Senior Data Engineer

About the role

Oportun is hiring a Senior Data Engineer to join their growing team on a remote basis within Mexico. This role focuses on building and maintaining reliable data infrastructure that supports the company's core mission of providing accessible financial services to underserved communities. The Senior Data Engineer will work closely with cross-functional teams across the organization to design scalable data pipelines and ensure consistent data reliability. You will play a key part in shaping the data architecture that drives critical business decisions and product improvements.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Design and implement scalable data pipelines for processing large datasets efficiently at scale
• Collaborate with data scientists and analysts to optimize data workflows and analytical outputs
• Ensure data quality and integrity across all production data systems and downstream pipelines
• Build and maintain reliable ETL processes for internal and external data sources
• Develop comprehensive monitoring and alerting systems to track data pipeline health and performance
• Write clean, maintainable code for data transformation and efficient loading operations daily
• Participate in code reviews and contribute to engineering best practices and team standards
• Troubleshoot and resolve data pipeline failures and related performance issues in a timely manner
• Document data architecture decisions and share knowledge with the broader engineering team regularly
• Support the migration and modernization of existing data infrastructure to cloud-based platforms
• Define data standards and governance policies to maintain consistency across all data assets
• Partner with product teams to understand data needs and deliver actionable insights
• Evaluate and adopt new data technologies and tools that improve engineering productivity
• Mentor junior data engineers and contribute to the growth of the engineering team

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field is required
• Five or more years of professional experience in data engineering or a similar role
• Strong proficiency in SQL with hands-on experience working on large-scale data warehouse systems
• Solid programming skills in Python or a comparable general-purpose programming language
• Hands-on experience with major cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure
• Familiarity with data modeling techniques including dimensional modeling, relational modeling, and schema design
• Understanding of distributed systems concepts and parallel processing frameworks used in data engineering
• Experience with version control systems, particularly Git, in a collaborative team development environment
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders effectively
• Track record of delivering high-quality data solutions in fast-paced, iterative development settings
• Experience with data observability tools and data catalog platforms is preferred
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of complex data engineering projects

Nice to have

• Experience with Apache Spark or similar big data processing frameworks is highly valued
• Knowledge of data governance practices and relevant compliance regulations is considered helpful
• Familiarity with streaming data platforms such as Apache Kafka or Amazon Kinesis is beneficial
• Prior experience working in fintech or financial services industries is considered a plus
• Exposure to machine learning pipelines and feature store infrastructure is a bonus
• Experience with data catalog tools such as DataHub or Amundsen is beneficial

Skills & tools

• Python programming language for data engineering and scripting automation tasks
• SQL and database management for relational and analytical data systems
• ETL and data pipeline development using modern orchestration tooling
• Cloud services including AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure
• Data warehousing solutions and dimensional modeling practices for analytics
• Git version control and CI/CD workflow integration for team collaboration
• Containerization tools such as Docker and Kubernetes for deployment workflows
• Data visualization tools such as Tableau or Looker for reporting and dashboards

Practical notes

• This is a remote position based in Mexico with flexible working hours available
• The role reports directly to the data engineering leadership team within Oportun
• Oportun offers competitive benefits packages for full-time employees including comprehensive health coverage
• Candidates should be comfortable working asynchronously across different time zones on a daily basis
• The position involves regular collaboration with distributed teams across multiple global regions
• Oportun is committed to building an inclusive workplace with equal opportunity for all employees
• Oportun values work-life balance and encourages sustainable pace in all engineering teams