Sr. Data Engineer (Contract to Perm)

Locality•New York, NY

5d•$75 - $100

About The Position

Locality is seeking a Senior Data Engineer whom will serve as the primary internal owner of our Audience Engine, spanning data ingestion, identity resolution, automation, and AI enablement. This role emphasizes hands on platform stewardship today, with a clear path to supporting future expansion of the HH Identity Graph and applied AI use cases. Establish and own technical management of the Audience Engine, transitioning knowledge from external partners and building a scalable, internally managed data platform Reduce reliance on third-party vendors while maintaining high standards for platform reliability, uptime, and data integrity across all pipelines and integrations Architect, own, and continuously optimize Databricks Bronze → Silver → Gold pipelines to support large scale audience ingestion, enrichment, and activation workflows Ensure the platform is scalable and cost efficient through effective pipeline optimization and resource management Proactively monitor, troubleshoot, and resolve ingestion failures, schema drift, and data quality issues across batch and near real time data pipelines Lead identity resolution across datasets including HHID, DSID, MAID, IP, and campaign logs, improving matching logic to strengthen the Household Identity Graph Guarantee accurate and timely audience publication by maintaining robust downstream data delivery processes and SLAs across activation platforms and partners Own and maintain integrations with external data and activation partners (e.g., Experian, FreeWheel, DSPs), ensuring seamless data exchange and operational reliability Partner cross functionally with Product, Analytics, and Ad Operations teams to onboard new data sources and activation endpoints, enabling new use cases and revenue opportunities Support and operationalize applied AI/ML workflows within Databricks, including integration with tools like Akkio, and translate business needs into production-ready data features and datasets Design and implement scalable data models and query-ready datasets that power BI reporting, audience insights, and predictive modeling, ensuring alignment with downstream analytics requirements Enforce data governance, lineage, and documentation standards while ensuring compliance with privacy, consent, and data usage regulations across all audience and identity data systems

Requirements

6+ years of experience as a Data Engineer or Data Platform Engineer, ideally within advertising
Strong hands on experience with Databricks, Spark, and modern cloud data platforms
Proven experience designing and maintaining multi-layered data architectures (Bronze / Silver / Gold)
Deep expertise in SQL and proficiency in Python or another scripting language
Experience working with identity graphs, audience data, and complex join logic across large datasets
Hands on experience building and managing automated data pipelines and third-party data integrations
Familiarity with adtech, martech, or audience activation platforms, including exposure to identity providers such as Experian or similar vendors
Practical experience supporting AI/ML workflows or AI-enabled analytics, with an understanding of data quality, schema design, and performance optimization in cloud-scale environments

Responsibilities

Establish and own technical management of the Audience Engine, transitioning knowledge from external partners and building a scalable, internally managed data platform
Reduce reliance on third-party vendors while maintaining high standards for platform reliability, uptime, and data integrity across all pipelines and integrations
Architect, own, and continuously optimize Databricks Bronze → Silver → Gold pipelines to support large scale audience ingestion, enrichment, and activation workflows
Ensure the platform is scalable and cost efficient through effective pipeline optimization and resource management
Proactively monitor, troubleshoot, and resolve ingestion failures, schema drift, and data quality issues across batch and near real time data pipelines
Lead identity resolution across datasets including HHID, DSID, MAID, IP, and campaign logs, improving matching logic to strengthen the Household Identity Graph
Guarantee accurate and timely audience publication by maintaining robust downstream data delivery processes and SLAs across activation platforms and partners
Own and maintain integrations with external data and activation partners (e.g., Experian, FreeWheel, DSPs), ensuring seamless data exchange and operational reliability
Partner cross functionally with Product, Analytics, and Ad Operations teams to onboard new data sources and activation endpoints, enabling new use cases and revenue opportunities
Support and operationalize applied AI/ML workflows within Databricks, including integration with tools like Akkio, and translate business needs into production-ready data features and datasets
Design and implement scalable data models and query-ready datasets that power BI reporting, audience insights, and predictive modeling, ensuring alignment with downstream analytics requirements
Enforce data governance, lineage, and documentation standards while ensuring compliance with privacy, consent, and data usage regulations across all audience and identity data systems