Senior Analytics Engineer

OverviewJoin Avison Young’s Data Architecture team as a Senior Analytics Engineer, where you will own and scale our analytics layer in Snowflake using dbt. This is a hands-on leadership role focused on building high-quality, business-aligned data models that power reporting, analytics, and data products across the organization.You will act as a player-coach, balancing hands-on development with leadership of other engineers, while partnering closely with business stakeholders to define metrics, data models, and semantic consistency across the company. Your work will directly enable better decision-making by ensuring data is not just available, but trusted, well-structured, and meaningful.This role focuses on analytics engineering and data modeling, not traditional pipeline-heavy data engineering. We are looking for someone who understands the why behind the data, not just the how. What we value in a business analyst:Customer-focused: You prioritize building data products and models that are intuitive, trusted, and drive real business outcomes.Attention to detail: You ensure data accuracy, consistency, and quality across complex transformations and models.Diverse thoughts: You collaborate effectively, incorporate feedback, and value multiple perspectives in shaping data solutions.Team player & leader: You lead by example—mentoring others, setting standards, and contributing hands-on alongside your team.Pragmatic: You balance speed and quality, making smart trade-offs without compromising long-term maintainability.Data product mindset: You treat datasets as products, with clear ownership, definitions, and accountability.Global teammate: Comfortable working in a collaborative, distributed team environment.The base salary is aligned with market data and is estimated between $93,000 to $120,000 with the ability to achieve additional compensation through bonus. This salary range reflects base compensation for the position across all US locations. Within this range, individual pay is determined by work location and other factors, including relevant education/training, experience, and internal equity.ResponsibilitiesAnalytics Engineering & Data Modeling (Core Focus):Design, develop, and maintain scalable, business-aligned data models in Snowflake using dbt (staging, intermediate, marts layers)Define and enforce semantic consistency, including metrics, dimensions, and KPIs across the organizationBuild and manage dbt projects, including models, tests, documentation, and lineageDesign, deploy, and maintain Snowflake Cortex Search and semantic models to provide high-quality, governed data structures for LLM-powered applications and AI initiativesOversee development operations and deployments of the data platformTranslate business requirements into well-structured, reusable data modelsImplement data quality testing, validation, and documentation to ensure trusted dataOptimize query performance and transformation efficiency in SnowflakeEstablish and enforce data modeling standards, best practices, and design patternsDevelop reusable analytics components to accelerate data product developmentData Product & Stakeholder Engagement:Partner with business stakeholders to define metrics, KPIs, and data definitionsEnsure alignment between business needs and technical implementationsContribute to the development of data products and semantic layers that support analytics and reportingDrive adoption and usability of data models across analytics and business teamsLeadership & Team Responsibilities (Player-Coach):Lead and mentor a small team of analytics/data engineersSet standards for dbt development, code reviews, testing, and documentationContribute hands-on to development (~60–70%) while guiding team deliveryDrive team productivity, technical direction, and project executionSupport Agile processes, including backlog prioritization and sprint planningCoordination & Delivery:Gather and refine business requirements for data initiativesTranslate business needs into clear technical requirements and user storiesSupport deployment, environment management, and release processesEnsure high-quality delivery through testing, validation, and stakeholder alignmentQualifications5+ years of experience in analytics engineering, data engineering, or related rolesStrong expertise in SQL and data warehousing conceptsProven experience with dbt and Snowflake (required)Strong experience in dimensional data modeling (star schema, marts, semantic layers)Experience building and maintaining analytics-ready data models and transformationsDemonstrated ability to lead projects or mentor team members in a player-coach capacityExperience with data quality, testing frameworks, and documentation practicesFamiliarity with Airflow / Astronomer or similar orchestration toolsExperience working with data pipelines, ETL/ELT processes, and cloud data platformsStrong analytical thinking and ability to connect data solutions to business outcomesBachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Business, or a related field, or equivalent experienceNice to have:Experience in commercial real estate, geospatial data, or location-based analyticsExperience building data products or semantic layers for BI tools