Principal Data Engineer

Job Description

Horizon Media, founded in 1989 by Bill Koenigsberg, is recognized as one of the most innovative marketing and advertising firms. We are headquartered in New York City, with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto. A leader in driving business solutions for marketers, Horizon is known for its highly personal approach to client service. Renowned for its incredible culture, Horizon is consistently named to all the prestigious annual Best Places to Work lists published by Fortune, AdAge, Crain’s New York Business and Los Angeles Business Journal. Together we are building a place of belonging. 
 
At Horizon, we understand the value that different perspectives can bring to our clients and culture, so we strive for an environment where our employees feel welcomed, safe and empowered. We value YOU and believe that your authentic voice and unique perspective allows us to create a more rewarding culture, and experience, together. 
 
Our simple recipe for success? We hire talented people (thinkers, doers, dreamers, makers), challenge them and give them every opportunity to grow.

Overview

Horizon Media is seeking a hands-on Principal Data Engineer to join our growing data engineering team. Reporting to the VP of Architecture & Data Engineering, you will play a critical role in building and maintaining robust, scalable, and efficient data pipelines that power analytics, reporting, and data-driven decision-making across the organization.
This role is deeply embedded in our modern data stack—leveraging tools like Snowflake, dbt Cloud, Fivetran, and Python. You will work closely with analysts, data scientists, and engineering peers to ensure our data systems are fast, reliable, and ready to meet business demands.

Key Responsibilities
 

• Build and maintain end-to-end data pipelines using dbt, Snowflake, and Python

• Develop modular, testable, and well-documented SQL-based data models in dbt

• Integrate data from multiple sources using Fivetran and custom ingestion scripts

• Write and optimize complex SQL queries for performance and scalability

• Implement data quality checks, monitoring, and alerting to ensure pipeline reliability

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand data needs and deliver clean, well-structured datasets

• Support production workflows through CI/CD pipelines and version control (Git)

• Troubleshoot pipeline failures and performance issues quickly and effectively

• Contribute to documentation and improve internal standards and tooling

Qualifications

• 6–10 years of hands-on experience in data engineering or a similar role

• Strong experience working with Snowflake and dbt in production environments

• Proficient in SQL (advanced level) and Python for data transformation and automation

• Experience working with Fivetran or similar data ingestion platforms

• Familiarity with CI/CD tools and Git-based development workflows

• Understanding of data modeling principles (e.g., dimensional models, star/snowflake schemas)

• Experience working in cloud environments, preferably AWS

• Strong attention to detail, with a passion for clean, maintainable data systems

• Excellent problem-solving skills and a collaborative mindset

Nice to Have

• Experience with orchestration tools like Airflow or Dagster

• Familiarity with data testing frameworks (e.g., dbt tests, Great Expectations)

• Exposure to media, advertising, or marketing data

Technical Skills

• dbt Cloud, Snowflake, Fivetran

• SQL, Python

• Git, CI/CD workflows

• AWS (S3, Lambda, etc.)

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Horizon Media is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.  We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

Salary Range

A successful applicant’s actual base salary may vary based on factors such as individual’s skill sets, experience, training, education,  licensure/certifications, and qualifications for the role.  As an organization, we take an aptitude and competency-based hiring approach.  We provide a competitive total rewards package including a discretionary bonus and a variety of benefits including health insurance coverage, life and disability insurance, retirement savings plans, company paid holidays and unlimited paid time off (PTO), mental health and wellness resources, pet insurance, childcare resources, identity theft insurance, fertility assistance programs, and fitness reimbursement.