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Lead Data Engineer
Why Valtech? We’re the experience innovation company - a trusted partner to the world’s most recognized brands. To our people we offer growth opportunities, a values-driven culture, international careers and the chance to shape the future of experience.
The opportunity
At Valtech, you’ll find an environment designed for continuous learning, meaningful impact, and professional growth. Whether you're pioneering new digital solutions, challenging conventional thinking or building the next generation of customer experiences, your work will help transform industries.
We are proud of:
- The work we do and the innovation we drive
- Our values of share, care and dare
- A workplace culture that fosters creativity, diversity and autonomy
- Our borderless, global framework, which enables seamless collaboration
Why Valtech?
At Valtech, we're the Experience Innovation Company. We help leading global brands unlock value through data, AI, technology, and experience transformation.
As a Lead Data Engineer you'll help clients define the foundations that power modern analytics, AI, and agentic systems. You'll influence executive stakeholders, shape architecture strategy across complex organizations, and drive the evolution of enterprise-scale data ecosystems.
The Opportunity
Please note, we are only accepting applicants from the provinces of Ontario and Québec for this role. For Québec-based candidates, fluency in English is necessary because the position entails collaboration with teams based in the rest of the Americas and occasionally in Europe.
This role is responsible for shaping high-value data architecture strategies, defining scalable semantic and platform-aligned design approaches, advising senior stakeholders, and elevating the quality and consistency of architecture delivery across engagements. The Lead Principal operates as a trusted authority in business entity design, semantic structure, governance direction, platform architecture, and the structural foundations that support reporting, analytics, machine learning, AI, and agentic systems. At this level, the role combines senior architecture leadership, strong business advisory capability, and broad influence across teams, clients, and practice development efforts.
What You'll Do
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- Lead the most complex and high-impact data architecture initiatives across clients, business areas, domains, platforms, or strategic programs.
- Define data architecture strategies that connect business goals, domain structures, semantic logic, platform realities, governance expectations, and downstream consumption needs.
- Serve as a senior advisor to internal and client stakeholders on architecture maturity, semantic structure, governance direction, platform-aligned design, and long-term maintainability.
- Establish and refine best practices for conceptual, logical, and physical data modeling, business entity design, semantic consistency, metric and dimension alignment, metadata expectations, domain boundaries, and reusable architecture patterns.
- Guide the design of scalable semantic structures, business concept frameworks, taxonomy and ontology-informed models, governed access patterns, and reference architectures that improve trust and downstream usability.
- Translate ambiguous executive and stakeholder questions into clear architecture approaches, semantic frameworks, platform strategies, governance-aligned design patterns, and business-relevant recommendations.
- Lead architecture reviews and design authority discussions to identify risks, resolve ambiguity, strengthen standards alignment, and improve long-term structural quality.
- Assess and shape how architecture choices support reporting, analytics, data products, machine learning, AI workflows, retrieval patterns, and agentic systems across structured, semi-structured, and selected unstructured data use cases.
- Provide governance direction through standards, design reviews, architecture guardrails, and decision frameworks while keeping hands-on governance execution lighter than framework and review ownership.
- Synthesize architecture tradeoffs, semantic implications, platform constraints, and governance considerations into clear insights, strategic implications, and recommended actions.
- Influence cross-functional teams across DEPA, DSAI, and AIO to improve how data platforms, governed data products, semantic layers, analytics, and AI workflows work together.
- Review major architecture deliverables to ensure quality, clarity, consistency, rigor, and practical business value.
- Contribute to thought leadership, growth initiatives, proposal strategy, solution shaping, and new business efforts where senior architecture expertise is required.
- Help create, improve, and promote reusable frameworks, templates, standards, semantic models, reference architectures, design review patterns, and accelerators that strengthen delivery consistency across the practice.
- Mentor senior practitioners and help define what excellent data architecture practice looks like across the organization.
- Reinforce strong governance, privacy, security, and data-quality expectations across engagements and teams.
Must-Have Qualifications
To be considered for this role, you should have:
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- Deep expertise in data architecture, enterprise data platform concepts, and conceptual, logical, and physical data modeling.
- Strong ability to shape data architecture approaches in complex, ambiguous, and high-visibility business environments.
- Expert ability to connect business context, semantic structure, governance direction, platform realities, and downstream analytical and AI needs in a way that is clear, credible, and actionable.
- Strong command of business entities, dimensions, metrics, domains, lineage, metadata, semantic consistency, governed access concepts, and reusable reference patterns.
- Strong understanding of semantic layers, business concept alignment, taxonomy and ontology-informed design, and domain-oriented architecture thinking.
- Strong awareness of how architecture choices support reporting, analytics, data science, machine learning, AI workflows, retrieval patterns, and agentic systems.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills across model complexity, semantic ambiguity, governance tradeoffs, platform decisions, and downstream usability concerns.
- Ability to provide design authority and architectural clarity without needing direct ownership of every implementation detail.
- Advanced stakeholder advisory skills, including executive communication and the ability to influence senior audiences.
- Ability to elevate quality and consistency across multiple teams without direct authority.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills in English, including workshop facilitation, executive presentation, and strategic advisory communication.
- Ability to collaborate effectively across distributed teams in the Americas and across multiple disciplines.
Nice-to-Have Qualifications
- Experience with taxonomy, ontology, and knowledge-modeling approaches.
- Exposure to Unity Catalog, Collibra, or similar governance solutions.
- Working knowledge of SQL, dbt, Python, Spark, or modern data engineering practices.
- Databricks, Azure, or Google Cloud certifications.
- Experience contributing to pre-sales, solution architecture, or thought leadership activities.
- Experience defining AI-ready or agentic-ready enterprise architectures.
If you do not meet all the listed qualifications or have gaps in your experience, we still encourage you to apply. At Valtech, we recognize that talent comes in many forms, and we value diverse perspectives and a willingness to learn.
Commitment to reaching all kinds of people
We design experiences that work for all kinds of people - and that starts with our own teams. At Valtech, we’re intentional about building an inclusive culture where everyone feels supported to grow, thrive and achieve their goals. No matter your background, you belong here. Explore our Diversity & Inclusion site to see how we’re creating a more equitable Valtech for all.
The benefits
This is a full-time position based in Montreal and Toronto. The offered salary range is $110,000 to $150,000 annually, depending on experience and location.
Valtech offers a comprehensive benefits package effective after three months of continuous service:
- A comprehensive insurance plan, where you can choose the module that best suits your needs—Gold, Silver, or Bronze. The employer may contribute up to 80% of your coverage depending on the selected module. This plan includes short- and long-term disability coverage.
- Dialogue via Sun Life provides virtual healthcare services, allowing you to consult with a healthcare professional for emergencies, prescription renewals, and more. You also have access to the Employee and Family Assistance Program, as well as a complete mental health support program.
- A $500 Personal Spending Account, which can be used for healthcare reimbursements, gym memberships, public transit passes, office supplies, or contributions to your RRSP through Valtech.
- A retirement plan where Valtech will match 100% of your RRSP contributions through a Deferred Profit Sharing Plan (DPSP), up to a maximum of 4%. You can start contributing to your RRSP immediately, and to the DPSP after 3 months. The vesting of the DPSP will be after a 24 months of service.
- Access to a flexible vacation under Valtech's policy to support your work-life balance, with 5 days available during your probation period and a prorated amount calculated for the remainder of the year.
- Personal Technology Reimbursement – $30/month for every employee-offered on day 1.
- We close during the winter holidays and offer flexible scheduling throughout the year, so you can enjoy those sunny Friday afternoons—provided your weekly hours are completed.
Your application process
Once you apply, our Talent Acquisition team will review your application. If your skills and experience align with the role, we’ll reach out for next steps. Your CV should cover key information on relevant experiences and expertise. We do not require information such as age, gender, marital status, or a headshot in your application. We review all candidates based on skills, experience, and potential.
⚠️ Beware of recruitment fraud: Only engage with official Valtech email addresses.
We are committed to inclusion and accessibility. If you need reasonable accommodations during the interview process, please either indicate it in your application or let your Talent Partner know.
About Valtech
Valtech is the experience innovation company that exists to unlock a better way to experience the world. By blending crafts, categories, and cultures, we help brands unlock new value in an increasingly digital world.
At the intersection of data, AI, creativity, and technology, we drive transformation for leading organizations, including L’Oréal, Mars, Audi, P&G, Volkswagen Dolby, and more.
At Valtech, we don’t just talk about transformation. We make it happen. Our people are the heart of our success, and we foster a workplace where everyone has the support to thrive, grow and innovate.
Are you ready to create what’s next? Join us.
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