Data Engineer

Founded in 2008, Hightower is a wealth management firm that provides investment, financial and retirement planning services to individuals, foundations and family offices, as well as 401(k) consulting and cash management services to corporations. Hightower’s capital solutions, operational support services, size and scale empower its vibrant community of independent-minded wealth advisors to grow their businesses and help their clients achieve their financial vision. Based in Chicago with advisors across the U.S., we operate as a registered investment advisor (RIA).

About the role

The Senior Associate, Data Engineer, reporting to the Managing Director, Software Engineering, builds and maintains the data pipelines and infrastructure that power business operations, analytics, and decision-making across Hightower. A Data Engineer builds or maintains data management systems, such as databases and data pipelines, that enable the company to access, store, and process data effectively to support decision-making and run the business. You will work closely with data scientists, analysts, and engineers across the firm to deliver reliable, well-modeled data into Snowflake and our operational data stores.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain Snowflake and RDS data pipelines using Python, dbt, Mulesoft, Git, and GitHub Actions.
• Partner with data scientists and analysts to model data in Snowflake, ensuring datasets are well-structured, documented, and ready for analytics and regulatory reporting.
• Provide on-call and production support for pipeline failures, diagnosing issues and driving them to resolution with appropriate urgency.
• Continuously improve data quality, reliability, and performance across the platform, identifying and addressing root causes rather than symptoms.
• Collaborate across departments to understand business requirements and translate them into durable, maintainable engineering solutions.
• Participate in code reviews, testing, and documentation of data workflows.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in information technology, data, artificial intelligence, or a related field.
• 2-4 years of experience building and operating data pipelines in a professional environment.
• Proficiency in Python, SQL, Snowflake, dbt, and Mulesoft.
• A curiosity-driven, self-directed approach — comfortable digging into unfamiliar systems and figuring things out without hand-holding.
• Strong collaboration skills with non-engineers, including analysts, data scientists, and business stakeholders.
• A sharp attention to detail and a data accuracy mindset — you treat correctness as a first-class concern.

Benefits

• Coverage on the first day of employment for medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Paid parental leave (16 weeks for primary caregiver and 8 weeks for secondary caregiver).
• Mother’s lounge onsite.
• Flexible PTO plan.
• In-office Monday through Thursday and work from home on Fridays.
• Free brand-new gym in the Chicago office.
• 401k matching plan.
• HSA employer contributions.
• Student loan assistance.
• Pet insurance.

Pay

Base salary of $125,000–$140,000 plus discretionary bonus (exact base salary amount will be dependent on experience).