Lead Engineer - Data Engg & AI

Job Title: Offshore Tech Lead / Snowflake Platform

Location - Hyderabad

Overview

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Guidance

• Team Leadership: Lead, coach, and mentor a team of offshore Snowflake data engineers and developers, ensuring technical tasks are executed efficiently and to high quality standards.
• Technical Alignment: Serve as the primary technical point of contact between the offshore team and the onsite/client architecture, product, and business teams. Provide cross-time zone technical support and guidance.
• Code Quality & Standards: Define, enforce, and govern coding standards, security policies, and development best practices (e.g., SQL optimization, Python scripting, data modeling) across all Snowflake-related development. Conduct structured code and design reviews.
• Roadmap & Planning: Plan technical milestones, contribute to the platform's future technical roadmap, and collaborate on resource/capacity planning for ongoing initiatives.

Snowflake Platform Engineering & Design

• Solution Architecture: Lead the design and implementation of robust, scalable, and cost-effective data warehousing solutions, ELT/ETL processes, and data pipelines within the Snowflake environment.
• Data Modeling: Design and optimize Snowflake schemas, including implementing best-practice structures like Bronze, Silver, and Gold data quality zones.
• Performance & Optimization: Proactively monitor, tune, and optimize Snowflake query performance, resource utilization, and virtual warehouse consumption to manage costs and ensure high efficiency.
• Administration & Governance: Engineer and administer Snowflake features, including access control (RBAC), security policies, data masking, and data sharing capabilities to ensure compliance and governance.

Data Pipeline & DevOps

• Data Ingestion: Design and implement data ingestion strategies for batch and streaming data from diverse sources (e.g., S3, Azure Data Lake, Kafka, APIs) using tools like Snowpipe, Python, or external ETL/ELT tools (e.g., Fivetran, Matillion, dbt).
• CI/CD & Automation: Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines (using tools like Git, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Bamboo) for automated testing and deployment of Snowflake objects (stored procedures, views, UDFs, etc.).
• Cloud Integration: Ensure seamless integration between Snowflake and the underlying cloud ecosystem (e.g., AWS S3/Lambda or Azure Data Factory/ADLS).

Required Qualifications and Skills

Experience

• 8+ years of experience in Information Technology, with 5+ years of hands-on experience in Snowflake development, administration, and platform engineering.
• 2+ years of experience in a Technical Lead or similar leadership role, specifically managing and mentoring offshore/distributed teams.
• Proven experience working on large-scale enterprise data warehousing and big data projects.

Technical Skills

• Snowflake: Deep expertise in Snowflake architecture, features (Virtual Warehouses, Snowpipe, Streams, Tasks, Time Travel, Caching), and performance tuning.
• SQL: Advanced proficiency in writing and optimizing complex SQL queries.
• Programming: Strong proficiency in Python (or Scala/Java) for scripting, automation, and data transformation (experience with Snowpark is a plus).
• Cloud Platforms: Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or GCP), particularly their data and storage services (e.g., S3, Azure Data Lake Storage, Google Cloud Storage).
• ETL/ELT: Solid understanding and experience with modern ELT/ETL methodologies and tools (e.g., dbt, Informatica, Talend).
• DevOps & CI/CD: Experience with version control (Git) and building continuous integration/continuous delivery pipelines for data solutions.

• 
  Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders across different time zones.
• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to diagnose and resolve data quality, performance, and platform-related issues.
• Stakeholder Management: Proven ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams (e.g., Data Scientists, Data Analysts, Product Owners) and manage offshore team deliverables.

Preferred Qualifications

• Snowflake certification (e.g., SnowPro Core, SnowPro Advanced Architect, or Data Engineer).
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform) for managing Snowflake resources.
• Familiarity with data governance tools and concepts (e.g., data lineage, data cataloging).
• Experience in a specific business domain (e.g., Real Estate, Retail).