Senior Full Stack Data Engineer

The Archdiocese of Chicago, the third largest in the United States, serves more than 2.2 million Catholics in 216 parishes in Cook County and Lake County, a geographic area of 1,411 square miles. The Archdiocese, pastored by Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, has more than 13,000 employees in its systems and ministries, including Catholic Charities, the region's largest nonprofit social service agency. The Archdiocese also has one of the country's largest seminaries. The Archdiocese's 150+ elementary and secondary schools comprise one of the largest U.S. private school systems. Its schools have received 96 U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Awards.

Position Summary: 

We are looking for a versatile, impact-driven Senior Full Stack Data Engineer to lead and scale our data infrastructure. You will own the design and evolution of our data platform — extracting data from source systems, transforming raw data into clean, reliable datasets, and delivering actionable insights to business stakeholders. This role blends deep technical expertise in data engineering with the analytical rigor of data analytics, the discipline of analytics engineering, and the leadership skills to guide a growing data team. 

You will be responsible for the full data lifecycle — from ingestion and transformation to modeling and visualization — while also setting technical standards, mentoring team members, and partnering closely with leadership to align data strategy with organizational goals. 

You Must be Catholic and live in the Chicagoland area to be considered for this role. 

Data Engineering 

• Own end-to-end data pipeline architecture. 

• Make infrastructure decisions; evaluate and recommend tooling.  

• Define and enforce SLAs, data contracts, and observability standards. 

• Solid understanding of database design principles, indexing, and normalization. 

• Architect and document the overall data platform, establishing patterns for the team to follow.

• Evaluate emerging tools and technologies, making build-vs-buy recommendations. 

Analytics Engineering 

• Develop and maintain clean, tested, and documented data models. 

• Implement and own data governance, lineage, and quality monitoring.  

• Lead collaboration with analysts and business teams to define metrics and semantic layers.  

• Define and enforce analytics engineering best practices (dbt conventions, testing standards, CI/CD for data).  

Data Analytics 

• Lead meetings with business stakeholders to understand requirements and translate them into data solutions. Advise stakeholders on feasibility and prioritization. 

• Build dashboards and reports using Power BI. 

• Conduct exploratory analysis and deliver insights that drive strategic decisions.  

Technical Leadership & Mentoring 

• Mentor junior and mid-level data engineers and analysts, providing code review, technical guidance, and career coaching.  

• Lead technical design reviews for new data initiatives, ensuring alignment with platform standards. 

• Serve as the primary technical point of contact for the data platform — escalation point for complex issues. 

• Document architecture decisions and maintain a living data platform blueprint. 

• Champion a culture of data quality, documentation, and engineering excellence within the team. 

Requirements 

Experience & Education 

• You Must be Catholic and live in the Chicagoland area to be considered for this role. 
• 5+ years of experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, or a closely related field.  

• Proven track record of designing and delivering production data pipelines at scale. 

• Experience mentoring or leading engineers in a formal or informal capacity.  

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or equivalent practical experience. 

Technical Skills 

• Proficiency in Python and/or SQL for data engineering and analytics. 

• Experience with modern ELT tools (e.g., dbt, Airbyte, Azure Data Factory, dbt, python, dagster, airflow). 

• Hands-on experience with cloud data platforms (Azure preferred).   

• Power BI development and data modeling (star schema, semantic layer). 

• Understanding of data governance, lineage, and quality frameworks. 

• Familiarity with CI/CD practices applied to data (git, automated testing, deployment pipelines).   

Leadership & Soft Skills 

• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders. 

• Strong prioritization skills — can manage multiple workstreams and guide others in doing the same.   
• Collaborative and mission-aligned; comfortable working in a values-driven, faith-based organization. 

The Archdiocese of Chicago offers a comprehensive total rewards package to include competitive compensation and benefit programs. Information about our benefit programs is available here.

This position has a salary range of $85,207.64 - $108,639.74. An employee’s pay within the salary range will be based on many factors including but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, experience, skills, geographic location, and organizational needs.