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Data Engineer

San Francisco - California; Water Street - New York

At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human-centred creativity, and AI-driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact-obsessed. As a global agency, we provide a full suite of services across healthcare communications and marketing to our clients, including top players in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Our #LifeatRealChem culture is rooted in our people—we believe we are best together and are committed to excellence for both our clients and colleagues. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your career, if you share our passion for healthcare and connection, we invite you to explore our opportunities.

Discover your purpose. Embrace innovation. Experience #LifeatRealChem.

Job Summary 

We’re looking for a hands-on Data Engineer to help build and maintain the data infrastructure that powers our AI products and solutions. This role sits within our AI organization and focuses on designing, developing, and optimizing scalable data pipelines, data models, and cloud-based data systems. You’ll collaborate closely with data scientists, ML engineers, product teams, and other technical partners to ensure high-quality, reliable, and well-structured data is available across the organization.  

 

Key Responsibilities 

Data Pipeline Development 

  • Build, optimize, and maintain scalable ETL/ELT pipelines for structured and unstructured data. 
  • Implement reliable, fault-tolerant ingestion and transformation workflows. 
  • Automate routine data processes where possible. 

Data Architecture & Modeling 

  • Develop well-structured data models that support analytics, ML use cases, and downstream applications. 
  • Support the design and enhancement of AI-related data architecture across cloud environments. 

Data Quality & Governance 

  • Implement automated data validation, monitoring, and alerting. 
  • Ensure high data accuracy, completeness, and integrity across ingestion and transformation layers. 

Cross-Functional Collaboration 

  • Partner with data scientists, ML engineers, product managers, and IT teams to understand data requirements and translate them into technical solutions. 
  • Troubleshoot issues and support stakeholders with data access and pipeline improvements. 

Cloud & Infrastructure 

  • Work with modern cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and associated data storage, compute, and orchestration services. 
  • Support deployment, scaling, and operational health of data systems. 

Innovation & Continuous Improvement 

  • Stay current with emerging data engineering tools and best practices. 
  • Propose opportunities to improve performance, efficiency, or reliability within the data stack. 

 

Qualifications & Skills 

Education & Experience 

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or related technical field (or equivalent experience). 
  • 3–7 years of hands-on experience in data engineering or data pipeline development. 

Technical Skills 

  • Strong SQL skills and proficiency in Python or Scala. 
  • Experience with data warehousing technologies such as Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, or Databricks. 
  • Hands-on experience with cloud services (AWS, Azure, or GCP). 
  • Knowledge of data modeling, schema design, and ETL/ELT principles. 
  • Familiarity with distributed computing frameworks such as Spark or Flink. 
  • Experience with workflow orchestration tools like Airflow, Prefect, or Dagster is a plus. 

Soft Skills 

  • Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail. 
  • Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to peers and cross-functional partners. 
  • Comfortable working in a fast-moving, collaborative environment. 

Preferred Qualifications 

  • Experience with streaming data tools such as Kafka or Kinesis. 
  • Experience building CI/CD pipelines for data workflows. 
  • Experience in healthcare, biotech, life sciences, or commercial/marketing data environments. 
  • Experience in agency or consulting settings. 

Posting Salary

$140,000 - $175,000 USD

Real Chemistry is proud to be Great Place to Work® certified; check out what our people shared about our culture and workplace on our Great Places to Work Profile here.

We believe we can do our best when feeling our best, which is why we’ve put together a benefits program designed to give you the support you and your family need at every stage of life. Real Chemistry offers a comprehensive benefit program and perks, tailored to your region. Globally, this includes offices in our key markets with free snacks to keep you running all day long, generous holiday and paid time off, options for private medical, dental, and vison plans, and support in saving for the future. Other perks include mental wellness coaching and support and access to more than 13,000 online classes with LinkedIn Learning.  Learn more about our great benefits and perks and search specific offerings in your region at: www.realchemistrybenefits.com.

Working with Real HART: Since the pandemic, we have adapted to how our people told us they want to work. We have office locations in cities in the US, UK, and Europe with many employees and clients that serve as hubs where and when they need us. For employees who are within an hour of one of our offices, we expect attendance in the office two days per week, either at a Real Chemistry office or onsite with clients. We are also actively opening new office locations, so if one opens near you, our Real HART policy will apply. We are not looking for attendance for the sake of attendance but believe that the opportunity to coordinate in-office team meetings, 1:1 meetings with managers, taking advantage of on-site learning, and connecting with client partners is a critical to delivering on our purpose of making healthcare what it should be. Outside of these offices, we have regions, where people work remotely but come together quarterly for collaboration, culture and learning opportunities. We call this our Real Hybrid and Regional Teams (Real HART) approach. Real Chemistry believes we are best together – and our workplace strategy fosters connection and collaboration in person – but also supports flexibility for our people.

Real Chemistry is an Equal Opportunity employer. We continually strive to build and sustain an inclusive and equitable work environment where our employees feel empowered to leverage all they bring from their personal lived experience and professional expertise, to make our team the best in the industry. We encourage motivated and qualified applicants to apply without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, ethnic or national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local employment discrimination laws where Real Chemistry operates. Should you require accommodations throughout the interview process please let your recruiter know.

*Notice: Real Chemistry and its affiliates' names are being misused by scammers through messaging services, fake websites, and apps. Do not share personal or financial information or make payments to any unverified sources claiming to be connected to Real Chemistry. We are working to stop these unauthorized activities and protect our community. Read more here.

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