Senior Data Engineer - Contract

Softchoice • Toronto, ON

11d

About The Position

As a senior member of the Data Engineer team, you will be responsible for leading the design, development, and optimization of enterprise-grade data solutions within the Microsoft Fabric ecosystem. This role requires deep technical expertise, strategic thinking, and the ability to mentor junior engineers while collaborating with cross-functional teams. You will work closely with data scientists, analysts, and other stakeholders to ensure seamless data integration, transformation, and storage, enabling data-driven decision-making across the organization. This is a 1-year contract term with a possibility of converting to a full-time position.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience with deep expertise across the Microsoft data ecosystem, including Microsoft Fabric, Data Factory, Spark, Synapse, and Power BI
• Proven ability to design and orchestrate complex data integrations, leveraging Data Factory, REST APIs, and other enterprise data sources
• Leadership in defining and executing scalable ELT strategies using Spark notebooks, Data Factory, and Synapse pipelines
• Experience architecting multi-domain Lakehouse environments, with strong governance around structure, metadata, and reuse
• Advanced knowledge of data warehousing optimization, including performance tuning and workload configuration
• Expertise in designing scalable Power BI semantic models, refresh strategies, and governed reporting solutions
• Ability to define and enforce data modeling standards and best practices across multiple teams
• Strong skills in writing reusable, high-performance Spark jobs and configuring compute pools for optimal performance and cost efficiency
• Experience establishing naming conventions, workspace governance, and CI/CD deployment strategies
• Leadership in data governance, including sensitivity classifications, security models, and access control frameworks
• Ability to build and maintain monitoring, alerting, and automated testing for Fabric pipelines and data assets
• Expert-level understanding of the Fabric platform, with the ability to troubleshoot, automate, and optimize end-to-end solutions
• Strong partnership skills, collaborating with architects, data scientists, and business stakeholders to align technical solutions with business goals
• A passion for mentoring and technical leadership, including code reviews, model reviews, and driving adoption of new Fabric capabilities
• Ability to align Microsoft Fabric implementations with enterprise data strategy and long-term growth plans
• Hands-on experience using AI coding agents and AI-assisted development tools in a data engineering context; comfort integrating AI into daily development workflows and evangelizing adoption across the team.
• Advanced DAX proficiency, including complex measure authoring, calculation groups, and optimization techniques for large-scale Power BI semantic models.
• Strong business acumen with a genuine interest in understanding business domains, KPIs, and decision-making processes — and the ability to build trust with stakeholders at all levels of data sophistication, from data-savvy analysts to non-technical business leaders.
• Proven experience leading cross-team data initiatives, influencing platform architecture and governance direction
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work in a collaborative environment.
• Excellent verbal, written, communication, presentation, organizational, and interpersonal skills.

Nice To Haves

• Preferred Microsoft Fabric certification – DP600, DP700.

Responsibilities

• Design and orchestrate complex integrations across Data Factory, REST APIs, and other enterprise data services.
• Lead scalable ELT strategies using Spark Notebooks, Data Factory, and Synapse Pipelines.
• Architect multi-domain Lakehouse environments, including structure, metadata, and governance standards.
• Optimize Data Warehousing workloads and configure performance settings for high-throughput environments.
• Design enterprise-grade data models and refresh strategies for scalable, governed Power BI reporting.
• Define and enforce modeling standards and best practices across engineering and analytics teams.
• Develop reusable, optimized Spark jobs and configure compute pools for cost-efficient performance.
• Establish naming conventions, workspace governance, and CI/CD deployment strategies across Fabric.
• Lead data governance frameworks, including sensitivity classifications and access-control standards.
• Build monitoring dashboards, alerts, and automated testing for Fabric pipelines and operations.
• Demonstrate expert-level platform knowledge with the ability to troubleshoot, automate, and optimize end-to-end Fabric solutions.
• Partner with architects, data scientists, and business stakeholders to align technical strategy with business needs.
• Mentor engineers, review notebooks and data models, and drive adoption of Microsoft Fabric best practices.
• Align Microsoft Fabric capabilities with enterprise data strategy, roadmaps, and long-term growth plans.
• Lead cross-team data initiatives and influence architectural direction, governance decisions, and platform evolution.
• Leverage AI coding agents and AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, or similar) to accelerate data engineering workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and improve code quality across the Fabric ecosystem.
• Author and review advanced DAX measures, calculated columns, and time-intelligence logic to support complex, governed Power BI semantic models.
• Translate ambiguous business problems into clear technical requirements, adapting communication style to audiences ranging from executive sponsors to frontline analysts with varying levels of data literacy.

Benefits

• Health and Wellbeing: Medical and Dental Care, Employee & Family Assistance Program
• Financial Benefits: RRSP/DPSP Retirement Savings Plan with Company Matching, Life and Disability Insurance
• Paid Time Off: Vacation and Sick Leave, Holidays, Parental Leave, Volunteer Days, Bereavement Leave
• Additional Perks: Employee Discount Program

What This Job Offers

• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed