Location: Preference to have candidates based in Toronto, next best, candidates would be located in Vancouver. Hybrid work workplace of 1 - 2 days onsite.

On behalf of our client, Affinity is seeking a Principal Engineer, Data Solutions who will hold a senior technical leadership position, responsible for ensuring the quality, scalability, and effectiveness of data and analytics solutions within Enterprise Data & Analytics function. This role serves as the technical right-hand. You will set standards, mentor team members, evaluate complex solutions, and deliver hands‑on technical work for the organization's most challenging data problems.

Individual contributor role

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Standards (40%)

- Set the Technical Bar: Define and enforce standards for data modeling, analytics engineering, and BI development across all Data Solutions squads
- Solution Evaluation: Review and validate technical designs for major initiatives, ensuring architectural soundness and alignment with enterprise patterns
- Vendor Management: Evaluate proposals from consulting partners and technology vendors; hold vendors accountable for quality and delivery
- Quality Assurance: Conduct code reviews, model reviews, and technical assessments to maintain high standards in alignment with governance best practices

Hands‑On Technical Delivery (35%)

- Build Reference Implementations: Create exemplary data models, dbt projects, and BI dashboards that serve as templates for the organization
- Solve Complex Problems: Tackle technical challenges beyond current team capabilities, from advanced SQL optimization to complex dimensional modeling
- Develop Data Models:



Design and implement scalable, well‑documented data models using dbt, Snowflake/Fabric, and modern analytics engineering practices
- Hands‑On Coding: Write production SQL, Python, and data transformation logic daily (60%+ hands‑on work)
- Upskill Data Analysts/Product Managers: Teach effective due diligence, solution design, and technical requirement translation
- Mentor Analytics Engineers: Provide structured guidance on data modeling patterns, dbt best practices, and analytical thinking
- Conduct Training: Lead technical workshops, lunch‑and‑learns, and documentation initiatives
- Foster Technical Culture: Build a culture of engineering excellence, continuous learning, and quality‑first thinking

Qualifications

- 6-8+ years in analytics engineering, data engineering, business intelligence, or related technical roles
- Vendor/partner management experience evaluating and holding consulting firms or technology vendors accountable
- Mentorship experience upleveling junior and mid‑level data professionals

Core Technical Expertise

- Expert‑level SQL (complex queries, optimization, window functions, CTEs)
- Data modeling and dimensional design (star schema, snowflake, data vault)
- dbt (data build tool) or equivalent transformation frameworks




- Modern cloud data warehouses (Fabric, Databricks)
- Power BI or Tableau (DAX, calculated fields, performance optimization)
- Python for data analysis and automation
- Apache Airflow or similar orchestration tools
- Git/version control and CI/CD practices
- Data quality, testing, and observability frameworks
- Data governance and security best practices
- Technical Judgment: Can evaluate solutions and articulate trade‑offs clearly; knows when to be pragmatic vs. principled
- Teaching Ability: Can explain complex technical concepts to non‑technical audiences and mentor others effectively
- Hands‑On Mindset: Prefers writing code to drawing diagrams; leads by example
- Intellectual Curiosity: Stays current with modern data practices; eager to learn and experiment
- Ownership Mentality: Takes pride in quality; doesn't ship "good enough" when excellence is achievable

Enterprise Data Architecture & Delivery Excellence

- 7+ years of experience designing, building, and operationalizing enterprise‑scale data platforms within large, complex organizations (ideally $1B+ in annual revenue). Proven ability to translate business strategy into scalable data architectures that support analytics, reporting, and advanced use cases across multiple stakeholder groups.

Advanced Data Modeling & Semantic Design Expertise

- 7+ years of experience with modern data modeling approaches, including dimensional modeling, Data Vault, and metrics/semantic layers. Strong understanding of how to design models that balance performance, scalability, governance, and e

📌 Principal Engineer Data Solutions (Toronto)
🏢 Affinity
📍 Toronto