Lead Data Engineer

ABOUT THIS POSITION

We are seeking a Lead Data Engineer with extensive experience in data infrastructure to join our team. This role serves as a technical leader while also directing the team—ensuring projects stay on track, timelines are met, and direct reports are actively mentored and developed. We need a proactive, solutions-oriented engineer who can rapidly master our current self-hosted systems, identify performance bottlenecks, strategically guide our infrastructure into the future , and lead the team through major, large-scale projects.

Unlike many modern roles that rely entirely on cloud-managed services, this position focused on owning and managing self-hosted and on-premise data stacks.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Technical Leadership: Lead technical project initiatives from conception to delivery, managing project timelines and coordinating cross-functional team efforts.
• Team Lead & Culture: Mentor and guide direct reports, conducting code reviews, provide technical coaching, and foster engineering best practices. .
• Infrastructure Ownership: Manage, maintain, and optimize self-hosted database solutions, focusing on performance tuning, hardware upgrades, and OS/environment monitoring for large-scale data warehousing.
• Pipeline Development: Design, develop, and maintain robust ETL/ELT pipelines for data ingestion and processing from varied, complex data sources.
• Data Governance & Security: Ensure infrastructure and pipelines strictly comply with government policies, data privacy standards, and GDPR regulations.
• Collaboration: Partner with data scientists, analysts, and business stakeholders to translate complex data requirements into scalable infrastructure.

REQUIREMENTS

Technical & Infrastructure Expertise:

• 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.

Leadership & Project Delivery:

• Demonstrated Leadership: Proven track record of taking informal or formal leadership on technical projects, setting milestones, and ensuring deliverables are met.
• Mentorship Mindset: Experience guiding, coaching, or mentoring junior/mid-level engineers (e.g., leading code reviews, onboarding team members, helping with career growth).
• Communication: Ability to adapt to organizational constraints and effectively communicate architectural decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

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

Salary: $120,000- $130,000 CAD

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.

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.  

ABOUT DIGITAL EXTREMES

Founded in 1993 by James Schmalz, Digital Extremes ranks as one of the world's top independent video game development studios. Originating with the co-creation of Epic Games' multi-million unit selling Unreal® franchise including Unreal and Unreal Tournament, Digital Extremes went on to develop Dark Sector®, BioShock® for the PlayStation®3, the BioShock 2 multiplayer campaign, and The Darkness® II. The studio has reached its greatest critical and commercial success with the free-to-play action game, Warframe® , boasting a global community of 75 million registered players on PC, PS4™, PS5™, Xbox One™, Xbox Series X/S™, Nintendo Switch™, and iOS™. The studio's most recently announced project is the much anticipated  Soulframe® , an open-world action-fantasy MMORPG title that is currently under development.

Digital Extremes is headquartered in London, Ontario, Canada, and is proud to be selected as one of  Canada's Top 100 Employers.

For more information and exciting news related to Digital Extremes, please visit  .

WHY WORK AT DIGITAL EXTREMES

At Digital Extremes, we don’t just make games - we craft immersive worlds that inspire and connect millions of players around the globe. Our award-winning studio is home to passionate, creative, and collaborative talent who thrive in a culture of innovation, inclusivity, and respect. We offer competitive compensation, industry-leading benefits, flexible work arrangements, and opportunities to grow your career while working on beloved titles like  Warframe and the highly anticipated  Soulframe . Whether you’re developing cutting-edge gameplay, designing stunning art, or supporting the teams that make it all happen, you’ll be part of a studio where your ideas matter, your contributions are valued, and your work leaves a lasting impact on our community.

Please note, some benefits may be subject to eligibility for employees.

JOIN US

At Digital Extremes, we believe our strength comes from the diversity of our people and the respect we show one another. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a welcoming, accessible, and supportive environment where everyone can do their best work and feel valued for who they are. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals, including those from underrepresented communities and people with disabilities. If you require accommodations at any stage of the recruitment process, we will work with you to ensure you have the support you need. We truly appreciate your interest in joining our team, and while we may not be able to respond to every application, we will connect directly with candidates moving forward in the process.