Principal Data Engineer

ABOUT THIS POSITION

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer with extensive experience in data infrastructure to join our team. Unlike many modern roles that rely entirely on cloud-managed services, this position is looking for someone to manage our self-hosted and on-premise data stacks.

We need a proactive, solutions-oriented engineer who can rapidly master our current self-hosted systems, identify performance bottlenecks, and design our future infrastructure to adapt to the company needs. In this role, you will own the technical architecture, set engineering standards, and translate complex business requirements into reliable, scalable data systems. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Infrastructure Strategy & Ownership: Manage and optimize self-hosted database and data warehousing solutions. Oversee performance tuning, hardware planning, and OS-level monitoring for large-scale data systems. 
• Pipeline Architecture: Design, develop, and maintain robust ETL/ELT pipelines for data ingestion and processing from varied, complex data sources.
• Technical Execution: Drive large-scale technical projects from design to delivery, making key architectural decisions and managing technical risk.
• Engineering Standards: Establish code and architecture review standards, championing engineering best practices across the team. 
• Data Governance & Security: Ensure infrastructure and pipelines strictly comply with government policies, data privacy, and GDPR regulations.
• Collaboration: Partner with data scientists, analysts, and business stakeholders to translate complex data requirements into scalable infrastructure.

REQUIREMENTS

• Experience: 5+ years of professional experience in data engineering, database administration, or backend infrastructure, with a strong, proven focus on managing self-hosted/on-premise environments rather than exclusively cloud-managed services.
• Deep Database Foundations: Extensive hands-on experience managing and optimizing database management systems, specifically PostgreSQL and MongoDB (both relational and NoSQL ecosystems).
• Self-Hosted Mastery: Proven experience setting up, maintaining, and tuning self-hosted/on-premise databases and data warehouses.
• System Environment: Strong proficiency in SQL and deep comfort working within Linux/Unix environments (command line, shell scripting, system performance tuning).
• Data Orchestration: Hands-on experience with modern ETL orchestration tools such as Dagster or Airflow.

• Data Modeling: In-depth knowledge of core data warehousing concepts and relational data modeling.
• Technical Ownership: Proven track record of owning complex technical systems, driving implementation, and ensuring architectural standards are met.
• Communication: Ability to clearly communicate technical decisions, trade-offs, and infrastructure constraints to both engineering teams and non-technical stakeholders. 

 “Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Canada at the time of application.”

Please note that the salary range mentioned in this job description should serve simply as a guide. The final compensation offered may vary based on a variety of factors, including bonuses and/or incentives, or a candidate’s experience, skills, budget and location. Digital Extremes is committed to providing a fair, equitable, and competitive package that reflects the value a candidate brings.

Salary Range: $115,000 - $125,000

Existing Vacancy: Yes – we’re currently hiring candidates for an existing vacancy in this position

We believe in the power of human connection. At Digital Extremes, we do not use artificial intelligence (AI) to screen, assess, or select candidates. All applications are reviewed by human, qualified recruiters.

During your interview, our recruitment team will leverage  Gemini as a note-taker only. At Digital Extremes, a core value of our studio is that we do not leverage AI in any of our development processes; this is a strict company policy.  Please note that we permit the use of AI tools exclusively for administrative support, it is not used for candidate selection, screening, or any part of the decision-making process. All evaluations are conducted solely by our team to ensure our hiring remains a human-led process, just as our development remains the work of our artists and creators.