Sr Data Engineer (Data Architecture and Modeling)

Storytelling is, and will always be, the heart of what we do at Skydance.

Our vision is to build a thriving entertainment ecosystem where stories and worlds are imagined, brought to life and experienced. We create for every age and audience, anchored by the strength of our content and experiences and the depth of our connection with fans. We are creator-first, audience-focused, tech-forward, globally scaled.

Here, you’ll work with talented teams that move fast, think boldly and collaborate with purpose to deliver results. We aim high, champion the best ideas and win together, earning the trust of our employees, creators, partners and audiences every day.

If you’re energized by the opportunity to help build the next-generation global media and entertainment company powered by creativity and technology, we’d be thrilled to welcome you aboard. LET’S GO!

Overview and Responsibilities:

The Signal Intelligence (SigInt) team turns a high-volume, multi-source data ecosystem - operational systems, client-app event streams, ad-tech platforms, stitcher events, ad server logs, and telemetry - into the trusted data models, metrics, and dashboards that drive business, product, and ad-ops decisions.

We are hiring a Senior Data Engineer who is, in equal measure, a data modeler, a SQL craftsperson, and an analyst - not only a pipeline builder. You will own data end-to-end: modeling raw events into conformed, analytics-ready marts; writing the analytical SQL that answers hard business questions; defining the metrics leadership relies on; and building the pipelines that feed it all. Because we sit close to the business, translating ambiguous questions into durable models and clear insight matters as much as engineering the pipeline.

In practice, you will be the team's data sherpa - the person who knows the data terrain cold, guides analysts and business partners through it, and turns an ambiguous “can we find out X?” into a trusted, well-modeled answer. You own the map - the definitions, lineage, and the “why” behind the numbers - as much as the pipelines.

This is an analytics-engineering role on a semi-business team. It is not a pure platform / infrastructure position - if your passion is exclusively distributed-systems plumbing with little interest in modeling, analysis, or guiding the business, this will not be the right fit.

Responsibilities Include:

Modeling & architecture - the core of the role

• Design and own the dimensional and semantic models - conformed dimensions, facts, star/snowflake schemas, slowly changing dimensions (Type 2), and well-defined grain - that serve as the trusted source of truth.
• Architect data marts spanning operational, advertising, and telemetry domains for analytics, reporting, AI, and operational use.
• Establish shared definitions and a semantic / metrics layer so users, sessions, devices, content, campaigns, and impressions mean the same thing everywhere.

SQL & analysis

• Write and optimize sophisticated analytical SQL - window functions, cohort and funnel logic, sessionization, distributions - on large event-scale datasets.
• Analyze complex datasets to find patterns, quantify drivers, and produce actionable insight; define new metrics and KPIs (usage, revenue, etc.) and the logic behind them.
• Independently investigate variance across platforms and communicate findings clearly to peers and senior leadership.

Business partnership

• Be the go-to guide for the data - the person who knows where every number comes from, what it means, and its quirks and landmines.
• Own the institutional knowledge of the data - definitions, lineage, and the reasoning behind metrics - and make it legible so analysts, ad ops, product, and finance can self-serve with confidence.
• Partner with stakeholders and source-system owners to translate ambiguous business questions into durable data models and metrics, and support/conduct strategic investigations and analysis.

Pipelines, quality & delivery

• Build and harmonize the ingestion and transformation pipelines - event data from client apps, ad-tech platforms, stitchers, ad servers, and telemetry - that feed the models, handling deduplication, late-arriving data, sessionization, and schema evolution.
• Stitch identity and sessions across client, server, and ad-side events for accurate user, content, and revenue analytics.
• Establish data-quality standards (testing, monitoring, alerting, freshness and volume SLAs) and troubleshoot incidents end-to-end - from a dashboard anomaly back through marts, transformations, and raw logs.
• Support and improve BI dashboards; document datasets, lineage, and business logic so the data map stays trustworthy and current.
• Mentor engineers and analysts on SQL, modeling, event data, and engineering best practices.

Basic Qualifications

• Expert SQL, including analytical SQL craft (window functions, complex joins, cohort / funnel / sessionization logic) and performance tuning on large event-scale datasets.
• Deep data-modeling expertise - dimensional modeling, star/snowflake schemas, slowly changing dimensions, conformed dimensions, grain, and data-mart design; able to design a trusted source of truth from messy multi-source data.
• Strong data analysis and business translation - able to independently investigate data, define metrics and KPIs, and act as a trusted guide who turns ambiguous business questions into clear answers and enables others to self-serve.
• A guide’s temperament - curiosity to learn the data terrain deeply, patience to help non-technical partners, and communication that earns trust across the business.
• dbt (or an equivalent transformation / modeling framework).
• Cloud warehouse - BigQuery strongly preferred (our environment); Snowflake or Databricks acceptable with a fast ramp.
• Python for data processing and pipeline development.
• Orchestration experience (Airflow).
• High-volume event data - clickstream, telemetry, ad impressions, or similar - including deduplication, late-arriving data, sessionization, and schema evolution.
• Proven track record harmonizing data across multiple source systems with conflicting schemas, identifiers, or grain.
• BI tools (DOMO, Looker, Mode) - comfort both consuming and supporting their development.
• Experience debugging data-quality issues across the full stack - from BI tool to warehouse to raw event logs.
• BA/BS in Computer Science, Math, Physics, Engineering, Economics, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.
• Strong analytical, logical, and communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Semantic-layer experience (LookML, dbt Semantic Layer, Cube).
• Streaming-media / ad-tech domain (ad servers, SSAI / stitchers, VAST/VMAP, impression and fill-rate metrics).
• Streaming ingestion (Kafka, Pub/Sub, Kinesis).
• Statistical analysis with R and predictive-analytics tooling; experimentation / A-B analysis.
• Master data management or entity resolution.
• MS in a quantitative discipline; experience mentoring or leading engineers/analysts.

How you will succeed in this role:

• You think in models and metrics, not just pipelines.
• You are the person others come to when they are lost in the data - and you like being that guide.
• You are as comfortable in a SQL console or a dashboard as in a DAG, and you move fluidly between business context and technical root cause.
• You treat data as a product - with users, definitions, SLAs, and documentation.
• You turn ambiguous business questions into clean models and clear answers.

Paramount Streaming, a division within Paramount Global, is the home to the company's direct-to-consumer services spanning free and paid in the form of Pluto TV and Paramount+. Pluto TV is the global leader in free ad-supported TV, delivering more than 1,400 global channels and an extensive library of streaming content, including live and original channels. Paramount+, digital subscription video-on-demand and live streaming service, combines live sports, breaking news, and A Mountain of Entertainment™. Paramount+ features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including SHOWTIME®.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Hiring Salary Range: $110,000.00 - 165,000.00.

The hiring salary range for this position applies to New York, California, Colorado, Washington state, and most other geographies. Starting pay for the successful applicant depends on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to geographic location, market demands, experience, training, and education. The benefits available for this position include medical, dental, vision, 401(k) plan, life insurance coverage, disability benefits, tuition assistance program and PTO or, if applicable, as otherwise dictated by the appropriate Collective Bargaining Agreement. This position is bonus eligible.

What We Offer:

• Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages. Check out our full list of benefits here.
• Generous paid time off.
• Complimentary subscriptions to HBO Max, Paramount+, and other Skydance streaming services and digital news products.
• Robust employee engagement opportunities, including access to exclusive screenings and events, speaker series, volunteer activities and more.

Skydance is an equal opportunity employer (EOE)

We embrace the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit. In line with the laws of the country or region in which the role is based, this includes consideration without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, religion or belief, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, physical or mental disability, genetic information, military or protected veteran status, union status or any other category protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability, you may request a reasonable accommodation during the job application and/or recruitment process. You can request reasonable accommodations by calling 212.846.5500 or by sending an email to [email protected]. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned.