What are the responsibilities and job description for the Lead Snowflake Developer position at AIT Global, Inc.?
Job Title: Lead Snowflake Developer
Location: Midtown, NYC
Location: Midtown, NYC
Position Overview:
We are seeking a certified Lead Snowflake Developer to lead an enterprise data migration from a legacy source system into Snowflake. The role combines hands-on ETL/ELT pipeline engineering using Python, API integration development, and deep Snowflake platform expertise - including data modeling, Cortex AI, and Snowpark. This is a lead-level position with ownership over architecture, delivery, and engineering standards.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead end-to-end data migration from legacy systems into Snowflake - data profiling, mapping, transformation, validation, and cutover.
- Design and build Python-based ETL/ELT pipelines and REST API integrations for data ingestion into Snowflake.
- Implement CDC (change data capture), incremental load strategies, and robust error-handling to ensure data consistency and reliability.
- Architect multi-layered Snowflake environments (raw, curated, presentation) using dimensional modeling, star/snowflake schemas, or Data Vault 2.0.
- Leverage Snowflake-native features: Dynamic Tables, Streams & Tasks, Time Travel, Materialized Views, Zero-Copy Cloning, and clustering keys.
- Develop Cortex AI-powered capabilities - COMPLETE, EMBED_TEXT, SUMMARIZE, SENTIMENT, Cortex Analyst, and Cortex Search for NL querying.
- Build Snowpark Python UDFs, stored procedures, and ML-powered features (classification, anomaly detection, forecasting) within Snowflake.
- Enforce data governance: RBAC, column-level security, row-access policies, data masking, and object tagging.
- Drive CI/CD practices for Snowflake deployments (dbt, SchemaChange, Flyway, Git-based workflows) and mentor junior engineers.
- Partner with analysts, BI developers, and stakeholders to translate requirements into performant, scalable data solutions.
Required Qualifications:
- Active SnowPro Core Certification; SnowPro Advanced: Data Engineer strongly preferred.
- 7 years in data engineering; 4 years of hands-on Snowflake development in production environments.
- Proven experience leading a full-cycle enterprise data migration into Snowflake.
- Strong Python skills - pandas, SQLAlchemy, Snowpark Python, REST API development, and OOP design patterns.
- Expert SQL with deep knowledge of Snowflake SQL extensions, window functions, and query optimization.
- Experience with Snowflake Cortex AI or equivalent LLM/ML integration within a data platform.
- Solid data modeling background: star/snowflake schema, Data Vault 2.0, or entity-relationship modeling.
- Familiarity with orchestration tools: Apache Airflow, Prefect, or dbt workflow scheduling.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Exposure to streaming data with Snowflake Dynamic Tables or Kafka connectors.
- Cloud platform experience: AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform in a Snowflake-hosted deployment.
- Certifications:
- SnowPro Core Certification - Required
- SnowPro Advanced: Data Engineer - Strongly Preferred
- SnowPro Advanced: Architect - A Plus
- AWS / Azure / Google Cloud Platform Data or Cloud Certification - A Plus