{"schemaVersion":"jobsearcher.job.v1","id":"5be813a3908269867dd7f708","url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/5be813a3908269867dd7f708","canonicalUrl":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/5be813a3908269867dd7f708","title":"Founding Data Engineer","description":"Our missionEvery pet should get the care they need, regardless of cost. Vet med prices are up 40% since 2020, and pet owners are stuck having to pick between their bank account and furry friend. At Snout, we aim to solve this by enabling clinics to offer pet wellness plans, that actually work.The opportunitySnout is one of the fastest growing wellness plan providers in the veterinary space, trusted by clinics across the U.S. We're a small but mighty startup team. We're looking for a remote, U.S. based Founding Data Engineer to build the data foundation the rest of the company will run on.The roleThis is Snout's first dedicated data hire, reporting directly to the CTO. You're inheriting a real, working system - a Postgres operational database and a dbt-modeled analytics warehouse that already powers internal reporting and our LLM/AI tooling - but one that's grown faster than anyone's had time to organize. Your job is to turn it into a firm, documented, trustworthy foundation.That means first understanding what data we actually have and where it lives, then making it coherent. We ingest hundreds of millions of rows from multiple veterinary practice-management systems (Cornerstone, AllyDVM, and others) alongside our own application data - today the same concept can live in several places with different shapes, and part of your early work is reconciling those lineages into definitions people can trust. From there you'll own and extend the warehouse, harden the pipelines and the nightly rebuild, and shape a model that makes analysis fast and reliable.You'll do the up-front work of a founding hire: talk to stakeholders across the company, understand what they need, present options and clear recommendations with their trade-offs and cost, and then execute on the path we choose. We're hiring a data analyst after you - you'll set them up to succeed and be the technical backbone they lean on. Do this well and you put Snout in a genuinely data-driven position and grow a team underneath you.Snout is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. We know that great candidates may not check every box - and that's okay. If you're excited about this role and our mission, we encourage you to apply if you meet at least 75% of \"what we're looking for\" including the first bullet point. If you need any accommodations during the application or interview process, please let us know - we're happy to support you.What you'll doMap Snout's data landscape end to end - what exists, where it lives, what's canonical vs. stale - and document it so it's no longer tribal knowledgeReconcile data from multiple source systems (application data + multiple PIMS ingests) into conformed, trustworthy models where a term like \"appointment\" or \"invoice\" means one thingOwn and extend our dbt warehouse: model the source-system activity that isn't modeled yet, and raise the bar on tests, documentation, and data freshnessOwn the ingestion pipelines and the warehouse rebuild - keep them reliable, and recommend where to simplify or consolidateKeep clean, well-modeled data flowing to the tools that consume it, including our internal LLM/AI toolingRun early discovery with stakeholders across GTM, CX, finance, and product; turn business questions into a build plan; present options with clear trade-offs and cost before executingSet up and support the data analyst we hire next - be the technical foundation they build analysis onWhat we're looking for6+ years building and maintaining production data systems as a data or analytics engineerDeep SQL and hands-on PostgreSQL experienceStrong dbt and dimensional/data-modeling experience in production - you've built warehouses people actually trustA track record of taming large, messy datasets from multiple source systems and turning them into something coherentA pragmatist's bias toward simplicity - you reach for the simplest thing that works, can justify every tool and layer you'd add, and can tell the difference between complexity that earns its keep and complexity that doesn'tStrong communication: you can make a clear recommendation, back it with reasoning and cost, and commit wholeheartedly to a decision even when it isn't the one you argued forComfortable being the first and only data person for a while - self-directed, and happy building the foundation before there's a teamWhat will make you stand outExperience as an early or first data hire who later grew a function or teamPython (or similar) for pipelines and toolingExperience modeling data for LLM/AI consumptionFamiliarity with veterinary or healthcare data, or PIMS systems (Cornerstone, AllyDVM, etc.)Experience at a subscription or technology startup (Series A/B), on AWSWhy you should join SnoutFast growing, venture capital backed technology company focused on improving access to veterinary careAbility to have a meaningful impact from Day 1, where your voice and opinion mattersUnlimited potential to grow in your career, learn and expand your skillsetsCollaborative, flexible, and friendly cultureWhy this role might not be a fit for youYou believe every problem needs a new tool, and you'd want to stand up a large modern-data-stack (many SaaS tools, heavy infrastructure) before proving it's needed - we optimize hard for simplicity and costYou'd rather be the analyst producing dashboards and insights than the engineer building the foundation those depend onYou need an established data team and mature infrastructure around you to be productiveA fast-moving startup culture feels overwhelming, or you're uncomfortable with ambiguous, messy data from multiple source systemsYou prefer working in a silo rather than collaborating across GTM, CX, finance, and engineeringYou don't live near an airport or have the flexibility to travel quarterlyCompensation$165 000 - $185 000 base salaryEquityBenefitsDay 1 medical/dental/vision benefitsFlexible time off + 11 Snout calendar holidaysPaid parental leave","company":"Snout","rawCompany":"snout","city":"Denver","state":"CO","isRemote":false,"isActive":false,"createdAt":"2026-10-15T12:57:09.253Z","occupations":[{"code":"15-1243.01","title":"Data Warehousing Specialists","slug":"data-warehousing-specialists"},{"code":"15-1243.00","title":"Database Architects","slug":"database-architects"},{"code":"15-2051.00","title":"Data Scientists","slug":"data-scientists"}],"industries":[{"code":"541511","title":"Custom Computer Programming Services","slug":"custom-computer-programming-services"},{"code":"513210","title":"Software Publishers","slug":"software-publishers"},{"code":"541512","title":"Computer Systems Design Services","slug":"computer-systems-design-services"}],"jobPosting":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"JobPosting","title":"Founding Data Engineer","description":"Our missionEvery pet should get the care they need, regardless of cost. Vet med prices are up 40% since 2020, and pet owners are stuck having to pick between their bank account and furry friend. At Snout, we aim to solve this by enabling clinics to offer pet wellness plans, that actually work.The opportunitySnout is one of the fastest growing wellness plan providers in the veterinary space, trusted by clinics across the U.S. We're a small but mighty startup team. We're looking for a remote, U.S. based Founding Data Engineer to build the data foundation the rest of the company will run on.The roleThis is Snout's first dedicated data hire, reporting directly to the CTO. You're inheriting a real, working system - a Postgres operational database and a dbt-modeled analytics warehouse that already powers internal reporting and our LLM/AI tooling - but one that's grown faster than anyone's had time to organize. Your job is to turn it into a firm, documented, trustworthy foundation.That means first understanding what data we actually have and where it lives, then making it coherent. We ingest hundreds of millions of rows from multiple veterinary practice-management systems (Cornerstone, AllyDVM, and others) alongside our own application data - today the same concept can live in several places with different shapes, and part of your early work is reconciling those lineages into definitions people can trust. From there you'll own and extend the warehouse, harden the pipelines and the nightly rebuild, and shape a model that makes analysis fast and reliable.You'll do the up-front work of a founding hire: talk to stakeholders across the company, understand what they need, present options and clear recommendations with their trade-offs and cost, and then execute on the path we choose. We're hiring a data analyst after you - you'll set them up to succeed and be the technical backbone they lean on. Do this well and you put Snout in a genuinely data-driven position and grow a team underneath you.Snout is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. We know that great candidates may not check every box - and that's okay. If you're excited about this role and our mission, we encourage you to apply if you meet at least 75% of \"what we're looking for\" including the first bullet point. If you need any accommodations during the application or interview process, please let us know - we're happy to support you.What you'll doMap Snout's data landscape end to end - what exists, where it lives, what's canonical vs. stale - and document it so it's no longer tribal knowledgeReconcile data from multiple source systems (application data + multiple PIMS ingests) into conformed, trustworthy models where a term like \"appointment\" or \"invoice\" means one thingOwn and extend our dbt warehouse: model the source-system activity that isn't modeled yet, and raise the bar on tests, documentation, and data freshnessOwn the ingestion pipelines and the warehouse rebuild - keep them reliable, and recommend where to simplify or consolidateKeep clean, well-modeled data flowing to the tools that consume it, including our internal LLM/AI toolingRun early discovery with stakeholders across GTM, CX, finance, and product; turn business questions into a build plan; present options with clear trade-offs and cost before executingSet up and support the data analyst we hire next - be the technical foundation they build analysis onWhat we're looking for6+ years building and maintaining production data systems as a data or analytics engineerDeep SQL and hands-on PostgreSQL experienceStrong dbt and dimensional/data-modeling experience in production - you've built warehouses people actually trustA track record of taming large, messy datasets from multiple source systems and turning them into something coherentA pragmatist's bias toward simplicity - you reach for the simplest thing that works, can justify every tool and layer you'd add, and can tell the difference between complexity that earns its keep and complexity that doesn'tStrong communication: you can make a clear recommendation, back it with reasoning and cost, and commit wholeheartedly to a decision even when it isn't the one you argued forComfortable being the first and only data person for a while - self-directed, and happy building the foundation before there's a teamWhat will make you stand outExperience as an early or first data hire who later grew a function or teamPython (or similar) for pipelines and toolingExperience modeling data for LLM/AI consumptionFamiliarity with veterinary or healthcare data, or PIMS systems (Cornerstone, AllyDVM, etc.)Experience at a subscription or technology startup (Series A/B), on AWSWhy you should join SnoutFast growing, venture capital backed technology company focused on improving access to veterinary careAbility to have a meaningful impact from Day 1, where your voice and opinion mattersUnlimited potential to grow in your career, learn and expand your skillsetsCollaborative, flexible, and friendly cultureWhy this role might not be a fit for youYou believe every problem needs a new tool, and you'd want to stand up a large modern-data-stack (many SaaS tools, heavy infrastructure) before proving it's needed - we optimize hard for simplicity and costYou'd rather be the analyst producing dashboards and insights than the engineer building the foundation those depend onYou need an established data team and mature infrastructure around you to be productiveA fast-moving startup culture feels overwhelming, or you're uncomfortable with ambiguous, messy data from multiple source systemsYou prefer working in a silo rather than collaborating across GTM, CX, finance, and engineeringYou don't live near an airport or have the flexibility to travel quarterlyCompensation$165 000 - $185 000 base salaryEquityBenefitsDay 1 medical/dental/vision benefitsFlexible time off + 11 Snout calendar holidaysPaid parental leave","datePosted":"2026-10-15T12:57:09.253Z","dateModified":"2026-10-15T12:57:09.253Z","hiringOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Snout","sameAs":"https://jobsearcher.com"},"jobLocation":{"@type":"Place","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressLocality":"Denver","addressRegion":"CO","addressCountry":"US"}},"identifier":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"JobSearcher","value":"5be813a3908269867dd7f708"},"url":"https://jobsearcher.com/jobs/5be813a3908269867dd7f708"}}