About the Role

As a Data Operations Engineer, you are at the heart of SonderMind's data rebuild - helping us move from a fragmented, reactive data environment to one that is stable, governed, and built for AI-first consumption.

In this role, your core focus is the reliability and performance of our Snowflake Business environment. You'll monitor and optimize Snowflake compute, manage resource usage, and make sure our core data assets are consistently available and fresh. You'll work closely with our Data Engineering team to understand the data in Iceberg and with our Analytics Engineers on schema design, RBAC modeling, and dbt transformation logic, bringing a reliability and performance perspective to a team that genuinely values that lens.

SonderMind moves fast and priorities evolve - you'll thrive here if you're someone who adapts quickly and sees a shifting landscape as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. You'll collaborate day-to-day with AI Semantic Engineers who are building Snowflake Cortex-powered interfaces, meaning the work you do directly shapes how the broader organization accesses and understands its data.

What you'll do

• The Iceberg Bridge: Own the execution and monitoring of data pipelines moving from the Data Engineering Iceberg warehouse into the Snowflake Business environment.
• Staging Layer Excellence: Architect and build a high-quality staging layer in Snowflake. Implement robust data validation and cleaning processes at the point of entry to ensure downstream reliability.
• Snowflake Sovereignty: Manage Snowflake schemas, roles, and warehouse configurations. Implement a "Least Privilege" RBAC model aligned with Data Governance Team to secure business data while enabling high-velocity access.
• Pipeline Stability: Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize all downstream data pipelines. Your goal is to eliminate data failures in the refined layers and ensure 99.5% availability for core data assets.
• Performance Engineering: Continuously audit and tune Snowflake performance. Identify and resolve bottlenecks in data processing to maintain sub-second response times for AI interfaces and dashboards.
• dbt Partnership: Work side-by-side with Analytics Engineers to optimize dbt transformation logic, ensuring the "Source of Truth" is built on the most efficient and reliable staging tables possible.
• AI-First Foundation: Structure data schemas specifically for AI consumption, ensuring that our AI Agent Analysts have clean, well-indexed, and logically partitioned data to power Snowflake Cortex.
• External Data Integrations: Partner with the Manager of AI Data Enablement to automate data pipelines for external partners and payors.

What does success look like?

• Ramp-up (90 Days): Successful takeover of all Snowflake staging and role management; full documentation of the Iceberg-to-Snowflake pipeline; zero critical failures in the refined data stack.
• Continued Success: Achieving a 99.5% data uptime rating; reduction in critical data incidents by 75%; successful migration of all core business logic into the new governed staging architecture.
• Performance Measurement: Measured by pipeline uptime, data freshness (meeting 8:00 AM MST targets), the coverage of data quality checks in the staging layer, and Snowflake compute efficiency.

Who You Are

• Snowflake Power User: You have extensive experience building and managing Snowflake environments, including advanced knowledge of task management, clustering, and security models.
• The "Reliability" Mindset: You treat data pipelines as production software. You are obsessed with monitoring, alerting, and building self-healing systems.
• SQL & dbt Expert: You write expert-level SQL and have deep experience with dbt. You understand how to translate raw tables into clean, performant, and governed models.
• Technical Translator: You can navigate the world of raw ingestion and table formats (Iceberg) while understanding the business-critical needs of analytics and AI.
• Execution-Focused:You have 6+ years of experience in Data Engineering, with a proven track record of owning and stabilizing complex data environments.
• Education: B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience).

Our Benefits

The anticipated salary range for this role is $132,000-$148,500. Final compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, skills, education, and past performance. This role is eligible to participate in our variable bonus and equity incentive plan.

As leaders in redesigning behavioral health, we walk the walk with our employees' benefits. We want the experience of working at SonderMind to accelerate people's careers and enrich their lives, so we focus on meeting SonderMinders wherever they are and supporting them in all facets of their lives and work.

Our benefits include:

• A generous PTO policy, with a minimum of three weeks off per year
• A holiday schedule that follows standard U.S. holidays
• Free therapy coverage benefits to ensure employees have access to the care they need (must be enrolled in a qualifying medical plan to participate)
• Competitive Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage, with plans to meet every need - including HSA (with $1,100 company contribution) and FSA options
• Employer-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, life & AD&D, plus coverage of the salary difference for up to seven weeks of short-term disability leave (after the required waiting period)
• Eight weeks of paid Parental Leave; if the parent also qualifies for STD, this benefit is in addition, allowing for 8-16 weeks of paid leave
• 401(k) retirement plan with 100% match on up to 4% of base salary, immediately vested
• Join teammates from across the country at our annual company gathering
• Company shutdown between Christmas and New Year's
• Supplemental life insurance, pet insurance, commuter benefits, and more

Application Deadline

This position will be an ongoing recruitment process and will be open until filled.

Our Hiring Process & Use of AI

At SonderMind, we use technology, including AI-assisted tools, to support our recruiting process. These tools help us operate efficiently and provide a consistent, timely experience for every candidate. They may assist our team with activities such as scheduling interviews, taking notes and transcriptions, organizing candidate information, and coordinating outreach. In the course of using these tools, we may process the personal and professional information you share with us as part of your application.

All hiring decisions at SonderMind, including whether to advance, reject, or extend an offer to a candidate, are made by members of our recruiting and hiring teams. We do not rely on automated systems to make these decisions about candidates.

We are committed to a fair and equitable process. If you have questions about the technologies used in our recruiting process, would like to request an alternative method of engagement, need an accommodation, or would like a member of our team to review a decision about your candidacy, please contact us at [redacted].