[Hiring] Senior Staff Data Engineer @SmithRx

Role Description

On the Data Engineering team, we transform streams of data into insights that solve real-world Pharmacy Benefits Management (PBM) challenges. We empower our Data Analytics and Machine Learning teams to make drug pricing transparent and easy to understand. We deliver business impact by designing, implementing, and maintaining distributed systems to collect, aggregate, and govern pharmaceutical data. We leverage open-source tools like Airflow and DBT built on top of industry-leading data warehouses (e.g., Snowflake), utilize LLMs to optimize workflows, and use Python heavily in our daily work.

What you will do:

• Architecture & Technical Strategy
  • Define Technical Vision: Define the long-term data engineering strategy guided by company-wide priorities and engineering best practices.
  • Design Ecosystems: Create coherent designs across multiple pipelines and API boundaries. Reduce complex concepts to foundational components and simplify infrastructure to lower maintenance costs.
  • Drive Engineering Excellence: Make high-impact technical choices—including "build vs. buy" and framework selections—based on sound reasoning. Review designs to preemptively identify and resolve technical risks.
  • Improve Developer Efficiency: Implement solutions that measurably improve developer efficiency and establish engineering-wide quality and best practices.
• Execution & Business Impact
  • Deliver at Scale: Roll out major features and systems reliably, including appropriate monitoring, failure domain characterization, and success metric definitions.
  • Align with Business Goals: Leverage a deep understanding of SmithRx’s business strategy to identify group-wide opportunities. Proactively refocus team efforts when projects are off-course or not moving the needle for the business.
  • Manage Data Quality & Governance: Enforce data governance policies (PII/PHI protection, security, compliance) and implement data quality principles to raise the bar for the reliability of data shared internally and externally.
• Leadership & Collaboration
  • Influence Cross-Functionally: Influence the roadmaps of other SmithRx teams. Act thoughtfully and decisively in critical situations, seeking diverse perspectives but ultimately leading decision-making to move priorities forward.
  • Mentor and Develop: Serve as a role model and coach for other engineers, taking into account their unique skills and providing constructive feedback to maximize their impact.
  • Executive Communication: Develop focused messaging and effectively present technical strategies and business cases at the executive level.
  • Champion Organizational Change: Break down silos, build deep cross-functional relationships, and create excitement to drive the adoption of new technologies or processes across the organization.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of industrial experience in data engineering with an advanced degree or 12+ years with an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field. (Start-up and healthcare experience is highly desirable).
• Demonstrated mastery of data modeling concepts, database design principles, and data warehouse technologies (e.g., Snowflake) through production-grade implementations.
• Strong skills in PySpark, SQL, and Python are required. Experience in modern object-oriented or compiled languages such as C#/C++, Go, Java, or Scala is a plus.
• Hands-on experience with leading ETL tools and frameworks (e.g., Apache Spark, Apache Airflow, dbt, Looker, Superset).
• In-depth experience managing the entire data lifecycle, with direct responsibility for the development, implementation, and production release of complex data processing solutions utilizing distributed systems.
• A proven track record of making decisions optimized for the wider engineering organization rather than locally optimal outcomes, especially in environments with significant ambiguity.

Benefits

• Highly competitive wellness benefits including Medical, Pharmacy, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance and AD&D Insurance
• Flexible Spending Benefits
• 401(k) Retirement Savings Program
• Short-term and long-term disability
• Discretionary Paid Time Off
• 12 Paid Company Holidays
• Wellness Benefits
• Commuter Benefits
• Paid Parental Leave benefits
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Well-stocked kitchen in office locations
• Professional development and training opportunities

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: The range listed above reflects our standard pay scale and actual pay will vary based on work location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
• Total Rewards: In addition to base pay, this role may be eligible for bonuses, commissions, or equity. SmithRx offers a variety of benefits to help you live well, including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance and 401(k).
• Individual offers are tailored to your geography, experience, skills, and education. Your recruiter can share more specific details during the hiring process.