. Education • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field. • 5+ years of experience in Snowflake development and data warehousing.